AI Models · Paid vs Paid

Sonar Pro Search Paid vs Solar Pro 4 Paid

Sonar Pro Search vs Solar Pro 4 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
Solar Pro 4PaidUpstage
$0.09 /M input
$0.36 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window524K tokens
MultimodalNo
Self-hostNo
Choose Solar Pro 4 for the lower output price ($0.36/M vs $15/M). It also gives you the larger 524K context window.

Sonar Pro Search vs Solar Pro 4 specs

SpecSonar Pro SearchSolar Pro 4Winner
MakerPerplexityUpstage
TypeProprietaryProprietary
Context window200K tokens524K tokensSolar Pro 4
Input price$3/M$0.09/MSolar Pro 4
Output price$15/M$0.36/MSolar Pro 4
Vision / multimodalYesNoSonar Pro Search
Tool / function callingNoYesSolar Pro 4
Self-hostableNo (API only)No (API only)
LicenseProprietaryProprietary

Price gap & when to choose each

42×cheaper per output token

Solar Pro 4 is ~42× cheaper than Sonar Pro Search on output tokens ($0.36 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
Choose Solar Pro 4 if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You need the longer 524K context window
  • You want the lower output price
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure

Feature comparison

CapabilitySonar Pro SearchSolar Pro 4
Open weights (downloadable)
Self-hostable
Runs fully offline
Vision / multimodal
Tool / function calling
1M+ context window

Benchmarks: Sonar Pro Search vs Solar Pro 4

Independent benchmark scores measured by Artificial Analysis. Higher is better (except latency).

Sonar Pro Search
Solar Pro 4
Intelligence index
28.2
Coding index
52.7
GPQA
89.1%
Humanity's Last Exam
29.2%
Long Context Reasoning
74%
SciCode
44.6%
τ-Bench Banking
23.3%
Terminal-Bench
57.3%
Speed
50.1 tok/s
Latency
1.09s
Intelligence per $
53.7

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How Sonar Pro Search and Solar Pro 4 score

🏆 Best value & openness: Solar Pro 4 (3.1 vs 2.6 / 5)
CriterionSonar Pro SearchSolar Pro 4
Cost-efficiency3.05.0
Context window4.04.5
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...

Solar Pro 4 Paid

Upstage · Proprietary

Solar Pro 4 is Upstage's cost-efficient large language model, featuring a 524K context window. It is built for long-horizon tasks and agentic workflows, with strong capabilities in office productivity, document-intensive...

Frequently asked questions

Sonar Pro Search vs Solar Pro 4 — which is cheaper?

Solar Pro 4 is cheaper on output ($0.36/M vs $15/M).

Which has the larger context window?

Solar Pro 4 offers the larger context window (524K tokens).

Sonar Pro Search vs Solar Pro 4 — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose Solar Pro 4 for the lower output price ($0.36/M vs $15/M). It also gives you the larger 524K context window.

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