Perplexity: Sonar API Pricing
Perplexity: Sonar costs $1.00 per 1M input tokens and $1.00 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 127K. Prices verified 2026-10-21 · source
Alternatives to consider
97% cheaper with nearly identical quality (20.1 vs 7.7)
+30.3 quality points for 5% more
Rebuilt daily from our snapshot archive — the chart appears once a model has 5+ snapshots of history.
From our own daily snapshot archive — independent of provider announcements.
Intelligence measures reasoning/knowledge/coding benchmarks. A high score with a low blended price = value pick; check the value chart to see where this model lands.
Token economics
| Token type | Price | vs base input |
|---|---|---|
| Standard input | $1.00 | — |
| Output | $1.00 | — |
| Web search tool | $5/1k searches | — |
Prompt caching stores repeated context server-side: reads cost far less, but writes carry a one-time premium.
What would Perplexity: Sonar cost you per month?
| Workload | Requests/mo | Avg tokens (in/out) | Est. monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light chatbot | 10,000 | 800 / 400 | $12.00 |
| Coding agent | 5,000 | 8,000 / 2,000 | $50.00 |
| RAG pipeline | 30,000 | 4,000 / 500 | $135.00 |
| Doc summarizer | 2,000 | 20,000 / 1,000 | $42.00 |
Estimates use list prices without prompt caching. Caching can cut input cost by up to 90% on repeated context.
About Perplexity: Sonar
Sonar is lightweight, affordable, fast, and simple to use — now featuring citations and the ability to customize sources. It is designed for companies seeking to integrate lightweight question-and-answer features...
Compare Perplexity: Sonar with
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- Perplexity: Sonar vs OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol
Popular head-to-heads — see all on the comparisons index.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Perplexity: Sonar cost?
Perplexity: Sonar costs $1.00 per 1M input tokens and $1.00 per 1M output tokens. Verified 2026-10-21 — provider source.
What is the context window?
127K tokens, with up to 114K output tokens per response. That's roughly 159 pages of text in a single request.
Does it support prompt caching?
Prompt-caching pricing is not published for this model via OpenRouter.
What's a cheaper alternative?
ScaleDown: Summarize saves about 97% on a typical workload with comparable quality.
Official resources
- Perplexity: Sonar on OpenRouter — live endpoint, pricing source of record.
- Artificial Analysis leaderboard → — independent intelligence and performance rankings.
- Shred your current bill — paste a CSV and see if switching saves money.