perplexity-cost-tuning

# Perplexity Cost Tuning ## Overview Reduce Perplexity Sonar API costs. Perplexity charges per-token (input + output) plus a per-request fee that varies by search context size. The biggest cost lever is model selection: `sonar-pro` costs 3-15x more than `sonar` per request. ## Pricing Reference | Model | Input $/M tokens | Output $/M tokens | Request Fee | |-------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------| | `sonar` | $1 | $1 | $5 per 1K requests | | `sonar-pro` | $3 | $15 | $5 per 1K requests | | `sonar-reasoning-pro` | $3 | $15 | $5 per 1K requests | | `sonar-deep-research` | $2 | $8 | $5 per 1K searches | Search context size (Low/Medium/High) affects the request fee. More context = higher fee. ## Prerequisites - Perplexity API account with usage dashboard - Understanding of query patterns in your application - Cache infrastructure for search results ## Instructions ### Step 1: Route Queries to the Right Model ```typescript // 60-70% of queries can use sonar, saving 3-15x per query function selectModel(query: string): "sonar" | "sonar-pro" { const simplePatterns = [ /^what is/i, /^define/i, /^who is/i, /^when did/i, /current price/i, /^how many/i, /^is it true/i, ]; if (simplePatterns.some((p) => p.test(query))) return "sonar"; const complexPatterns = [ /compare.*vs/i, /analysis of/i, /comprehensive/i, /pros and cons/i, /in-depth/i, /research/i, ]; if (complexPatterns.some((p) => p.test(query))) return "sonar-pro"; return ...