In plain words
Sonar is a chat model from Perplexity. Its whole idea is searching the web: you ask a question, it looks it up, and it answers in a few lines with the pages it used.
That makes it a good first stop for anything recent: news, opening hours, rules that change, what people think of a product. It is not the one to pick for long letters or deep thinking.
How to get the most out of it
- Ask one clear question at a time. “Is the Louvre open on Mondays?” works better than five questions in one message.
- Say where and when. “In Chicago”, “this weekend”, “in 2026”. Web answers depend on it.
- Ask for the sources. It usually lists them, and asking makes sure you get them.
- Open the source for anything that matters. A price, a medical fact or a travel rule is worth a second look.
How it compares with its siblings
Its sibling is Sonar Reasoning Pro. Both search the web. Sonar is the plain, quick one. Sonar Reasoning Pro thinks before it answers and can read documents, so it suits comparisons and research with several steps.
When to pick another model
For writing, like a card, an email or a speech, try Claude Sonnet 5. For an all-rounder that also searches the web and reads photos, try GPT 5.5 or the free Instant. Not sure? Read which model should I use.
