GPT-4o vs Sonar Pro
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
GPT-4o specs · Sonar Pro specs- PriceGPT-4o
GPT-4o is roughly 1.5× cheaper on output tokens ($10.00 vs $15.00 per 1M).
- Context windowSonar Pro
Sonar Pro accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesGPT-4o
GPT-4o supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 1 for Sonar Pro.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance GPT-4o edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Sonar Pro's 1. GPT-4o is roughly 1.5× cheaper on output tokens ($10.00 vs $15.00 per 1M). Sonar Pro accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, GPT-4o handles text, vision, audio while Sonar Pro handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
Sonar Pro is the newer of the two, released 8 months after GPT-4o, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-4o is usually picked for chatbots and vision workloads, while Sonar Pro sees more deployments in research agent and rag. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | GPT-4o | Sonar Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Perplexity |
| Released | May 2024 | Jan 2025 |
| Modalities | text, vision, audio | text |
| Context window | 128K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $2.50 / 1M tokens | $3.00 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $10.00 / 1M tokens | $15.00 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-10 | , |
| Open weights | No | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$22.50 vs $31.50
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$225 vs $315
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$435 vs $540
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $22.50 vs $31.50 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $225 vs $315 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $435 vs $540 per month, model A comes out ahead.
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- GPT-4o$0.750
- Sonar Pro$1.05
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU88.7
- HumanEval90.2
GPT-4o fits when…
- Native multimodal
- Mature SDK and tooling
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 1.5× cheaper than Sonar Pro on output tokens.
- Multimodal needs covering vision, audio.
Sonar Pro fits when…
- Multi-step web search
- Deep research output
- Citations
- Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 128K for GPT-4o.
Consider GPT-5.5
OpenAI's mid-cycle GPT-5 refresh, improved reasoning, tool use, and multimodal grounding over the 2025 launch.
Frequently asked
Is GPT-4o or Sonar Pro cheaper?
GPT-4o is cheaper at $10.00 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $15.00 / 1M tokens for Sonar Pro.Which has the larger context window?
Sonar Pro accepts 200K tokens vs 128K for GPT-4o.Is GPT-4o or Sonar Pro better for coding?
Both GPT-4o and Sonar Pro are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Neither model ships open weights, both are accessible only via their respective providers' APIs.When were GPT-4o and Sonar Pro released?
GPT-4o was released by OpenAI on 2024-05-13. Sonar Pro was released by Perplexity on 2025-01-21.
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