AI model comparison
Sonar Reasoning Pro vs o3 Mini
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Perplexity
Sonar Reasoning Pro
Note: Sonar Pro pricing includes Perplexity search pricing. See [details here](https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/pricing#detailed-pricing-breakdown-for-sonar-reasoning-pro-and-sonar-pro) Sonar Reasoning Pro is a premier reasoning model powered by DeepSeek R1 with Chain of Thought (CoT).
- Input / 1M
- $2
- Output / 1M
- $8
- Context
- 128K
OpenAI
o3 Mini
OpenAI o3-mini is a cost-efficient language model optimized for STEM reasoning tasks, particularly excelling in science, mathematics, and coding.
- Input / 1M
- $1.10
- Output / 1M
- $4.40
- Context
- 200K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
o3 Mini
1.8x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
o3 Mini
12.5 vs 11.8 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
o3 Mini
200K vs 128K tokens
Newer release
Sonar Reasoning Pro
Released March 7, 2025
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Sonar Reasoning Pro11.8o3 Mini12.5Coding index
Sonar Reasoning ProNot availableo3 MiniNot availableAgentic index
Sonar Reasoning ProNot availableo3 MiniNot availablePricing
Sonar Reasoning Pro vs o3 Mini API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Sonar Reasoning Pro | o3 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $2 | $1.10 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $8 | $4.40 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | Not available | $0.55 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
| Web searchPer request | $0.005 | $0.01 |
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
Sonar Reasoning Pro$8o3 Mini$4.40Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Sonar Reasoning Pro$92o3 Mini$50.60$34.10 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Sonar Reasoning Pro$316o3 Mini$173.80$91.30 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Sonar Reasoning Pro | o3 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 128K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | 115K tokens | 100K tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text | File, Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | March 7, 2025 | January 31, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Sonar Reasoning Pro | o3 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Not supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Not supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Not supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Not supported |
| Stop sequences | Not supported | Not supported |
| Deterministic seed | Not supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Sonar Reasoning ProView full model details- Sonar Reasoning Pro vs Claude Haiku 4.5
- Sonar Reasoning Pro vs Gemini 2.5 Pro
- Sonar Reasoning Pro vs Mistral Medium 3.5
- Sonar Reasoning Pro vs Command A
- Sonar Reasoning Pro vs GPT-4.1
- Sonar Reasoning Pro vs Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507
- Sonar Reasoning Pro vs o3 Mini High
- Sonar Reasoning Pro vs Nova Premier 1.0
- Sonar Reasoning Pro vs GPT-4o (2024-11-20)
- Sonar Reasoning Pro vs Sonar Pro
o3 MiniView full model details- o3 Mini vs Claude Haiku 4.5
- o3 Mini vs o4 Mini
- o3 Mini vs Gemini 2.5 Flash
- o3 Mini vs Mistral Medium 3.5
- o3 Mini vs R1 0528
- o3 Mini vs Command A
- o3 Mini vs GLM 4.5
- o3 Mini vs GPT-4.1
- o3 Mini vs Kimi K2 0711
- o3 Mini vs Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507
- o3 Mini vs o1-pro
- o3 Mini vs o3 Mini High
- o3 Mini vs GPT-4.1 Mini
- o3 Mini vs GPT-4o (2024-11-20)
Our take
o3 Mini is 1.8x cheaper for a typical chat. o3 Mini scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (12.5 vs 11.8). o3 Mini 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 Reasoning Pro or o3 Mini cheaper?
o3 Mini is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). o3 Mini costs $1.10 per 1M input tokens and $4.40 per 1M output tokens, while Sonar Reasoning Pro costs $2 per 1M input tokens and $8 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Sonar Reasoning Pro or o3 Mini?
o3 Mini supports up to 200K tokens of context, compared with 128K for Sonar Reasoning Pro.
Is Sonar Reasoning Pro smarter than o3 Mini?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Sonar Reasoning Pro scores 11.8 and o3 Mini scores 12.5, putting o3 Mini ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Sonar Reasoning Pro and o3 Mini at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Sonar Reasoning Pro and o3 Mini answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Sonar Reasoning Pro and o3 Mini at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.