grok-4-1-fast-reasoning vs sonar-pro
grok-4-1-fast-reasoning is 15.0× cheaper on input than sonar-pro.
| grok-4-1-fast-reasoning | sonar-pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M | $0.20 | $3.00 |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.05 | — |
| Output / 1M | $0.50 | $15.00 |
| Context window | 2M | 200K |
| Max output | 2M | 8K |
| Provider | xAI | Perplexity |
| Vision | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | No |
| Token count | estimated | estimated |
Capability for the money
Independent measurement · Artificial Analysis · read 2026-08-11grok-4-1-fast-reasoning is 21.8× cheaper than sonar-pro and scores higher on every benchmark they share — there is no case for paying more here.
Coding
writing and fixing code
LiveCodeBenchgrok-4-1-fast-reasoning +54.7
Hard reasoning
graduate-level science and multi-step analysis
GPQA Diamondgrok-4-1-fast-reasoning +27.5
Averaged over the benchmarks both models sat, grok-4-1-fast-reasoning returns 304.5 points of pass rate per dollar of blended price against 7.1 — the ratio that decides whether the dearer model earns its rate.
Each figure is a pass rate: the share of that test set the model answered correctly, measured by a third party rather than self-reported by the lab. Rows are different tests of different difficulty, so compare a model against the other model, not one row against the next. No published following instructions or tool use score for one of these models, so those lenses are omitted. And a benchmark is not your workload — it narrows the shortlist, it does not pick for you.
Which to pick
- Cheaper input: grok-4-1-fast-reasoning
- Cheaper output: grok-4-1-fast-reasoning
- Larger context: grok-4-1-fast-reasoning
- Better at coding: grok-4-1-fast-reasoning (82.2% vs 27.5% on LiveCodeBench)
- Better at hard reasoning: grok-4-1-fast-reasoning (85.3% vs 57.8% on GPQA Diamond)
List price is not production cost. Output length, cache hit rate, retries and task quality move the real number more than the headline rate does — price your own prompt on the token ledger before deciding.
Related comparisons
grok-4-1-fast-reasoning detail · sonar-pro detail · All xAI pricing · All comparisons