by Perplexity
Perplexity: Sonar.
multimodal
closed
127K ctx
Cheapest input
$1.0/M
on OpenRouter
Cheapest output
$1.0/M
on OpenRouter
Fastest
38 tok/s
on OpenRouter
Hosted equiv.
~$0.36/hr
@ 100 tok/s on OpenRouter
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...
Hosted API only
No self-host path — closed weights.
Perplexity: Sonar's weights aren't published. Use it via the access providers below.
Where to use it
Cheapest hosted endpoints.
| Provider | Access | $/M in | $/M out | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouter | api aggregator | $1.0 | $1.0 | Launch ↗ |
Performance
Speed across providers.
Tokens/sec and time-to-first-token measured against the same prompt template on each provider's API.
| Provider | Tokens/sec | TTFT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouter | 38.3 | 1974 ms | 2535 ms |
FAQ
Frequently asked.
How do I run Perplexity: Sonar?
Perplexity: Sonar is a closed-source API model. The cheapest way to access it is through the API providers listed on this page (direct API, aggregators, and hosted chat UIs).
Where can I access Perplexity: Sonar?
Perplexity: Sonar is available via OpenRouter. Each access option lists its own pricing (per million tokens or hourly hosting).
How much does it cost to run Perplexity: Sonar?
API pricing starts at $1.0/M input tokens and $1.0/M output tokens. Self-hosting cost depends on the GPU you rent — see the Run It Yourself tab.
Is Perplexity: Sonar open-source or proprietary?
Perplexity: Sonar is a proprietary model from Perplexity. Access is API-only — there are no public weights to download.
API pricing
Per provider
What it costs per month across providers.
Estimate your monthly bill for Perplexity: Sonar across every host that publishes per-token pricing. Slide your token volumes; the chart + table re-rank cheapest-first.
Cheapest
$12.0
OpenRouter
$/M input
$1.0
per million tokens
$/M output
$1.0
per million tokens
Providers
1
with priced rows
Monthly bill
Cheapest provider on the left.
Total monthly cost — input + output tokens combined.
Loading...
Bill breakdown.
| Provider | Monthly total | |
|---|---|---|
| $12.0 | Sign up ↗ |
Full calculator
Want to compare token volumes across other models too?
Open the standalone API pricing tool →
Context window
How much it can remember.
127K tokens
≈ 95,304 English words
4K
32K
128K
1M
Capabilities
What it can do.
·
Vision input
·
Audio input
·
Video input
·
Function calling
·
Tool use
·
JSON mode
✓
Streaming
·
Fine-tuning