Perplexity Launches ‘Sonar’ the GenAI Search API
On January 21, 2025, Perplexity AI introduced Sonar, a new API service designed to allow businesses and developers to integrate its generative AI search tools into their applications.
In a post on Threads, the company claimed that it is the “most affordable” search API product:
Sonar is the most affordable search API product on the market. Use it to build generative search, powered by real-time information and citations, into your apps. We’re also offering a Pro version with deeper functionality.
However, there’s a doubt as Google’s Programmable Search Engine is a custom search engine and search API product that lets you create a custom search feature for your website or app for free and even let you earn through Adsense.
So calling their services as a “most affordable” product in the same category where we have a lot of free services is not really a good claim.
With that being said, I think Perplexity is talking about purely an AI-powered search API and not general search API product.
Well, Sonar is available in two editions:
• Sonar: Optimized for speed and cost-efficiency, this version is powered by Perplexity’s Sonar large language model (LLM) with a context window of 127,000 tokens.
• Sonar Pro: Designed for handling complex queries, it utilizes the Sonar Pro LLM, offering a context window of 200,000 tokens and providing twice as many citations in responses compared to the standard Sonar.
The API’s pricing structure is competitive, with the base Sonar edition priced at $5 per 1,000 searches, plus $1 for every 750,000 words processed.
Sonar Pro is billed at $3 per 750,000 words of input and $15 for the same amount of output data.
According to VentureBeat, Perplexity’s Sonar aims to challenge existing AI search solutions by offering real-time web-connected search capabilities, a feature that sets it apart from many competitors relying solely on pre-existing training data.
The launch of Sonar follows Perplexity’s recent $500 million funding round, which valued the company at $9 billion.
Early adopters of the Sonar API include companies like Zoom, which has integrated it into its AI Companion 2.0 product, enabling users to access real-time information during video conferences.
Perplexity’s introduction of Sonar represents a strategic move to expand its market presence by providing accessible and advanced AI search capabilities to a broader range of enterprises and developers.
