Perplexity Sonar API Cost Calculator
Estimate Perplexity Sonar, Sonar Pro and Reasoning Pro token costs.
With the default inputs, $0.0105 per request — ~$315.00/month at 1,000 requests/day. Enter your own numbers below to recompute instantly; the full step-by-step math is shown under the worked example.
Results update automatically as you type.
- Input cost
- $0.00300
- Output cost
- $0.00750
- Per request
- $0.0105
- Per day
- $10.50
- Per month
- $315.00
Estimate the token cost of Perplexity's Sonar API. Sonar is the cheapest at $1/$1 per 1M tokens; Sonar Pro is $3/$15. Note that every Sonar request also adds a per-1K search fee ($5-$14 by context size) that this token calculator does not include.
How this is calculated
Cost per request = (input tokens ÷ 1,000,000 × input price) + (output tokens ÷ 1,000,000 × output price) for your chosen Sonar model. Sonar is $1/$1 per 1M and Sonar Pro is $3/$15. Important: Sonar also adds a per-request search fee ($5–$14 per 1,000 requests by context size) that this token calculator does not include — add it separately.
Is this a good result? What to do next
For search-augmented models the token cost is only part of the bill — the per-request search fee frequently dominates at scale. Plain Sonar is cheapest on tokens, but always add the search fee before comparing Sonar to token-only APIs.
Typical planning ranges
- Sonar
- $1 / $1 per 1M tokens
- Sonar Pro
- $3 / $15 per 1M tokens
- Search fee (not included)
- $5–$14 per 1,000 requests
Ranges are typical planning figures to sanity-check your result, not authoritative benchmarks. Your numbers will vary with use case, volume, and vendor.
How to improve this number
- Use plain Sonar when you don't need Pro-grade answers.
- Keep the search context size small to lower the search fee.
- Batch or cache where possible to reduce request count.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting the per-request search fee, which often exceeds token cost.
- Comparing Sonar to token-only models on tokens alone.
When to use a different approach
For token-only models, use the LLM API cost calculator. To rank models, use the model cost comparison.
Worked example (defaults)
With the default inputs above, here is the result:
- Input cost
- $0.00300
- Output cost
- $0.00750
- Per request
- $0.0105
- Per day
- $10.50
- Per month
- $315.00
- input: 1,000 / 1e6 x $3/M = $0.00300
- output: 500 / 1e6 x $15/M = $0.00750
- monthly = $0.0105 x 1,000 x 30 days
Sources & references
Frequently asked questions
Does this include Perplexity's search fee?+
No. Sonar, Sonar Pro and Sonar Reasoning Pro add a per-request search fee of $5-$14 per 1,000 requests depending on search context size. This calculator covers token costs only; add the search fee separately.
Which Sonar model is cheapest?+
Plain Sonar at $1/$1 per 1M tokens is cheapest. Sonar Pro ($3/$15) is stronger for complex answers, and Sonar Reasoning Pro ($2/$8) adds multi-step reasoning.
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