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Sonar Deep Research

Deprecated

Expert-level research model that runs exhaustive multi-source searches and generates comprehensive reports. 128K context. Token pricing: input $2/M, output $8/M, citation tokens $2/M, reasoning tokens $3/M, plus search queries $5 per 1,000 (pricing page). Featured May 2025 with reasoning-effort parameter and async API (async Sonar requests are no longer supported as of 2026-09-27 per the migration guide; Perplexity points them to Agent API background mode). Max output tokens and knowledge cutoff not published. Pricing page fetched 2026-06-28; token and request rates re-read unchanged on the pricing page 2026-09-29, which still publishes the Sonar API tables. LIFECYCLE (read 2026-09-29): Perplexity's Sonar migration guide states 'Sonar Chat Completions support ended on September 27, 2026. Synchronous and streaming requests keep working: they are being reformulated as Agent API requests, rolling out gradually by model. Asynchronous Sonar requests are not reformulated and are no longer supported'. The changelog files the migration under 'Deprecation' (July 2026, no day given), so deprecated_on carries the stated support-end date, 2026-09-27. Signal used: that first-party sentence. Status is deprecated, NOT retired: Perplexity says synchronous calls still work and states no shutdown date, so retires_on stays null. Perplexity's comparable Agent API preset for Sonar Deep Research is 'high' (migration guide mapping table); presets are not catalog models, so replacement stays null. The former per-model docs page now redirects to the migration guide.

Sonar Deep Research by Perplexity costs $2 per 1M input tokens and $8 per 1M output tokens ($3.50/1M blended), with a 128K (128.000-token) context window. It is deprecated.

Last verified: 24 Oct 2026 · sourced from official provider documentation

Deprecated since 27 Sep 2026 · no retirement date published

Lifecycle warning

This model is deprecated.

Read the Sonar Deep Research migration guide → replacement & cheapest alternatives

Provider
Perplexity
Status
Deprecated
Input price
$2 / 1M tokens
Output price
$8 / 1M tokens
Cached input
—
Blended price
$3.50 / 1M tokens
Context window
128.000 tokens (128K)
Max output
—
Modality
text
Open weights
No — API only
Knowledge cutoff
—
Released
May 2025
API string
sonar-deep-research

Source: Perplexity official documentation ↗

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FAQ

Sonar Deep Research — questions & answers

How much does Sonar Deep Research cost?

Sonar Deep Research is priced at $2 per 1M input tokens and $8 per 1M output tokens ($3.50/1M blended at a 3:1 input-to-output ratio).

What is the context window of Sonar Deep Research?

Sonar Deep Research has a 128.000-token context window (128K).

Is Sonar Deep Research being deprecated or retired?

Sonar Deep Research is deprecated. It was deprecated on 27 Sep 2026; no retirement date has been published yet.

Does Sonar Deep Research support image or vision input?

Our catalog lists Sonar Deep Research's modalities as text; image/vision input is not among them.

Can I self-host Sonar Deep Research?

No — Sonar Deep Research is proprietary. Its weights are not publicly released, so it is available only through Perplexity's API (or hosted partners), not for self-hosting.

What is the API model string for Sonar Deep Research?

The API model identifier for Sonar Deep Research is "sonar-deep-research" when calling Perplexity's API.