Key Takeaways
GPT-5 wins:
- Larger context window
- Higher intelligence benchmark
- Better at coding
- Better at math
- Supports tool calls
Sonar wins:
- Cheaper input tokens
- Cheaper output tokens
- Faster response time
Price Advantage
Sonar
Benchmark Advantage
GPT-5
Context Window
GPT-5
Speed
Sonar
Pricing Comparison
Price Comparison
| Metric | GPT-5 | Sonar | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input (per 1M tokens) | $1.25 | $1.00 | Sonar |
| Output (per 1M tokens) | $10.00 | $1.00 | Sonar |
| Cache Read (per 1M) | $125000.00 | N/A | GPT-5 |
Using a 3:1 input/output ratio, Sonar is 71% cheaper overall.
GPT-5 Providers
OpenAI $1.25 (Cheapest)
Azure $1.25 (Cheapest)
Sonar Providers
Perplexity $1.00 (Cheapest)
Vercel $1.00 (Cheapest)
Benchmark Comparison
8
Benchmarks Compared
5
GPT-5 Wins
0
Sonar Wins
Benchmark Scores
| Benchmark | GPT-5 | Sonar | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
Intelligence Index Overall intelligence score | 44.6 | 15.5 | |
Coding Index Code generation & understanding | 36.0 | - | - |
Math Index Mathematical reasoning | 94.3 | - | - |
MMLU Pro Academic knowledge | 87.1 | 68.9 | |
GPQA Graduate-level science | 85.4 | 47.1 | |
LiveCodeBench Competitive programming | 84.6 | 29.5 | |
Aider Real-world code editing | 88.0 | - | - |
AIME Competition math | 95.7 | 48.7 |
GPT-5 significantly outperforms in coding benchmarks.
Cost vs Quality
X-axis:
Y-axis:
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GPT-5
Other models
Context & Performance
Context Window
GPT-5
400,000
tokens
Max output: 128,000 tokens
Sonar
127,072
tokens
GPT-5 has a 68% larger context window.
Speed Performance
| Metric | GPT-5 | Sonar | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokens/second | 83.1 tok/s | 131.1 tok/s | |
| Time to First Token | 109.19s | 1.38s |
Sonar responds 58% faster on average.
Capabilities
Feature Comparison
| Feature | GPT-5 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input) | ||
| Tool/Function Calls | ||
| Reasoning Mode | ||
| Audio Input | ||
| Audio Output | ||
| PDF Input | ||
| Prompt Caching | ||
| Web Search |
License & Release
| Property | GPT-5 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Author | OpenAI | Perplexity |
| Released | Aug 2025 | Jan 2025 |
GPT-5 Modalities
Input
textimagefile
Output
text
Sonar Modalities
Input
textimage
Output
text