Perplexity Performance Tuning Overview Optimize Perplexity Sonar API for latency, throughput, and cost. Key insight: every Perplexity call performs a live web search, so response times are inherently variable. Typical latencies: sonar 1-3s, sonar-pro 3-8s, sonar-deep-research 10-60s. Latency Benchmarks | Model | Typical Latency | Max Tokens | Best For | |-------|----------------|------------|----------| | | 1-3s | 4096 | Quick answers, simple facts | | | 3-8s | 8192 | Deep research, many citations | | | 5-15s | 8192 | Multi-step analysis | | | 10-60s | 8192 | Comprehensive reports | Prerequis…