[Perplexity](/ai-gateway/models/labs/perplexity) # Sonar Sonar is Perplexity's lightweight search model. It combines language generation with built-in web search to deliver citation-backed answers at low cost within a context window of 127K tokens. Your use is subject to Perplexity's [Terms](https://www.perplexity.ai/terms) & [Privacy](https://www.perplexity.ai/privacy) Policies. Vision (Image)Web Search [Use with AI Gateway](https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Futm_source%3Dgateway-model-page%26utm_campaign%3Dai-gateway-models&title=Get+Started+with+Vercel+AI+Gateway) [View docs](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway) AI SDKChat CompletionsMessagesResponses ``` 1import { streamText } from 'ai' 2 3const result = streamText({ 4 model: 'perplexity/sonar', 5 prompt: 'Why is the sky blue?' 6}) ``` [Read docs](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/sdks-and-apis/ai-sdk) [Overview](/ai-gateway/models/sonar) [API](/ai-gateway/models/sonar/api) [About](/ai-gateway/models/sonar/about) [Providers](/ai-gateway/models/sonar/providers) [Throughput](/ai-gateway/models/sonar/throughput) [Latency](/ai-gateway/models/sonar/latency) [Uptime](/ai-gateway/models/sonar/uptime) [Status](/ai-gateway/models/sonar/status) [Similar](/ai-gateway/models/sonar/similar) [FAQ](/ai-gateway/models/sonar/faq) ## [Copy link to heading](#playground)Playground Try out Sonar by Perplexity. Usage is billed to your team at API rates. Free users (those who haven't made a payment) get $5 of credits every 30 days. ![perplexity logo](/vc-ap-vercel-marketing/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F7nyt0uhk7sse4zvn.public.blob.vercel-storage.com%2Fdocs-assets%2Fstatic%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Flogos%2Fperplexity.png&w=48&q=75)Sonar ![perplexity logo](/vc-ap-vercel-marketing/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F7nyt0uhk7sse4zvn.public.blob.vercel-storage.com%2Fdocs-assets%2Fstatic%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Flogos%2Fperplexity.png&w=96&q=75) Sonar ## [Copy link to heading](#providers)Providers Route requests across multiple providers. Copy a provider slug to set your preference. Visit the [docs](/docs/ai-gateway/provider-options) for more info. Using a provider means you agree to their terms, listed under Legal. | Provider | | --- | | Context | Max Output | Latency | Throughput | Input | Output | Cache | Web Search | Capabilities | ZDR | No Training | Free Tier | Release Date | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ![perplexity logo](/vc-ap-vercel-marketing/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F7nyt0uhk7sse4zvn.public.blob.vercel-storage.com%2Fdocs-assets%2Fstatic%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Flogos%2Fperplexity.png&w=48&q=75) [Perplexity](/ai-gateway/models/providers/perplexity) Legal:[Terms](https://www.perplexity.ai/terms)•[Privacy](https://www.perplexity.ai/privacy) | 127K | 8K | 2.2s | 150tps | $1/M | $1/M | | $5/K\*+2 more | | | | | 02/19/2025 | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ## [Copy link to heading](#throughput)Throughput24 hours 1W 1D P50 throughput on live AI Gateway traffic, in tokens per second (TPS). Visit the [docs](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/models-and-providers/metrics) for more info. ## [Copy link to heading](#latency)Latency24 hours 1W 1D P50 time to first token (TTFT) on live AI Gateway traffic, in milliseconds. View the [docs](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/models-and-providers/metrics) for more info. ## [Copy link to heading](#uptime)Uptime24 hours 1W 1D 1H Direct request success rate on AI Gateway and per-provider. Visit the [docs](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/models-and-providers/uptime) for more info. 1W 1D 1H ## [Copy link to heading](#more-models-by-perplexity)More models by Perplexity All Text Embed | Model | | --- | | Context | Latency | Throughput | Input | Output | Cache | Web Search | Capabilities | Providers | ZDR | No Training | Free Tier | Release Date | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ![perplexity logo](/vc-ap-vercel-marketing/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F7nyt0uhk7sse4zvn.public.blob.vercel-storage.com%2Fdocs-assets%2Fstatic%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Flogos%2Fperplexity.png&w=48&q=75) [perplexity/pplx-embed\-v1-0.6b](/ai-gateway/models/pplx-embed-v1-0.6b) | 32K | | | $0.004/M | | | — | | ![perplexity logo](/vc-ap-vercel-marketing/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F7nyt0uhk7sse4zvn.public.blob.vercel-storage.com%2Fdocs-assets%2Fstatic%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Flogos%2Fperplexity.png&w=48&q=75) | | | | 02/26/2026 | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ![perplexity logo](/vc-ap-vercel-marketing/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F7nyt0uhk7sse4zvn.public.blob.vercel-storage.com%2Fdocs-assets%2Fstatic%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Flogos%2Fperplexity.png&w=48&q=75) [perplexity/pplx-embed-v1-4b](/ai-gateway/models/pplx-embed-v1-4b) | 