vs. research APIs
StartupKit vs Perplexity (Sonar API)
Answer-engine API — LLM answers with web citations. Per-token API pricing by Sonar model tier; no flat free tier for the API.
Details verified on Perplexity (Sonar API)'s pricing page on September 2, 2026.
Side by side
StartupKit
Perplexity (Sonar API)
Price
Free (1 project). Pro $28/mo (unlimited projects)
Usage-based
Agent tooling
MCP server (16 tools), CLI (npx startupkit), agent handoff prompt + skill
MCP server for their search/scrape API
Research
Structured data: DataForSEO, Google Trends, NameBio, Appfigures, SERP, registrars
LLM-generated answers with live web citations; Good for open-ended questions in an agent's context; Simple REST API
Launch
/kit listing page in every scaffold: paste-ready copy, brand assets, 15-directory tracker
None
Projects
1 free forever, unlimited on Pro
—
What Perplexity (Sonar API) does well
- LLM-generated answers with live web citations
- Good for open-ended questions in an agent's context
- Simple REST API
Where StartupKit picks up
- Answers, not structured market data — no keyword volumes, SEO profiles, or trend series
- No domain availability, app store, or NameBio data
- No deterministic numbers your agent can compute against
- No SaaS kit, no launch tooling
Structured market data, not web pages
Answers, not structured market data — no keyword volumes, SEO profiles, or trend series No domain availability, app store, or NameBio data No deterministic numbers your agent can compute against No SaaS kit, no launch tooling. StartupKit adds the rest of the lifecycle: research your agent can compute against, a production SaaS kit, and launch tooling.