Perplexity

0:39 Perplexity is an AI search engine that answers questions in plain language with numbered citations to the pages it read. It is free to use with limits; Pro costs $17 a month and Max $167 a month, billed yearly, and Max is $200 month to month or $2,000 a year (as of Nov 6, 2026). Paid plans let you pick the model behind each answer, from OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol to Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 5.5, Google's Gemini 3.8 Flash and xAI's Grok 4.7.

Use Perplexity when you want an answer you can check, with the sources one click away, or one subscription that reaches several labs' models. A general assistant such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini fits better for long writing, coding or work inside one company's apps. Perplexity also makes the Comet browser, and faces several copyright lawsuits from publishers, covered below. The Best AI Chatbot guide compares them.

Quick facts

Is Perplexity free?

14:24 Yes. The free plan gives practically unlimited basic searches, 3 Pro Searches a day and 1 Research query a month, with citations in every answer, but no choice of advanced models, no image generation and no Comet Assistant. Verified students and educators can get Education Pro for $10 a month.

Plans and prices

Sources: Perplexity pricing, Perplexity Max, plan comparison and model list, read Nov 6, 2026. Perplexity says its model picker is the final word for each account.

Features

Cited answers. Every answer carries inline citations to its sources. Pro and Max add premium data sources for finance and market work, including PitchBook, Statista and S&P Capital IQ.

Model choice and Model Council. Paid plans can pick a preferred model per question, and Perplexity's "Best" mode picks one for you. Model Council, on Pro and Max, runs a question past several models at once, per the pricing page.

7:49 Research. Perplexity's deep research mode reads many sources and writes a structured report. Free users get one a month; Pro and Max get far more, under monthly limits.

10:40 Create files and apps. This mode builds reports, spreadsheets, dashboards, slides and simple web apps from a prompt, with monthly limits by plan.

0:05 Perplexity Computer. An agent that carries out long, multi-step tasks in its own cloud computer, billed in credits. Pro includes 4,000 bonus credits and Max 10,000 a month. Ordinary searches do not use credits.

Comet. Perplexity's own web browser, for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android, with the Comet Assistant that can read pages and act on them. See Comet.

Lawsuits

Several publishers have sued Perplexity for copying their articles. A federal judge in Manhattan refused to dismiss the suit by Dow Jones and the New York Post on Aug 21, 2025, and Japan's Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun also sued, Fortune reported on Aug 26, 2025. Amazon sued over Comet's shopping agent; a court blocked the agent from Amazon in March 2026, and the Ninth Circuit lifted that injunction, Engadget reported on Aug 4, 2026, finding that the Comet user, not Perplexity, was the one accessing Amazon. None of these cases had a final ruling on copyright as of Nov 6, 2026, as far as these reports show.

Privacy and data

Perplexity says its agreements with OpenAI, Anthropic and other model makers forbid them from training on Perplexity data. Enterprise plans state that your data is never used for training. See AI Privacy Compared.

Perplexity vs the alternatives

ChatGPT also searches the web and cites sources, and adds image generation, voice and a much larger set of tools; pick it as an all-round assistant. Gemini draws on Google Search and fits people in Google's apps. Claude is the better pick for long documents and coding. Grok adds live X posts, if those matter to your question. Pick Perplexity when citations and switching between labs' models matter most; Pro gives access to models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Moonshot and Zhipu under one subscription.

Frequently asked questions

Is Perplexity free? Yes. Perplexity's free plan has practically unlimited basic searches with citations, 3 Pro Searches a day and 1 Research query a month, as of Nov 6, 2026.

How much is Perplexity Pro? Perplexity Pro costs $17 a month billed yearly, per Perplexity's pricing page on Nov 6, 2026; verified students pay $10 a month for Education Pro.

How much is Perplexity Max? Perplexity Max costs $200 a month or $2,000 a year ($167 a month), with the highest limits and Max-only models such as Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6 Astra.

Which AI models does Perplexity use? Perplexity Pro offers GPT-6.1 Sol, Gemini 3.8 Flash, Claude Sonnet 5.5, Kimi K3, GLM 5.3, Grok 4.7 and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL, plus Perplexity's own Sonar; Max adds larger models (list as of Oct 27, 2026).

Perplexity vs ChatGPT: which should I use? Perplexity is built around cited search answers and lets you switch models; ChatGPT is a broader assistant with more tools. Many people use Perplexity for research and another assistant for writing and coding.

Sources

• Perplexity pricing, Perplexity, read Nov 6, 2026
• Perplexity Max, Perplexity Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Which Perplexity subscription plan is right for you?, Perplexity Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• What advanced AI models are included in my subscription?, Perplexity Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Are third-party model providers training on my data?, Perplexity Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Comet, Perplexity, read Nov 6, 2026
• Master 95% of Perplexity In 16 Minutes (Full Guide), Parker Prompts, Aug 20, 2026 (video)
• Perplexity Computer, Perplexity, Feb 25, 2026 (video)
• Perplexity AI can't escape Dow Jones training copyright suit, Bloomberg Law, Aug 21, 2025
• Perplexity wants to play nice with publishers. They keep suing it anyway, Fortune, Aug 26, 2025
• Perplexity has successfully overturned Amazon's injunction on its AI shopping bot, Engadget, Aug 4, 2026