o3-mini 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
o3-mini specs · Sonar Pro specs- Priceo3-mini
o3-mini is roughly 3.4× cheaper on output tokens ($4.40 vs $15.00 per 1M).
- Context windowTie
Both ship a 200K-token context window.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesTie
Both handle text.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance o3-mini edges ahead, winning 1 of 5 categories against Sonar Pro's 0. o3-mini is roughly 3.4× cheaper on output tokens ($4.40 vs $15.00 per 1M). Both ship a 200K-token context window.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
Both shipped within roughly a month of each other in 2025, so they share the same generation of training data and tooling. o3-mini is usually picked for reasoning and math 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 | o3-mini | Sonar Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Perplexity |
| Released | Jan 2025 | Jan 2025 |
| Modalities | text | text |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $1.10 / 1M tokens | $3.00 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $4.40 / 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$9.90 vs $31.50
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$99.00 vs $315
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$191 vs $540
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $9.90 vs $31.50 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $99.00 vs $315 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $191 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.
- o3-mini$0.330
- 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.
- GPQA79.7
o3-mini fits when…
- Reasoning at mid-tier cost
- Fast for a thinking model
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 3.4× cheaper than Sonar Pro on output tokens.
Sonar Pro fits when…
- Multi-step web search
- Deep research output
- Citations
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 o3-mini or Sonar Pro cheaper?
o3-mini is cheaper at $4.40 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $15.00 / 1M tokens for Sonar Pro.Which has the larger context window?
Both o3-mini and Sonar Pro ship a 200K-token context window.Is o3-mini or Sonar Pro better for coding?
Both o3-mini 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 o3-mini and Sonar Pro released?
o3-mini was released by OpenAI on 2025-01-31. Sonar Pro was released by Perplexity on 2025-01-21.
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