Head-to-Head API Cost Benchmark

Llama 3.1 8B Instant (Groq) vs Perplexity Sonar Pro: API Price & Latency Comparison

On a standard B2B production workload (5,000 req/day), Llama 3.1 8B Instant (Groq) is 99.1% cheaper ($18.86/mo vs $2025.00/mo), while Llama 3.1 8B Instant (Groq) leads in token generation speed (750 tok/s).

Side-by-Side Specification & Billing Matrix

Metric Llama 3.1 8B Instant (Groq) (GroqCloud) Perplexity Sonar Pro (Perplexity Sonar API) Advantage
Standard Input / 1M Tokens $0.050 $3.000 Llama 3.1 8B Instant (Groq)
Cached Input / 1M Tokens $0.025 $3.000 Llama 3.1 8B Instant (Groq)
Output Generation / 1M Tokens $0.08 $15.00 Llama 3.1 8B Instant (Groq)
Intelligence / Benchmark Quality 1180 LMSYS Elo 1260 LMSYS Elo Perplexity Sonar Pro
Monthly Spend (5k req/day, 50% cache) $18.86 / mo $2025.00 / mo Llama 3.1 8B Instant (Groq) (-99.1%)
Context Window 128,000 tokens 200,000 tokens Perplexity Sonar Pro
Output Speed (Throughput) 750 tokens/sec 75 tokens/sec Llama 3.1 8B Instant (Groq)
Batch API Discount -25% (GroqCloud) -0% (Perplexity Sonar API) GroqCloud
Primary Workload Fit Instant keyword tagging, sentiment scoring, routing prompts at 750+ tokens/sec Market research agents, citation-backed fact checking, B2B company enrichment Workload Dependent
Deploy / Console Access Try Llama 3.1 8B Instant (Groq) → Try Perplexity Sonar Pro → Open Full Simulator