Perplexity

The AI search engine

by Perplexity

Overview

Perplexity is an answer engine rather than a plain chatbot, used in the browser at its own site: replies are written from pages it retrieved, with sources cited inline, so a reader can check where a claim came from. It separates ordinary searches from Pro Search and Research modes, and those modes are metered rather than open-ended - the official plan comparison lists 3 Pro Searches a day on the free plan and weekly limits on paid plans, with Research queries at 1 a month on free and monthly limits above that. It suits fact-finding, where knowing the origin of an answer matters as much as the answer. Citations make checking easier; they do not guarantee that an answer is accurate, complete or current, and we have not measured that.

Perplexity documents data handling for the API separately from the consumer app: it maintains a zero data retention policy for the Chat Completions API, does not train on that data and keeps no query data beyond the request, while API credits are purchased in advance in the API portal. The same statements are not published for consumer accounts, and whether a Pro subscription covers API usage was not established here (Perplexity API privacy and pricing docs, read 12 October 2026).

Commercial terms for consumer plans are now on record. Read on 12 October 2026 through Wayback snapshots of those same URLs, because the live terms and privacy pages answered our requests with a bot check (HTTP 403): the terms snapshot dated 30 September 2026 and the privacy notice snapshot dated 29 September 2026, the latter reached from /hub/legal/privacy-policy, which redirects to /hub/legal/privacy-notice. The Terms of Service (last updated 23 January 2026) permit the Services "for your personal, non-commercial use only", and their list of restrictions forbids you to "exploit the Services for any commercial purpose, including without limitation communicating or facilitating any commercial advertisement or solicitation". The same terms state that they do not govern the APIs (which have their own Perplexity API Terms of Service) or Perplexity Pro for Enterprise (which has its own enterprise terms), and that the company "does not claim any ownership in Your Content". So the tier split is explicit: a Free or Pro consumer plan is licensed for personal, non-commercial use, while commercial or business use is placed on the separate API or enterprise terms rather than on a consumer subscription (Perplexity Terms of Service and Privacy Notice, read 12 October 2026 via same-URL snapshots as noted).

Editor's take

Use it the way you would use a research assistant who shows their working: it is strongest when you need an answer you can check and follow back to a source. The advanced search modes have limits on every individual plan, so read the plan table rather than the marketing line, and treat citations as a starting point rather than a verdict.

Our reading of who this suits, based on the sources above. Opinion, offered to help you decide - not a lab result.

Direct comparisons

Perplexity vs ChatGPT

Key Features

•Search answers with inline citations
•Pro Search and Research modes
•Conversational follow-up questions
•File and image uploads with plan-based limits
•Access to a choice of models on paid plans
•Search history

Use Cases

→Collecting sources before writing
→Checking a claim against primary sources
→Getting oriented in an unfamiliar topic
→Comparing what several pages say

Pros

✓Answers arrive with links you can open and check
✓Plan limits are documented in its help centre
✓Research mode is a distinct step beyond a basic search

Cons

✕Pro Search and Research are metered, not unlimited
✕Citations do not guarantee an accurate, complete or current answer
✕Upload and file limits vary by plan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Perplexity free?

There is a free plan with practically unlimited basic searches and 3 Pro Searches a day, per the official plan comparison. The cost FAQ on the vendor hub states Pro at $20 a month or $200 a year, which is the figure published on this page; the dedicated pricing page did not return its body to us and we did not test checkout, so treat the amount as the vendor published figure rather than a verified charge.

Is Pro Search unlimited?

No. The official plan comparison lists 3 Pro Searches a day on the free plan and weekly limits on paid plans, described as average or advanced use. Some marketing pages have described it as unlimited; where sources disagree we do not treat the wider reading as a guarantee.

Are the citations reliable?

They are links you can check, which is the point of them. They are not a promise that an answer is accurate, complete or current, and we have not measured citation accuracy.

Does it always search the web?

Search and Research are the modes built around retrieval. We have not verified how every mode behaves, so we do not claim that every query goes to the web.

How is Perplexity different from ChatGPT?

Perplexity builds its replies from retrieved pages and cites them inline, and separates ordinary searches from metered Pro Search and Research modes. ChatGPT is a broader assistant that also handles writing, coding and image work. We have not benchmarked them, so this page claims no winner.

