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GPT-5 mini vs Sonar Large

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

GPT-5 mini specs · Sonar Large specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceSonar Large

    Sonar Large is roughly 2.0× cheaper on output tokens ($1.00 vs $2.00 per 1M).

  • Context windowGPT-5 mini

    GPT-5 mini accepts 400K tokens vs 127K, 3.1× 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-5 mini

    GPT-5 mini supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 1 for Sonar Large.

  • OpennessTie

    Both are closed-weight, API-only.

On balance GPT-5 mini edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Sonar Large's 1. Sonar Large is roughly 2.0× cheaper on output tokens ($1.00 vs $2.00 per 1M). GPT-5 mini accepts 400K tokens vs 127K, 3.1× 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-5 mini handles text, vision, audio while Sonar Large handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.

GPT-5 mini is the newer of the two, released 9 months after Sonar Large, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-5 mini is usually picked for code completion and customer support workloads, while Sonar Large 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

SpecGPT-5 miniSonar Large
ProviderOpenAIPerplexity
ReleasedAug 2025Nov 2024
Modalitiestext, vision, audiotext
Context window400K tokens127K tokens
Max output128K tokens,
Input · 1M$0.25 / 1M tokens$1.00 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$2.00 / 1M tokens$1.00 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff2024-09,
Open weightsNoNo
API availableYesYes

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$3.75 vs $4.50
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$37.50 vs $45.00
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$49.50 vs $156

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $3.75 vs $4.50 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $37.50 vs $45.00 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $49.50 vs $156 per month, model A comes out ahead.

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • GPT-5 mini$0.125
  • Sonar Large$0.150

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
Pick GPT-5 mini if

GPT-5 mini fits when…

  • Excellent price-quality ratio for production workloads
  • Fast first-token latency
  • Same tool-use API surface as flagship
  • Long-context tasks, handles 400K tokens vs 127K for Sonar Large.
  • Multimodal needs covering vision, audio.
Pick Sonar Large if

Sonar Large fits when…

  • Web-search grounded
  • Citation-first output
  • Cheap
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 2.0× cheaper than GPT-5 mini on output tokens.
Don't want either?

Consider GPT-5.5

OpenAI's mid-cycle GPT-5 refresh, improved reasoning, tool use, and multimodal grounding over the 2025 launch.

See GPT-5.5 specsGPT-5 mini vs GPT-5.5Sonar Large vs GPT-5.5

Frequently asked

  • Is GPT-5 mini or Sonar Large cheaper?
    Sonar Large is cheaper at $1.00 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $2.00 / 1M tokens for GPT-5 mini.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    GPT-5 mini accepts 400K tokens vs 127K for Sonar Large.
  • Is GPT-5 mini or Sonar Large better for coding?
    Both GPT-5 mini and Sonar Large 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-5 mini and Sonar Large released?
    GPT-5 mini was released by OpenAI on 2025-08-07. Sonar Large was released by Perplexity on 2024-11-19.
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