What it is
Perplexity is an AI search engine. You ask a question, it searches the web and writes an answer with numbered citations to the pages it used. You can pick from several frontier models on paid plans, run longer Research and Labs jobs, and follow up in a thread.
Perplexity also makes Comet, a Chromium-based browser with an AI assistant in every tab. Comet has been free since October 2025 and now runs on Mac, Windows, Android and iPhone. Paid plans add Computer, which runs multi-step tasks in the background using monthly credits.
Our review
Perplexity's lasting advantage is the citation, not the model. Every answer arrives with numbered links to the pages it drew on, which makes it faster to verify than a general chatbot and faster to read than ten blue links. The models underneath are rented from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, so anything Perplexity does well on a given day, a rival with the same model can copy.
The consumer pricing has turned into a credit economy. Pro costs $20 a month ($200 a year) and comes with a one-time grant of 4,000 credits for Computer, the background agent that runs multi-step tasks. Max, at $200 a month, adds 10,000 credits every month on top of a 35,000-credit grant. In our reading of the pricing page and help centre, Max buys agent volume and higher Research limits rather than better answers, and most individuals will never need it.
The business case is cleaner than it was. Enterprise Pro is $40 a seat a month, or $400 a year, and the help centre states that organisation data is never used for training, with zero-retention agreements in place with the outside model providers. Perplexity is SOC 2 Type II certified, and files attached to threads are deleted after seven days. The catch is that custom retention periods need 50 seats or at least one Enterprise Max seat at $3,250 a year, so a 20-person law firm that wants a 30-day policy pays for a seat nobody may use. API access is not included in either Enterprise tier.
The pressure comes from below. Google's AI Mode is free and sits where people already search; ChatGPT search ships with a subscription many teams already pay for. Perplexity also faces publisher lawsuits over how it uses their content, and its citations can still point to pages that do not fully support the sentence they sit beside. A citation is a prompt to check, not proof.
Where it earns its place
An equity analyst at a 15-person investment boutique
Get a sourced first read on a company before a call
Pro and Max include premium data sources such as PitchBook, Statista and S&P Capital IQ alongside web results, so the first pass comes back with citations to check rather than a blank page. Enterprise Pro at $400 a seat a year keeps queries out of model training.
An IT lead rolling out AI search to a 60-person consultancy
Give staff a research tool that passes a security review
Enterprise Pro supports SSO, SCIM and audit logs, and 60 seats crosses the 50-seat line for custom retention. At $400 a seat that is $24,000 a year; the SOC 2 report is requested through the trust centre.
A backend developer building a support bot
Ground answers in live web results without running a crawler
The Search API returns raw results at $5 per 1,000 requests ($1 on Fast Search), with failed and rate-limited calls not billed. The Agent API charges model tokens plus $0.0025 per web search call. Enterprise seats do not include API credit.
Before you commit
- Setup
- Consumer plans are self-serve in minutes; Enterprise has no self-serve trial, and evaluations go through the sales team.
- Integrations
- Connectors for workplace tools including Slack; Comet browser; separate Search, Agent and Embeddings APIs billed per request or token.
- Data and privacy
- Enterprise data is never used for training, files attached to sessions are deleted after seven days, and admins with 50+ seats or one Max seat can set session retention; SOC 2 Type II.
- Cost at scale
- A 50-seat team on annual Enterprise Pro pays $20,000 a year; mixing in power users on Enterprise Max costs $3,250 a seat. API usage is billed on top.
- Limits
- Consumer limits are published as multiples ("10x") rather than counts; Computer credits on Pro are a one-time grant, and Max credits reset monthly.
What's good
- Numbered citations on every answer, by default
- Enterprise data excluded from training, with zero-retention deals with model providers
- Comet browser free on Mac, Windows, Android and iPhone
- Search API at $5 per 1,000 requests for builders
What's not
- Free Google AI Mode and ChatGPT search cover most everyday queries
- Custom retention needs 50 seats or a $3,250/year Max seat
- Citations sometimes point to pages that do not back the claim
- Computer credits expire or reset, which makes agent costs hard to plan
Best for
Students, researchers and professionals who want quick, sourced answers instead of a list of links.
Alternatives
Head to head
Perplexity: common questions
- Is Perplexity worth it?
- Still the quickest route from a question to a page you can check, though the gap with free Google AI Mode is now a matter of habit more than capability. We rate it 4.5 out of 5.
- How much does Perplexity cost?
- Free; Pro $20/month ($200/year); Max $200/month ($2,000/year); Education Pro $10/month; Enterprise Pro $40/seat/month ($400/year), Enterprise Max $325/seat/month ($3,250/year). Comet browser free; API billed separately.
- What are the downsides of Perplexity?
- Free Google AI Mode and ChatGPT search cover most everyday queries; custom retention needs 50 seats or a $3,250/year Max seat; citations sometimes point to pages that do not back the claim; computer credits expire or reset, which makes agent costs hard to plan.
- Who is Perplexity best for?
- Students, researchers and professionals who want quick, sourced answers instead of a list of links.
- How much does Perplexity cost for a team or in production?
- A 50-seat team on annual Enterprise Pro pays $20,000 a year; mixing in power users on Enterprise Max costs $3,250 a seat. API usage is billed on top.
- Is Perplexity safe for company data?
- Enterprise data is never used for training, files attached to sessions are deleted after seven days, and admins with 50+ seats or one Max seat can set session retention; SOC 2 Type II.
- What are the best Perplexity alternatives?
- The closest alternatives we have reviewed are Google AI Mode, ChatGPT and Consensus.
Answers checked Oct 23, 2026.
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