GPT-4o vs Perplexity Sonar
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
GPT-4o
OpenAIOpenAI's flagship multimodal model. Strong coding and reasoning at competitive pricing.
| Input | $2.50/M |
| Output | $10.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | General coding, multimodal tasks, chatbots |
| Benchmark | 75/100 |
Perplexity Sonar
PerplexityPerplexity's standard search model. Fast, cited answers at lower cost than Sonar Pro.
| Input | $1.00/M |
| Output | $1.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Quick research, fact-checking, search-augmented chat |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | GPT-4o | Perplexity Sonar | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.41 | $0.07 | Perplexity Sonar saves $0.34 (84%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $3.06 | $0.55 | Perplexity Sonar saves $2.51 (82%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $15.31 | $2.75 | Perplexity Sonar saves $12.56 (82%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.78 | $0.20 | Perplexity Sonar saves $0.58 (74%) |
Verdict
Perplexity Sonar wins on both price and performance — $1.00/M input with a benchmark score of N/A/100.
For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.
Compare with Other Models
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