Lowest-Latency Perplexity Models

Quick answer · Updated June 2026

Sonar has the lowest latency of any Perplexity model, responding in about 1.6s to first token. Sonar Pro (2.2s) and Sonar Pro Search (4.1s) round out the top three.

1.6sLatency

43 t/sSpeed

$1.00Input /M

127KContext

AI models ranked by time-to-first-token (p50). The most responsive large language models for real-time and interactive use cases.

Frequently asked

Which Perplexity model has the lowest latency?

Sonar has the lowest latency of any Perplexity model, responding in about 1.6s to first token. Sonar Pro (2.2s) and Sonar Pro Search (4.1s) round out the top three.

What's a good alternative to Sonar?

Sonar Pro (2.2s) is the closest alternative on this metric, followed by Sonar Pro Search (4.1s). See the full ranking above for the tradeoffs.

How many Perplexity models are there?

modelgrep tracks 5 Perplexity models with live benchmarks, speed, latency and per-provider pricing. 5 of them qualify for this ranking.

More Perplexity rankings

Perplexity: Smartest LLMs Perplexity: Best LLMs for Coding Perplexity: Best LLMs for Design & Frontend Perplexity: Fastest LLMs Perplexity: Cheapest LLMs Perplexity: Best Free LLMs Perplexity: Best Reasoning LLMs Perplexity: Best Vision LLMs Perplexity: Best LLMs for Agents Perplexity: Best Open-Source LLMs Perplexity: Longest-Context LLMs

All rankings

Small & Fast LLMs Smartest LLMs Best LLMs for Coding Best LLMs for Design & Frontend Fastest LLMs Cheapest LLMs Best Free LLMs Best Reasoning LLMs Best Vision LLMs Best LLMs for Agents Best Open-Source LLMs Longest-Context LLMs