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Sonar API Pricing

Sonar is perplexity's standard web-grounded answer model. The official pricing row lists $1/M input and $1/M output, with request/search fees billed separately. Pulled directly from docs.perplexity.ai.

Input - per 1M tokens
$1.00/M
Token cost only token
Output - per 1M tokens
$1.00/M
Token cost only token
Request fee - low context
$5.00/1K
Search fee per 1K requests extra
Effective - token blend
$1.00/M
92/8 split - request fee separate
§ 01 / TERMINAL

Run the numbers.

Live calculator pre-loaded with current Sonar token rates. Perplexity request and search fees are documented in the scenarios and FAQ, because they are separate from token pricing.

$ /mo
Workload split
Prompt cache hit rate
Tokens you can process
—
Words equivalent (English)
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Effective rate
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Open full calculator (all models · share URL · CSV) →
§ 02 / SCENARIOS

Real-world presets.

ANSWER

Web answer low context

$0.006/query
600 in / 500 out + fee~16,393 queries/$100
RESEARCH

Market check medium context

$0.011/query
2,000 in / 1,000 out + fee~9,090 queries/$100
HIGH CONTEXT

Evidence-rich answer

$0.019/query
5,000 in / 2,000 out + fee~5,263 queries/$100
MONITORING

Daily topic monitor

$0.007/run
1,000 in / 600 out + fee~15,151 runs/$100
§ 03 / TOKENIZER

Paste text. See tokens. See cost.

Estimate · perplexity-tokenizer-estimate · ≈3.85 chars/token Auto-counts as you type

This is a chars-per-token approximation, not a real tokenizer. Actual tokens vary by language, code density, and tool-call overhead — counts are typically ±10–20% off for English prose, more for code or non-Latin scripts. For exact billing, use the vendor's official tokenizer.

Characters 362
Words 51
Tokens (estimated) 94 tokens
Cost as input · uncached $0.000094 USD
Cost as output · uncached $0.000094 USD
Cost as cached input $0.000094 USD
§ 04 / SHELF

Up against the shelf.

All models →
Model Input /M Output /M Effective blended Context Best for
Sonar Current $1.00 $1.00 $1.00 agentic 92/8 not listed Low-cost web-grounded answers
Sonar Pro $3.00 $15.00 $3.96 pricier not listed Higher-quality search answers
Sonar Reasoning Pro $2.00 $8.00 $2.48 pricier not listed Reasoned web research
Sonar Deep Research $2.00 $8.00 $2.48 pricier not listed Multi-step deep research
Reka Flash $0.80 $2.00 $0.90 cheaper not listed Fast chat and production assistants
Aya Expanse 32B $0.50 $1.50 $0.58 cheaper 128K Multilingual generation and translation
Reka Edge $0.10 $0.10 $0.10 cheaper not listed Lowest-cost Reka chat

Frequently asked.

Practical Sonar pricing questions, with public list prices separated from assumptions and add-on fees.

Q · 01 What is Sonar priced at? +
Sonar is listed at $1/M input and $1/M output on Perplexity's official pricing page, verified 2026-06-14.
Q · 02 Is prompt caching priced separately? +
No separate cache-read token price is published for this row. AI//COST keeps cached input equal to the base input price, $1/M, instead of inventing a discount.
Q · 03 How is the effective price calculated? +
The effective tile uses AI//COST's standard 92/8 input-output blend. With no public cache discount, Sonar's token-only blended price is $1/M.
Q · 04 Does this include every possible fee? +
No. Perplexity bills token costs plus request or search-related fees. The quote tiles show token pricing and the main request/search fee; scenarios include representative extra fees where the pricing page publishes them.
Q · 05 Are there free trials or production keys? +
The vendor may offer account credits or trial access, but AI//COST only stores public list prices. Check the linked vendor console for account-specific credits and rate limits.
Q · 06 Which API model ID should I use? +
Use sonar. If the vendor later changes aliases or retires snapshots, this page should be re-verified against the official pricing page.
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Reviewed by Yaroslav Vikhariev Founder - AI//COST - Pricing pulled daily from docs.perplexity.ai - Last verified Jun 14, 2026
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