GPT-4o vs Sonar Pro
GPT-4o comes out ahead, 35 to 20 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
GPT-4o is our pick
GPT-4o is the better all-round choice, scoring 35/100 against Sonar Pro (20). It leads on price and inputs & features. Sonar Pro wins on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceGPT-4oGPT-4o $4.38 · Sonar Pro $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextSonar ProSonar Pro 200,000 · GPT-4o 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGPT-4oGPT-4o: Text, Images, PDFs · Sonar Pro: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | GPT-4o | Sonar Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 19 | 13 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 32 |
| Overall | 100% | 35/100 | 20/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification |  GPT-4oOpenAI |  Sonar ProPerplexity |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 129.0 | — |
| ECI rank | #129 of 148 | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 48.9% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 6.3% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $2.50 (best) | $3.00 |
| Output | $10.00 (best) | $15.00 |
| Cached input | $1.25 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $4.38 (best) | $6.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official OpenAI API | Official Perplexity API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 200,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 16,384 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | No |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gpt-4o | sonar-pro |
| API providers | 19 (best) | 5 |
| Released | May 13, 2024 | Jan 1, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 2023 | Sep 1, 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- GPT-4o$45.00
- Sonar Pro$60.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GPT-4o or Sonar Pro?
GPT-4o is the better all-round choice, scoring 35/100 against Sonar Pro (20). It leads on price and inputs & features. Sonar Pro wins on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4o or Sonar Pro?
GPT-4o is cheaper at $2.50 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Sonar Pro costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (official Perplexity API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $4.38 per million tokens for GPT-4o versus $6.00 for Sonar Pro (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. GPT-4o has an ECI of 129.0 and Sonar Pro has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4o and Sonar Pro yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Sonar Pro does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Sonar Pro has the largest context window at 200,000 tokens, against 128,000 for GPT-4o. Maximum output per response: GPT-4o up to 16,384, Sonar Pro up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GPT-4o accepts text, images and PDFs; Sonar Pro accepts text and images. GPT-4o handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. GPT-4o and Sonar Pro are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
GPT-4o is the newest, released May 13, 2024. Sonar Pro came out Jan 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4o Sep 2023, Sonar Pro Sep 1, 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
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