GPT-6 Astra vs Sonar
Side-by-side specs, pricing and capabilities. Both models run on Clade under one subscription, so you can switch between them in the same conversation.
GPT-6 Astra comes from OpenAI and Sonar from Perplexity. The practical difference for most people is context, price, and which input types each one accepts.
GPT-6 Astra holds more in a single conversation — 1.1M tokens against 128K — which matters for long documents and large codebases.
Sonar is the cheaper of the two on input tokens at $1.00 / 1M tokens.
| Specification | GPT-6 Astra | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Perplexity |
| Model ID | gpt-6-astra | sonar |
| Context window | 1.1M | 128K |
| Max output | 128K | — |
| Input price | $10.00 / 1M tokens | $1.00 / 1M tokens |
| Output price | $50.00 / 1M tokens | $1.00 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2026-04 | — |
| Input types | text, image | text, image, file |
| Output types | text | text |
| Plan | All paid plans | All paid plans |
Which should you use?
Pick GPT-6 Astra when…
- You need the larger context window — 1.1M against 128K.
- You want longer single responses — up to 128K output tokens.
Pick Sonar when…
- Cost matters: input runs at $1.00 / 1M tokens versus $10.00 / 1M tokens.
- You need file input, which the other model does not accept.
Related comparisons
Try both on Clade
You do not have to choose. One Clade subscription gives you GPT-6 Astra, Sonar, and every other model on the platform.