o4-mini vs Sonar
Cost and capability comparison. For a sample workload of 1,000 input and 500 output tokens across 100,000 requests/month, Sonar is cheaper by about $180.00/month.
| o4-mini | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | openai | perplexity |
| Input / 1M | $1.10 | $1.00 |
| Output / 1M | $4.40 | $1.00 |
| Per request (sample) | $0.00330 | $0.00150 |
| Monthly (sample) | $330.00 | $150.00 |
| Context window | 200,000 | 128,000 |
| Vision | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Arena · Overall | 1382 | — |
| Arena · Coding | 1385 | — |
| Arena · Math & reasoning | 1400 | — |
| Arena · Agentic / tool use | 1372 | — |
Intelligence scores are community Arena ratings from LMArena / arena.ai, used under CC BY 4.0. Snapshot last refreshed 28 July 2026. Scores are a relative signal, not an absolute measure of capability. A Measured score was voted on directly; an Estimated score is inherited from an identical base model (a regional/creator-prefixed hosting duplicate). See our methodology.
Compare on your own workload
o4-mini and Sonar are pre-loaded. Adjust the tokens and monthly volume to see which is cheaper for your usage.
Used unless you set active users below.
Results update automatically as you type.
| Sonar | Perplexity | $0.00150 | $150.00 | $1,800.00 | 128,000 |
| o4-mini | OpenAI | $0.00330 | $330.00 | $3,960.00 | 200,000 |
FAQ
Which is cheaper, o4-mini or Sonar?
For a workload of 1,000 input and 500 output tokens over 100,000 requests/month, Sonar is cheaper, costing about $150.00/month versus $330.00/month.
What is the context window of o4-mini and Sonar?
o4-mini supports 200,000 tokens, while Sonar supports 128,000 tokens.
Estimates for planning only. Verify current pricing with each provider.