Which belongs in your AI stack?
Perplexity Sonar synthesises an LLM answer with citations. Amygdala returns structured, verified expert profiles ranked by real authority signals: deterministic, zero hallucination risk, LLM-ready JSON. Here's how they differ.
| Feature | Amygdala | Perplexity Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| What it returns | Authority-ranked expert profiles (JSON) | AI-generated prose answers with citations |
| Output format | Structured JSON, deterministic | Generated text, non-deterministic |
| Search type | Semantic expert and authority search | LLM-powered answer synthesis |
| Authority scoring | ✓ Built-in authority ranking | ✗ No expert ranking or verification |
| Infrastructure | 100% EU (Hetzner, Mistral, Weaviate) | US-based (San Francisco) |
| GDPR compliance | ✓ Full, no US data transfers | ✗ US-based, requires SCCs for EU use |
| MCP support | ✓ 4 native tools | ⚠ Limited MCP availability |
| Hallucination risk | None: returns verified indexed data | Present: LLM can fabricate citations |
| Free tier | $50 starter credits | No free tier on Sonar API |
| Pricing | $25/1K searches | $5/1K (basic), $18/1K (Pro Search) |
Why developers choose Amygdala over Perplexity Sonar
Sonar generates prose: the output changes on every call and can hallucinate citations. Amygdala returns structured JSON from a verified index. The same query always returns the same ranked experts.
Sonar tells you what people wrote about AI safety. Amygdala tells you who the verified authorities on AI safety are, with authority ranks, verified social profiles, and peer networks you can actually use.
Perplexity is US-based. Sending data through their API means US data transfers for EU users. Amygdala runs on 100% European infrastructure: Hetzner (Finland/Germany), Mistral AI (Paris), Weaviate (Amsterdam).
API comparison
Both respond to "who are the top AI safety experts?" The output shape is fundamentally different.
curl "https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer pplx-..." \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "sonar",
"messages": [{
"role": "user",
"content": "Who are the top experts on AI safety?"
}]
}'{
"choices": [{
"message": {
"role": "assistant",
"content": "The field of AI safety has several prominent researchers
including Stuart Russell, Paul Christiano, and Yoshua Bengio.
Stuart Russell is known for his work on value alignment and
co-authored the influential textbook 'Artificial Intelligence:
A Modern Approach'. Paul Christiano...",
"citations": [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_safety",
"https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/artificial-intelligence/"
]
}
}]
}curl "https://api.amygdala.eu/api/v1/index/?query=AI+safety&limit=5" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer amyg_..."
{
"duration": 0.084,
"results": [
{
"sdu": "2941...207",
"name": "Stuart Russell",
"rank": 1,
"country_name": "United States",
"topic": "AI Safety"
},
{
"sdu": "1839...561",
"name": "Paul Christiano",
"rank": 2,
"country_name": "United States",
"topic": "AI Safety"
}
]
}{
"results": [{
"name": "Stuart Russell",
"bio": "Professor at UC Berkeley. Pioneer of AI safety research.",
"country": "United States",
"topics": ["AI Safety", "Machine Learning"],
"socials": {
"twitter": { "handle": "@stuartjrussell", "followers": 52400 },
"linkedin": { "handle": "stuart-russell-ai", "followers": 18200 }
}
}]
}Pricing comparison
Sonar basic: $5/1K. Sonar Pro Search: $18/1K. No free tier on the API.
Returns LLM-generated prose. Non-deterministic output. Hallucination risk. US infrastructure only.
$50 in free credits on signup. No credit card required.
Returns structured, deterministic expert profiles. Verified data, no hallucination risk, EU-hosted, GDPR-compliant.
Start freeWhen to use which
Tip: Use Sonar to generate a draft answer, Amygdala to ground it in verified expert identities before showing it to users. Learn how authority-ranked data reduces LLM hallucinations →
No credit card required. Full API access from day one.