Perplexity lists 5 models and Scaledown 2. Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model ($0.03 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
| Perplexity | Scaledown | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 5 | 2 |
| Models with published pricing | 5 | 2 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $3.50 | $0.03 |
| Cheapest paid model | Perplexity: Sonar ($1.00) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| Longest context | Perplexity: Sonar Pro (200K) | ScaleDown: Extract (1M) |
| Free models | 0 | 0 |
| Newest model | Perplexity: Sonar Pro Search (2025-10-30) | ScaleDown: Extract (2026-10-13) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 0 | 0 |
For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.
| Workload (per month) | Perplexity | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $95.00 with Perplexity: Sonar | $3.00 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $130 with Perplexity: Sonar | $4.80 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | no suitable model | no suitable model |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $86.00 with Perplexity: Sonar | $3.20 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | $51.00 with Perplexity: Sonar | $2.00 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| You need | Perplexity | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | Perplexity: Sonar ($1.00) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| With tool calling | none listed | none listed |
| With image input | Perplexity: Sonar ($1.00) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| With reasoning mode | Perplexity: Sonar Deep Research ($3.50) | none listed |
| 128K+ context | Perplexity: Sonar Deep Research ($3.50) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| 1M+ context | none listed | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| Model type | Perplexity | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| text+image+file->text | 0 | 2 |
| text+image->text | 4 | 0 |
| text->text | 1 | 0 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Perplexity | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 0 |
| Under $0.50 | 0 | 2 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 1 | 0 |
| $3 – $10 | 4 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.03 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $3.50 for Perplexity. The cheapest paid models are Perplexity: Sonar at $1.00 and ScaleDown: Extract at $0.03.
It depends on the job: Perplexity offers the broader line-up (5 models vs 2), Scaledown the lower typical price, Scaledown the longest context (1M tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Perplexity: Perplexity lists 5 models and Scaledown lists 2.
Scaledown: Perplexity's longest is Perplexity: Sonar Pro at 200K tokens; Scaledown's is ScaleDown: Extract at 1M.
Neither lists a free model; both are pay-per-token.
Perplexity: 4 of 5 models accept images. Scaledown: 2 of 2.