Task guides for this product

T8 · Compare ten PDFs in a Chinese evidence table

Key facts and where they come from

PriceNot established: The hub lists Pro $20/month or $200/year and billing help explains web/mobile and local currency. A complete current country/currency/channel-specific purchasable quote is still unestablished; no account checkout was opened.Source: Perplexity hub - cost FAQ · perplexity official per-billing · perplexity official per-local
AvailabilityNot established: Official pages link web, desktop, iPhone and Android entry points, but do not establish a full country-distribution and eligibility policy; app links are not proof of access from a country.Source: Perplexity hub - cost FAQ · perplexity official per-export
Commercial useDocumented: Read on 12 October 2026 through a Wayback snapshot of this same URL dated 30 September 2026, because the live page returned a bot check (HTTP 403). Last updated 23 January 2026. Section 5.1 permits use "for your personal, non-commercial use only"; section 5.2 forbids you to "exploit the Services for any commercial purpose, including without limitation communicating or facilitating any commercial advertisement or solicitation". The opening scope states these terms "do not govern use of the Company's APIs" (separate Perplexity API Terms of Service) "or Perplexity Pro for Enterprise" (separate enterprise terms), and section 6.4 states the company "does not claim any ownership in Your Content". So consumer Free/Pro plans are personal, non-commercial, while commercial or business use sits on the separate API or enterprise terms.Source: Perplexity - terms of service
Training on your dataNot established: The plan table permits training opt-out for Pro/Education Pro/Max and says Enterprise data is not used for training. The privacy-policy body could not be read, so the full training treatment of general Free/Pro inputs and outputs, defaults and exceptions remains unestablished.Source: Perplexity - API privacy and security · Perplexity - privacy notice · Perplexity Help Center - Which plan is right for you?
API billingNot established: The API Platform uses purchased credits/auto top-ups and has no complimentary API credits or web/app Pro entitlements. The explicit separate-API statement is in the Enterprise Max section; consumer-subscription API inclusion and all API operation charges remain unestablished.Source: Perplexity - API privacy and security · Perplexity Help Center - Which plan is right for you? · perplexity official per-billing
Export formatsNot established: An official Enterprise tutorial documents PDF, Markdown and DOCX answer exports and CSV chart downloads. It does not establish Free/Pro consumer, mobile or every plan’s output-export eligibility, which remains unconfirmed.Source: perplexity official per-export · Perplexity Help Center - Which plan is right for you?
Usage limitsDocumented: The plan comparison lists Pro Searches at 3/day on Free and weekly limits on paid plans, and Research Queries at 1/month on Free with monthly limits above that. Education Pro prose describes unlimited Pro Searches.Source: Perplexity Help Center - Which plan is right for you?

Official sources

The vendor pages we read for the claims on this page, what each one states, and the day we read it.

Perplexity hub - cost FAQ ↗
The public hub lists core search plus Pro pricing/features and web-first products. It does not publish a country-by-country distribution matrix. Historical registered scope read on 2026-09-23, not rechecked in full on 2026-10-15: The cost FAQ states Pro at $20 a month or $200 a year. The same page markets unlimited Pro Search, which conflicts with the plan comparison in the help centre that lists weekly and monthly limits, so the narrower metered wording is kept on this site. The body of the dedicated pricing page was not returned to us and checkout was not tested.
Read on October 15, 2026
Perplexity Help Center - Which plan is right for you? ↗
The plan table labels Pro, Education Pro and Max as permitting training opt-out and Enterprise plans as not used for training. Free is labelled Standard privacy without a complete training rule. API Platform is pay-as-you-go, has no complimentary API credits or web/app Pro entitlements; the explicit API-separate sentence is under Enterprise Max, so it is not broadened to every consumer plan. Historical registered scope read on 2026-09-23, not rechecked in full on 2026-10-15: The plan comparison lists Pro Searches at 3/day on Free and weekly limits on paid plans, and Research Queries at 1/month on Free with monthly limits above that. Education Pro prose describes unlimited Pro Searches.
Read on October 15, 2026
Perplexity - API privacy and security ↗
Read on 12 October 2026. States a zero data retention policy for the Chat Completions API, that no query data is retained and none is used for AI training, and that API credits are purchased in advance. It does not state whether a consumer subscription covers API usage.
Read on October 12, 2026
Perplexity - terms of service ↗
Read on 12 October 2026 through a Wayback snapshot of this same URL dated 30 September 2026, because the live page returned a bot check (HTTP 403). Last updated 23 January 2026. Section 5.1 permits use "for your personal, non-commercial use only"; section 5.2 forbids you to "exploit the Services for any commercial purpose, including without limitation communicating or facilitating any commercial advertisement or solicitation". The opening scope states these terms "do not govern use of the Company's APIs" (separate Perplexity API Terms of Service) "or Perplexity Pro for Enterprise" (separate enterprise terms), and section 6.4 states the company "does not claim any ownership in Your Content". So consumer Free/Pro plans are personal, non-commercial, while commercial or business use sits on the separate API or enterprise terms.
Read on October 12, 2026
Perplexity - privacy notice ↗
Requested on 12 October 2026 and answered with a bot check (HTTP 403). This URL redirects to /hub/legal/privacy-notice; the snapshot of that target dated 29 September 2026 is the text read. It is headed "Last updated: July 8, 2026" and, among data uses, states for the optional Email Assistant that "We do not use the content of emails to create, train, improve, or fine-tune AI models." It sets out no commercial-use permission comparable to a licence.
Read on October 12, 2026
perplexity official per-billing ↗
The billing help describes web checkout through Stripe and different receipt/refund channels for mobile purchases. It does not settle a complete current regional Pro quote or API-credit inclusion.
Read on October 15, 2026
perplexity official per-local ↗
The help page addresses local-currency billing, but does not by itself tie the registered Pro amount to a verified country, complete channel eligibility and current checkout.
Read on October 15, 2026
perplexity official per-export ↗
This Enterprise tutorial documents answers exported as PDF, Markdown or DOCX, and charts downloadable as CSV. It does not establish Free/Pro consumer or mobile export eligibility.
Read on October 15, 2026

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