AI Models · Paid vs Paid

Sonar Pro Search Paid vs RERelace Search Paid

Sonar Pro Search vs Relace Search 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
RERelace SearchPaidRelace
$1 /M input
$3 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window256K tokens
MultimodalNo
Self-hostNo
Choose Relace Search for the lower output price ($3/M vs $15/M). It also gives you the larger 256K context window.

Sonar Pro Search vs Relace Search specs

SpecSonar Pro SearchRelace SearchWinner
MakerPerplexityRelace
TypeProprietaryProprietary
Context window200K tokens256K tokensRERelace Search
Input price$3/M$1/MRERelace Search
Output price$15/M$3/MRERelace Search
Vision / multimodalYesNoSonar Pro Search
Tool / function callingNoYesRERelace Search
Self-hostableNo (API only)No (API only)
LicenseProprietaryProprietary

Price gap & when to choose each

5.0×cheaper per output token

Relace Search is ~5.0× cheaper than Sonar Pro Search on output tokens ($3 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
REChoose Relace Search if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You need the longer 256K context window
  • You want the lower output price
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure

Feature comparison

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

How Sonar Pro Search and Relace Search score

🤝 Neck and neck on these criteria (2.6 vs 2.8 / 5).
CriterionSonar Pro SearchRelace Search
Cost-efficiency3.04.0
Context window4.04.0
Openness1.51.5
Self-hosting1.01.0
Multimodality3.53.5

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...

Relace Search Paid

Relace · Proprietary

The relace-search model uses 4-12 `view_file` and `grep` tools in parallel to explore a codebase and return relevant files to the user request. In contrast to RAG, relace-search performs agentic...

Frequently asked questions

Sonar Pro Search vs Relace Search — which is cheaper?

Relace Search is cheaper on output ($3/M vs $15/M).

Which has the larger context window?

Relace Search offers the larger context window (256K tokens).

Sonar Pro Search vs Relace Search — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose Relace Search for the lower output price ($3/M vs $15/M). It also gives you the larger 256K context window.

People also compare

Explore more open-source AI

Browse the full open-source model leaderboard, thousands of tools and live benchmarks — all in one place.

Open the leaderboard →