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o3 Mini vs Sonar
This page is context-first: how much text each model can take in one request. Full specs adds capabilities and limits; the pricing matrix below is only about $/million tokens from hosts that list both models.
Context window · side by side
Bar length is relative to the larger of the two windows (100% = max of this pair). This is not pricing.
o3 Mini has about 1.6× the context window of the other in this pair.
o3 Mini has 56% more context capacity (200K vs 128K tokens). Sonar is 9% cheaper on input.
Quick verdicts
Short takeaways — validate with your own workloads.
Long document processing
Use o3 Mini. Its 200K context fits entire documents without chunking (vs 128K).
RAG / high-volume retrieval
Use Sonar. Input tokens are 9% cheaper — critical when sending large retrieved contexts.
Full specs
Context, output, capabilities, and dates. Green highlights the favorable value where we compute a winner.
| Spec | o3 Mini | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 200,000 tokens (200K) | 128,000 tokens (128K) |
| Max output tokens | 100,000 tokens (100K) | N/A |
| Speed tier | Fast | Balanced |
| Vision | No | Yes |
| Function calling | Yes | No |
| Extended thinking | Yes | No |
| Prompt caching | Yes | No |
| Batch API | Yes | No |
| Release date | Jan 2025 | Jan 2025 |
Pricing matrix
Dollar rates only: hosts that list both models, per 1M tokens. For how much text fits, use the context section above — not this table.
| Provider | o3 Mini in | o3 Mini out | Sonar in | Sonar out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azure | $1.10/M | $4.40/M | — | — |
| Openai | $1.10/M | $4.40/M | — | — |
| Openrouter | $1.10/M | $4.40/M | — | — |
| Perplexity | — | — | $1.00/M | $1.00/M |
Frequently asked questions
Powered by Mem0
Use a smaller model.
Get better results.
Mem0 gives your AI long-term memory so you stop re-sending context on every call. That means you can use a smaller, faster, cheaper model — and still get better answers.
Example: a multi-turn chat session
80% less to send — works with any model