AI Models · Paid vs Paid

Sonar Pro Search Paid vs AMNova Lite 1.0 Paid

Sonar Pro Search vs Nova Lite 1.0 compared — price per token, context window, multimodality, openness and which to choose. Full 2026 breakdown.

Prices & specs refreshed from live data · olud.ai

Open-model prices = cheapest provider via OpenRouter; official maker rates may be higher.

Sonar Pro SearchPaidPerplexity
$3 /M input
$15 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window200K tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostNo
AMNova Lite 1.0PaidAmazon
$0.06 /M input
$0.24 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window300K tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostNo
Choose Nova Lite 1.0 for the lower output price ($0.24/M vs $15/M). It also gives you the larger 300K context window.

Sonar Pro Search vs Nova Lite 1.0 specs

SpecSonar Pro SearchNova Lite 1.0Winner
MakerPerplexityAmazon
TypeProprietaryProprietary
Context window200K tokens300K tokensAMNova Lite 1.0
Input price$3/M$0.06/MAMNova Lite 1.0
Output price$15/M$0.24/MAMNova Lite 1.0
Vision / multimodalYesYes= Tie
Tool / function callingNoYesAMNova Lite 1.0
Self-hostableNo (API only)No (API only)
LicenseProprietaryProprietary

Price gap & when to choose each

63×cheaper per output token

Nova Lite 1.0 is ~63× cheaper than Sonar Pro Search on output tokens ($0.24 vs $15 per M tokens).

Choose Sonar Pro Search if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure
AMChoose Nova Lite 1.0 if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You need the longer 300K context window
  • You want the lower output price
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure

Feature comparison

CapabilitySonar Pro SearchNova Lite 1.0
Open weights (downloadable)
Self-hostable
Runs fully offline
Vision / multimodal
Tool / function calling
1M+ context window

How Sonar Pro Search and Nova Lite 1.0 score

🏆 Best value & openness: Nova Lite 1.0 (3.3 vs 2.6 / 5)
CriterionSonar Pro SearchNova Lite 1.0
Cost-efficiency3.05.0
Context window4.04.0
Openness1.51.5
Self-hosting1.01.0
Multimodality3.55.0

Scores come from live data — output price (cost), context length, open vs closed weights (openness & self-hosting) and vision/tool support (multimodality). Raw task quality isn't scored here; it depends on your benchmark — see the verdict.

What each model is

Sonar Pro Search Paid

Perplexity · Proprietary

Exclusively available on the OpenRouter API, Sonar Pro's new Pro Search mode is Perplexity's most advanced agentic search system. It is designed for deeper reasoning and analysis. Pricing is based...

Nova Lite 1.0 Paid

Amazon · Proprietary

Amazon Nova Lite 1.0 is a very low-cost multimodal model from Amazon that focused on fast processing of image, video, and text inputs to generate text output. Amazon Nova Lite...

Frequently asked questions

Sonar Pro Search vs Nova Lite 1.0 — which is cheaper?

Nova Lite 1.0 is cheaper on output ($0.24/M vs $15/M).

Which has the larger context window?

Nova Lite 1.0 offers the larger context window (300K tokens).

Sonar Pro Search vs Nova Lite 1.0 — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose Nova Lite 1.0 for the lower output price ($0.24/M vs $15/M). It also gives you the larger 300K context window.

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