---
source_url: "https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing"
title: Pricing - Perplexity
mirrored_at: 2026-08-05T13:02:24.516Z
host: docs.perplexity.ai
cited_in_42a: true
mirror_canonical: "https://index.42a.ai/docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing"
---

> **Original source:** https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing

## Estimate your cost

## Gateway API Pricing

Gateway API usage is billed per token at each model’s published rates — there are no per-request fees. Every model has its own input and output rate, with cache reads billed at the model’s discounted cache-read rate and reasoning tokens billed at the output rate. You are always billed at the requested model’s rates, regardless of how the request is served. See [Gateway Models & Pricing](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/gateway/models) for the full per-model rate card, including cache-write rates and long-context pricing.

## Agent API Pricing

The Agent API provides access to third-party models from providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Z.AI, Moonshot AI, and NVIDIA with **transparent, token-based pricing** at direct provider rates with no markup.

### Model Pricing

Agent API pricing varies by provider and model, with each provider offering multiple models at different price points.

### Tool Pricing

When using tools with the Agent API:

Tool

Price

Description

**`web_search`**

$0.0025 per invocation

Performs web searches to retrieve current information

**`fetch_url`**

$0.00025 per invocation

Fetches and extracts content from specific URLs

**`people_search`**

$0.005 per invocation

Looks up professionals, employees, and people. $5 per 1,000 tool invocations

**`finance_search`**

$0.005 per invocation

Retrieves financial data and market information. $5 per 1,000 tool invocations

**`sandbox`**

$0.03 per session

Isolated container for executing code during an Agent API request. A session covers up to 20 minutes of active use for billing purposes — this is the billing window, not a runtime cap. SDK search queries made from inside the sandbox are billed at $0.0025 per request (same as `web_search`).

## Search API Pricing

API

Price per 1K requests

Description

**Search API**

$5.00

Raw web search results with advanced filtering

## Sonar API Pricing

-   Token Pricing
    
-   Request Pricing
    
-   Pro Search Pricing
    

## Token Pricing

**Token pricing** is based on the number of tokens in your request and response.

Model

Input Tokens ($/1M)

Output Tokens ($/1M)

Citation Tokens ($/1M)

Search Queries ($/1K)

Reasoning Tokens ($/1M)

**Sonar**

$1

$1

\-

\-

\-

**Sonar Pro**

$3

$15

\-

\-

\-

**Sonar Reasoning Pro**

$2

$8

\-

\-

\-

**Sonar Deep Research**

$2

$8

$2

$5

$3

## Request Pricing by Search Context Size

**Search context** determines how much web information is retrieved. Higher context = more comprehensive results. The following table shows the request fee for each model for every **1000 requests**.

Model

Low Context Size

Medium Context Size

High Context Size

**Sonar**

$5

$8

$12

**Sonar Pro**

$6

$10

$14

**Sonar Reasoning Pro**

$6

$10

$14

## Pro Search Pricing (Pro Search for Sonar Pro)

**Pro Search** enhances Sonar Pro with automated tool usage and multi-step reasoning. When enabled, the model can perform multiple web searches and fetch URL content to answer complex queries. [Learn more about Pro Search here](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/sonar/pro-search/quickstart).

### Search Type Options

Search Type

Description

Request Fee (per 1K)

**`fast`**

(default) Standard Sonar Pro behavior

$6 / $10 / $14

**`pro`**

Multi-step tool usage for complex queries

$14 / $18 / $22

**`auto`**

Automatic classification based on query complexity

Varies by classification

## Embeddings API Pricing

Generate high-quality text embeddings for semantic search, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and other machine learning applications.

### Standard Embeddings

Model

Dimensions

Price ($/1M tokens)

`pplx-embed-v1-0.6b`

1024

$0.004

`pplx-embed-v1-4b`

2560

$0.03

### Contextualized Embeddings

Model

Dimensions

Price ($/1M tokens)

`pplx-embed-context-v1-0.6b`

1024

$0.008

`pplx-embed-context-v1-4b`

2560

$0.05

## Cost Examples

## Agent API Web Search

**`openai/gpt-5.2`** • 500 input + 200 output tokens • 1 web search

Component

Cost

Input tokens

$0.000875

Output tokens

$0.0028

`web_search`

$0.0025

**Total**

**$0.006175**

## Agent API Research Preset

**`low` preset representative run** • 2,000 input + 1,000 output tokens • 1 web search + 1 fetch

Component

Cost

Model input tokens

$0.001

Model output tokens

$0.003

`web_search`

$0.0025

`fetch_url`

$0.00025

**Total**

**$0.00675**

Actual preset costs vary with the selected model, token usage, and tool invocations. When present on a completed response, `usage.cost.total_cost` reports the calculated request cost.

## Purchase Options