Perplexity Sonar, the first API of AI capable of carrying out web research in real time
From its launch in July 2022, Perplexity ai stood out from other conversational chatbots such as Chatgpt, Gemini and Copilot by his orientation towards online research. Where traditional AI models were based on previously trained data, Perplexity connected in real time to glean the coolest information. Its new Sonar API is based on the same model since it allows a real time connection to the Internet. In theory, this method makes it possible to provide responses based on reliable and updated sources, thus increasing the accuracy and authority of the results.
Two distinct versions
The Sonar API is available in two distinct versions. The first, basic, wants to be fast and economical. It is therefore intended for users with simple needs. The Sonar Pro version is more powerful. The company says it excels in the treatment of complex questions thanks to its ability to carry out several simultaneous research and to provide twice as many quotes as the basic version.
At the time of launch, one of the most interesting use cases of Sonar is its integration with zoom. The famous videoconferencing platform uses this API to feed an AI assistant capable of providing real -time responses directly within meetings. Thanks to this feature, users can do internet research with quotes without leaving their discussion screen.
Aggressive positioning
Perplexity positions Sonar as one of the most affordable solutions on the API market of AI. The basic version is offered at a fixed rate of $ 5 per 1,000 searches, with an additional cost of a dollar for each slice of 750,000 words seized or generated (approximately one million tokens). On the other hand, Sonar Pro, which offers more advanced features, invoices $ 15 for each equivalent slice of generated words while maintaining an identical cost for research.
To justify this significantly higher rate, Perplexity affirms that Sonar Pro surpasses the flagship models of the market in terms of factual precision, in particular those offered by Google, Openai and Anthropic. These performances were measured via the Simpleqa benchmark, specializing in the evaluation of the responses generated by IA chatbots.
With the launch of Sonar, Perplexity may well succeed in a nice blow, as this API seems to have everything you need to redefine the standards of real -time research in real time. Indeed, there are very few APIs of AI which offers the same thing as Sonar and Sonar Pro. At Openai, only the chatbotChatgpt is connected to the Internet in real time. The recent Operator Conversely, but it is only to automate tasks on the web, simulating human behavior in a browser. For his part, Claude Ai has left in a complete direction of different with his quotes functionality. Only the APIs Gemini-1.5-Pro and Gemini-2.0-Flash With Search Grounding can do real-time research, based on the results of Google Search. The other competitors should soon react, but Perplexity AI is one step ahead of most of them.
