Perplexity API Pricing (November 2026)
Perplexity API prices run from $0.25 to $2.50 per million tokens across 1 current model. The cheapest is Sonar (Agent API) at $0.25 input and $2.50 output per million tokens. Every rate below was read on Perplexity's own pricing page, on the date shown in its row.
| Model | Input /M | Cache read /M | Output /M | Batch in /M | Batch out /M | Context | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sonar (Agent API) perplexity/sonar | $0.25 | $0.0625−75% | $2.50 | — | — | not listed | Flagship | 2026-10-29 |
US dollars per million tokens, list rates on Perplexity's own API. Cache read is the price of a cached input token. Batch is the asynchronous API, where the vendor offers one. The date in each row is when we last read it on the vendor's pricing page; it links to that page.
Perplexity API monthly cost estimates
What light use (10M input + 2M output tokens a month), medium use (100M input + 20M output tokens a month), heavy use (1B input + 200M output tokens a month) costs on each current model, at list price with no caching and no batch discount.
| Model | Input / output per 1M | Light · 10M + 2M | Medium · 100M + 20M | Heavy · 1B + 200M |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonar (Agent API) | $0.25 / $2.50 | $7.50 | $75.00 | $750 |
Prompt caching and the Batch API cut these figures; the next sections show by how much. For your own token counts, use the LLM API cost calculator.
Perplexity API price history
Perplexity API price changes and releases
AI//COST first added Perplexity after verifying the public pricing page on 2026-06-14.
perplexity/sonar) first read at $0.25/M input, $2.50/M output and $0.0625/M cache read — tools billed per callRetired Perplexity models and their replacements
4 Perplexity models no longer answer on Perplexity's API. The price is the last one Perplexity listed; the replacement is the current end of the vendor's own succession chain.
| Model | Status | Last price in / out per 1M | Use instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sonar Pro | Retired Sep 27, 2026 | $3.00 / $15.00 | — |
| Sonar Reasoning Pro | Retired Sep 27, 2026 | $2.00 / $8.00 | — |
| Sonar Deep Research | Retired Sep 27, 2026 | $2.00 / $8.00 | — |
| Sonar | Retired Sep 27, 2026 | $1.00 / $1.00 | — |
Perplexity direct API access for production workloads.
PRICINGCanonical source used by AI//COST for list prices and fee notes.
DOCSPer-model token rates, cache rates and service tiers for the Agent API live on the models page, not the pricing page.
OpenAI
Broad model catalog and API ecosystem; useful reference for general-purpose chat pricing.
SAFETY LABAnthropic
Claude is the major enterprise comparator for agentic and document-heavy workloads.
OPEN-WEIGHTAlibaba (Qwen)
Qwen provides low-cost open and proprietary options for text and code workloads.
GLM ARCHITECTZhipu (Z.ai / GLM)
The Beijing lab behind the GLM models, also operating internationally as Z.ai. Spun out of Tsinghua University in 2019, Zhipu ships strong coding/agentic models, multiple free tiers, and open weights — and was the first of China's "Six Tigers" to pursue an IPO. It also sits on the US Entity List.
MEDICAL-AI SPECIALISTBaichuan
The Beijing lab behind the Baichuan general models and the medical M-series. Founded in 2023 by Wang Xiaochuan (former CEO of search engine Sogou), Baichuan has pivoted hard toward healthcare AI — its open-source Baichuan-M3 tops several medical benchmarks — while keeping a general-purpose 4-series lineup.
WECHAT-SCALE LABTencent (Hunyuan)
The Hunyuan (混元) model family from Tencent — parent of WeChat, QQ, and the world's largest games business. Served through Tencent Cloud and the Yuanbao assistant inside WeChat, Hunyuan reaches over a billion users through China's dominant super-app.
Perplexity API pricing FAQ
Practical notes on Perplexity pricing and what AI//COST includes.
Q · 01 What happened to the Sonar API?
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fast preset in place of Sonar and Sonar Pro, low for Sonar Reasoning Pro and high for Sonar Deep Research. The four Sonar pages on this hub keep their last listed rates for reading old invoices. Q · 02 What does Perplexity's own model cost now?
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perplexity/sonar) lists at $0.25/M input, $2.50/M output and $0.0625/M cache read. Tools bill per call on top: web_search is $0.0025 per invocation, or $0.001 with Fast Search. Q · 03 What Perplexity prices are tracked here?
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Q · 04 Are custom enterprise prices included?
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Q · 05 Are tool and search fees included?
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web_search $0.0025 per invocation ($0.001 with Fast Search), fetch_url $0.0005, people_search and finance_search $0.005, and the code sandbox $0.03 per session. Presets call tools on your behalf, so their cost depends on how many searches a run makes. Q · 06 How often should this be re-verified?
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Perplexity's Sonar API was built for web-grounded answers: its invoice combined token prices with request fees, Pro Search fees, search-query fees, citation tokens or reasoning tokens, depending on the model. Perplexity ended it on September 27, 2026 in favour of the Agent API, where each model bills its own token rates and tools are metered per call.
AI//COST keeps the four Sonar API rows as retired pages with their last listed rates, for invoice checks, and tracks Perplexity's own per-token model on the Agent API. Third-party models the Agent API resells are priced on their makers' pages.