AI model comparison

Sonar Pro vs GPT-4o (2024-08-06)

Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.

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Perplexity

Sonar Pro

Note: Sonar Pro pricing includes Perplexity search pricing.

Input / 1M
$3
Output / 1M
$15
Context
200K

The 2024-08-06 version of GPT-4o offers improved performance in structured outputs, with the ability to supply a JSON schema in the respone_format. Read more [here](https://openai.com/index/introducing-structured-outputs-in-the-api/).

Input / 1M
$2.50
Output / 1M
$10
Context
128K

At a glance

Quick verdict

How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.

Lower price

openai logo

GPT-4o (2024-08-06)

1.4x cheaper for a typical chat

Higher intelligence score

openai logo

GPT-4o (2024-08-06)

7.7 vs 7.6 on Artificial Analysis

Larger context window

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Sonar Pro

200K vs 128K tokens

Newer release

perplexity logo

Sonar Pro

Released March 7, 2025

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores

Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.

Intelligence index

perplexity logoSonar Pro7.6
openai logoGPT-4o (2024-08-06)7.7

Coding index

perplexity logoSonar ProNot available
openai logoGPT-4o (2024-08-06)Not available

Agentic index

perplexity logoSonar ProNot available
openai logoGPT-4o (2024-08-06)Not available

Pricing

Sonar Pro vs GPT-4o (2024-08-06) API pricing

Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.

Metricperplexity logoSonar Proopenai logoGPT-4o (2024-08-06)
Input tokensPer 1M tokens$3$2.50
Output tokensPer 1M tokens$15$10
Cached input (read)Per 1M tokensNot available$1.25
Cache writePer 1M tokensNot availableNot available
Web searchPer request$0.005Not available

What it costs in practice

Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.

Chat message

2K in, 500 out

perplexity logoSonar Pro$13.50
openai logoGPT-4o (2024-08-06)$10

Coding task

30K in, 4K out

perplexity logoSonar Pro$150
openai logoGPT-4o (2024-08-06)$115$77.50 cached

Long document summary

150K in, 2K out

perplexity logoSonar Pro$480
openai logoGPT-4o (2024-08-06)$395$207.50 cached

Specs

Context window and capabilities

How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.

Metricperplexity logoSonar Proopenai logoGPT-4o (2024-08-06)
Context window200K tokens128K tokens
Max output8K tokens16K tokens
Input typesImage, TextFile, Image, Text
Output typesTextText
Reasoning effort levelsNot availableNot available
Default reasoning effortNot availableNot available
Release dateMarch 7, 2025August 6, 2024

Features

Supported features

API features available for each model.

Metricperplexity logoSonar Proopenai logoGPT-4o (2024-08-06)
Tool callingNot supportedSupported
Structured outputsNot supportedSupported
JSON modeNot supportedSupported
ReasoningNot supportedNot supported
TemperatureSupportedSupported
Stop sequencesNot supportedSupported
Deterministic seedNot supportedSupported
Verbosity controlNot supportedNot supported

Our take

GPT-4o (2024-08-06) is 1.4x cheaper for a typical chat. GPT-4o (2024-08-06) scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (7.7 vs 7.6). Sonar Pro has the larger context window (200K vs 128K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is Sonar Pro or GPT-4o (2024-08-06) cheaper?

GPT-4o (2024-08-06) is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). GPT-4o (2024-08-06) costs $2.50 per 1M input tokens and $10 per 1M output tokens, while Sonar Pro costs $3 per 1M input tokens and $15 per 1M output tokens.

Which has a bigger context window, Sonar Pro or GPT-4o (2024-08-06)?

Sonar Pro supports up to 200K tokens of context, compared with 128K for GPT-4o (2024-08-06).

Is Sonar Pro smarter than GPT-4o (2024-08-06)?

On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Sonar Pro scores 7.6 and GPT-4o (2024-08-06) scores 7.7, putting GPT-4o (2024-08-06) ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.

Can I use Sonar Pro and GPT-4o (2024-08-06) at the same time?

Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Sonar Pro and GPT-4o (2024-08-06) answer side by side and keep the better response.

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Why choose? Ask both.

Send one prompt to Sonar Pro and GPT-4o (2024-08-06) at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.