GPT-5 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 specs · Sonar Large specs- PriceSonar Large
Sonar Large is roughly 10.0× cheaper on output tokens ($1.00 vs $10.00 per 1M).
- Context windowGPT-5
GPT-5 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
GPT-5 supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 1 for Sonar Large.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance GPT-5 edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Sonar Large's 1. Sonar Large is roughly 10.0× cheaper on output tokens ($1.00 vs $10.00 per 1M). GPT-5 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 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 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 is usually picked for coding llm and agents 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
| Spec | GPT-5 | Sonar Large |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Perplexity |
| Released | Aug 2025 | Nov 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision, audio | text |
| Context window | 400K tokens | 127K tokens |
| Max output | 128K tokens | , |
| Input · 1M | $1.25 / 1M tokens | $1.00 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $10.00 / 1M tokens | $1.00 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-09 | , |
| 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$18.75 vs $4.50
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$188 vs $45.00
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$248 vs $156
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $18.75 vs $4.50 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $188 vs $45.00 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $248 vs $156 per month, model B 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-5$0.625
- 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.
- MMLU91.4
- HumanEval96.2
- GPQA89.4
- SWE-bench Verified74.9
GPT-5 fits when…
- Unified model, reasoning routed automatically per query
- Excellent tool-use and JSON-mode discipline
- Strong agent performance on SWE-bench Verified
- Long-context tasks, handles 400K tokens vs 127K for Sonar Large.
- Multimodal needs covering vision, audio.
Sonar Large fits when…
- Web-search grounded
- Citation-first output
- Cheap
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 10.0× cheaper than GPT-5 on output tokens.
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-5 or Sonar Large cheaper?
Sonar Large is cheaper at $1.00 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $10.00 / 1M tokens for GPT-5.Which has the larger context window?
GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 127K for Sonar Large.Is GPT-5 or Sonar Large better for coding?
Both GPT-5 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 and Sonar Large released?
GPT-5 was released by OpenAI on 2025-08-07. Sonar Large was released by Perplexity on 2024-11-19.
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