unlob vs Perplexity Sonar
Sonar returns a synthesised answer with citations. unlob returns results you control, at a fraction of the per-request search fee.
Verified 5 August 2026·Figures from vendors' own pages
On the headline rate that is 35× — $14 per 1,000 against $0.40. Both figures are computed from the published plan tables rather than typed into this page, so they follow the vendors rather than drifting from them.
Price
- unlob$0.40
- Perplexity Sonar$14
| Provider | Own index? | $ / 1,000 queries | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
A per-request search fee of roughly $5 to $14 per 1,000 on top of token charges ($1/$1 per million on Sonar, $3/$15 on Sonar Pro). Pro Search mode runs $14 to $22 per 1,000. | Yes Perplexity index | $14 | Perplexity API pricing |
$29 per month for 50,000 requests. | Yes Our own crawl and index | $0.58 | This page |
$199 per month for 500,000 requests. | Yes Our own crawl and index | $0.40 | This page |
When Perplexity Sonar is the better choice
A comparison page that cannot name a scenario where the competitor wins is an advertisement. Here are the real ones.
Choose Perplexity Sonar
- You want an answer, not results, and do not need to control how it was assembled.
- Minimum integration effort — one call replaces retrieval, ranking and synthesis.
- Perplexity’s index and freshness on news-shaped queries are strong.
Choose unlob
- You need the retrieved passages themselves, to reason over, cite selectively or feed a specific model.
- Cost: a request here is a request, with no token charges layered on top.
- Filtering, sorting and deduplication under your control rather than the vendor’s.
- Graph traversal and coverage auditing.
The substantive differences
| Perplexity Sonar | unlob | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get back | A written answer with citations. | Ranked passages with metadata and trust signals. assemble_context comes closest, and still returns passages rather than prose. |
| Pricing | Per-request search fees of $5–14 per 1,000 plus token charges ($1/$1 per million on Sonar, $3/$15 on Sonar Pro). | $0.40 per 1,000, no token component. |
| Model choice | Perplexity’s models. | Whichever model you like, or none. |
Sources
Every figure on this page was read from the vendor's own pricing page or funding announcement on the date shown.
- Perplexity Sonar: Perplexity API pricingread 5 August 2026
Frequently asked questions
Is Sonar cheaper than running search plus your own model?
Sometimes, for simple questions where you would have used a similar model anyway. It stops being cheaper as soon as you make several retrieval calls per turn, because each carries its own search fee — and it removes the option of using a cheaper model for synthesis.
Check the claims yourself
The free tier is 10,000 requests a month with no card. That is enough to test coverage, latency and result quality against your own queries — which is a better comparison than this page.