32K | | | $0.03/M | | | — | | ![perplexity logo](/vc-ap-vercel-marketing/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F7nyt0uhk7sse4zvn.public.blob.vercel-storage.com%2Fdocs-assets%2Fstatic%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Flogos%2Fperplexity.png&w=48&q=75) | | | | 02/26/2026 | | | ![perplexity logo](/vc-ap-vercel-marketing/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F7nyt0uhk7sse4zvn.public.blob.vercel-storage.com%2Fdocs-assets%2Fstatic%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Flogos%2Fperplexity.png&w=48&q=75) [perplexity/sonar-pro](/ai-gateway/models/sonar-pro) | 200K | 1.6s | 94tps | $3/M | $15/M | | $6/K\*+2 more | | ![perplexity logo](/vc-ap-vercel-marketing/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F7nyt0uhk7sse4zvn.public.blob.vercel-storage.com%2Fdocs-assets%2Fstatic%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Flogos%2Fperplexity.png&w=48&q=75) | | | | 02/19/2025 | | | ![perplexity logo](/vc-ap-vercel-marketing/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F7nyt0uhk7sse4zvn.public.blob.vercel-storage.com%2Fdocs-assets%2Fstatic%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Flogos%2Fperplexity.png&w=48&q=75) [perplexity/sonar-reasoning-pro](/ai-gateway/models/sonar-reasoning-pro) | 127K | 3.9s | 71tps | $2/M | $8/M | | $6/K\*+2 more | | ![perplexity logo](/vc-ap-vercel-marketing/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F7nyt0uhk7sse4zvn.public.blob.vercel-storage.com%2Fdocs-assets%2Fstatic%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Flogos%2Fperplexity.png&w=48&q=75) | | | | 02/19/2025 | | ## [Copy link to heading](#about-sonar)About Sonar Sonar is the base tier of Perplexity's Sonar API family. It's built for developers who need web-grounded answers without building a retrieval pipeline. Unlike conventional language models that generate from training data alone, Sonar models run a live web search on every inference call and synthesize results into a cited response. This built-in search is Perplexity's core differentiator. You don't need to configure a separate search API, build a RAG pipeline, or manage document indexing. The model handles query formulation, web retrieval, source evaluation, and answer synthesis in one request. Responses include inline citations pointing to sources, giving your application verifiable provenance for each claim. Sonar targets high-volume use cases where cited answers matter but deep reasoning isn't required. It has the lowest per-token cost in the Sonar family. That makes it practical for customer-facing search, chatbots that need factual accuracy, and automated research assistants processing many queries. The context window of 127K tokens supports multi-turn conversations that accumulate search context across exchanges. ## [Copy link to heading](#what-to-consider-when-choosing-a-provider)What To Consider When Choosing a Provider - Configuration: Sonar runs a web search on every request. Response latency includes network round-trips to retrieve sources. Factor this into timeout budgets for latency-sensitive interfaces. Web search calls bill separately (N/A per thousand when listed for this model). - Zero Data Retention: Zero Data Retention is offered on a per-provider and model basis. See the [documentation](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/security-and-compliance/zdr) for details. - Authentication: AI Gateway authenticates requests using an [API key](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/authentication-and-byok#api-key-authentication) or [OIDC token](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/authentication-and-byok#oidc-token-authentication). You do not need to manage provider credentials directly. ## [Copy link to heading](#when-to-use-sonar)When to Use Sonar ### Best for - Customer-facing search: Answers must cite current web sources - High-volume factual Q&A: The lowest cost in the Sonar family, suitable for chatbots and support assistants - Automated research pipelines: Gather and synthesize web information across many queries without separate search infrastructure - Content verification workflows: Citation-backed responses provide auditable source trails - Lightweight RAG replacement: No need to build and maintain a custom retrieval stack ### Consider alternatives when - Deep multi-step reasoning: Sonar Reasoning Pro applies chain-of-thought before answering - Thorough source analysis: Sonar Pro searches more sources and produces more detailed synthesis - Purely generative work: Creative writing or code generation has no need for web grounding - Offline environments: Air-gapped deployments can't make web search calls ## [Copy link to heading](#conclusion)Conclusion Sonar delivers Perplexity's signature capability: live web search integrated directly into language model inference. It's the most accessible price point in the Sonar family. If you need cited answers at scale without building retrieval infrastructure, it turns any prompt into a web-informed response in a single call.