Perplexity

What is Perplexity?

AI answer engine that runs a live web search for every question and returns a synthesised answer with inline citations. Lets you choose which frontier model answers, and bundles an agentic browser.

Main features

• Cited answers with source list
• Pro Search multi-step retrieval
• Spaces (file-grounded workspaces)
• Labs for generating reports, dashboards and small apps
• Comet agentic browser (free since Oct 2025)
• Perplexity Computer orchestrating 19 model sub-agents
• Model Council running a query across three frontier models and synthesising.

Practical use cases

• Competitive and market research
• fact-checking with traceable sources
• literature scanning
• due diligence
• travel and purchase research
• replacing a Google-plus-reading workflow.

Who is it for?

• Researchers, analysts, journalists, students, consultants and anyone who needs sourced answers rather than prose.

Pricing, free access & limits

Freemium subscription; per-seat enterprise; separate Sonar API

Plans described in the source

Free $0. Pro $20/mo or $200/yr (~$16.67/mo, ~17% saving). Max $200/mo or ~$2,000/yr (~$167/mo; annual sold on web only, not App Store/Play). Education Pro $10/mo for verified students and educators via SheerID. Enterprise Pro $40/seat/mo or $400/yr. Enterprise Max $325/seat/mo. Comet Plus add-on $5. Sonar API from $1 per 1M tokens up to $15 per 1M output on Sonar Pro, plus per-request search fees.

Usage limits to consider

Free tier gives unlimited basic searches but roughly 5 Pro Searches per day and no frontier models. Pro includes Spaces up to 50 files and $40 of Perplexity Computer credits. Max removes the Labs quota and raises file storage to ~5,000 files per Space. A credit system was introduced in 2026 and limits were quietly tightened.

Strengths & tradeoffs

These points summarize the supplied research, rather than hands-on test results.

Strengths noted in the source

• Best-in-class citation discipline
• one $20 fee buys access to GPT, Claude and Gemini models
• genuinely fast
• Comet is a capable free agentic browser
• student pricing is half price permanently.

Limitations to consider

• It is an answer engine, not a workflow engine - it will not act in your inbox or CRM. The official pricing page sits behind a bot wall, so third-party guides disagree on fine print. Plan lineup was trimmed from six SKUs to four core surfaces on 5 July 2026. Enterprise Max at $325/seat is expensive relative to alternatives.

Platforms, languages & integrations

Platforms

• Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Comet browser, Chrome extension

Languages

• Multilingual answers incl. Arabic, French, English; sources retrieved in the query language

API access

Yes - Sonar API, per-token plus per-request search billing

Integrations and exports

• Comet browser, Chrome extension, Raycast, Zapier, Slack (enterprise)
• file upload from Drive/Dropbox in Spaces

Evaluation notes

For normal use the free tier or $20 Pro is the relevant price; Max is priced for heavy agent and automation use, not ordinary search. Verify any plan not currently listed before budgeting.

Explore similar tools

Other tools in AI Search Engines. Compare their specific features and limits for your task.

Frequently asked questions

Sources & editorial notes

Based on the directory editor’s supplied research. The source marks this row as checked on 2026-09-12. Importing a record does not independently verify every product claim.

• Official product website
• Official pricing