Perplexity AI Pricing 2026

Perplexity AI offers a free tier with limited searches, or paid plans ranging from $20-$325/user/month for individuals and teams. Perplexity Pro costs $20/month (or $200/year) with unlimited searches and access to advanced models (GPT-4, Claude, Llama, Gemini). For teams, Enterprise Pro costs $40/user/month ($400/year annual) with shared Spaces and admin controls. Enterprise Max costs $325/user/month ($3,250/year annual) with unrestricted Labs access and maximum performance. Annual billing saves approximately 17% across all paid tiers.

Yes, Perplexity AI offers a permanent free tier with basic AI-powered search and source citations. However, the free plan has significant limitations: limited daily search quota (typically 5-10 Pro searches per day), no access to advanced models like GPT-4 or Claude, limited file uploads, and no team features. For consistent research use, most users will need to upgrade to Perplexity Pro ($20/month) for unlimited searches and model choice.

Perplexity AI is a conversational search engine that combines AI-powered answers with real-time web search and source citations. Unlike general-purpose chatbots, Perplexity is designed specifically for research and information discovery, providing detailed answers with links to original sources. It offers access to multiple AI models (GPT-4, Claude 3, Llama 3, Gemini) that users can choose per query. Perplexity is particularly popular among researchers, journalists, and professionals who need accurate, cited information rather than creative generation.

Perplexity Pro and ChatGPT Plus both cost $20/month but serve different use cases. Perplexity excels at research and information discovery with real-time web search and source citations, while ChatGPT is better for creative generation, coding, and multimodal tasks (image generation, voice interaction). Perplexity offers access to multiple models (GPT-4, Claude, Llama, Gemini) in one interface, while ChatGPT limits you to OpenAI models. Choose Perplexity if you prioritize research with citations; choose ChatGPT if you need image generation (DALL-E), voice interaction, or video creation (Sora).

Perplexity Pro ($20/month) and Claude Pro ($17-20/month) are similarly priced but differ fundamentally in approach. Perplexity is a search-first tool that accesses multiple AI models (including Claude) with real-time web search and citations, while Claude is a conversation-first assistant with extended context windows (200K tokens). Perplexity wins for research and information discovery. Claude wins for extended document analysis, detailed technical writing, and coding assistance. You can use Claude models within Perplexity Pro, but you don't get Claude's 200K context window.

Free includes basic AI search with limited daily Pro searches and standard models. Pro ($20/month or $200/year) adds unlimited searches, access to advanced models (GPT-4, Claude, Llama, Gemini), model selection per query, unlimited file uploads, $5/month API credits, and Research/Labs modes. Enterprise Pro ($40/user/month or $400/year) adds Shared Spaces, admin controls, SSO, and team analytics. Enterprise Max ($325/user/month or $3,250/year) adds unrestricted Labs access, maximum performance, and advanced features (insight dashboard, audit logs require 50+ members or 1 Max user).

Yes, Perplexity Pro and Enterprise plans allow you to choose your preferred AI model for each query. Available models include GPT-4, Claude 3, Llama 3, and Gemini Pro. This is unique among AI assistants -- most competitors lock you into their own models. The ability to select models per query makes Perplexity ideal for users who want to leverage different models' strengths (Claude for writing, GPT-4 for reasoning, Llama for open-source) within one interface. Free tier users cannot choose models.

Yes, Perplexity's defining feature is source citations. Every AI-generated answer includes numbered citations linking to the original web sources used to generate the response. This makes Perplexity particularly valuable for research, journalism, and fact-checking where verifying information sources is critical. Unlike ChatGPT or Claude (which can hallucinate without citations), Perplexity's search-first approach ensures answers are grounded in real, verifiable sources. Both Free and Pro tiers include citations.

Perplexity Enterprise Max is a premium tier priced at $325/user/month ($3,250/year annual) designed for research-intensive teams and power users. It includes all Enterprise Pro features plus unrestricted access to Labs and Research search modes, maximum performance enhancements, and priority access to new features. Advanced enterprise features (insight dashboard, audit logs, SCIM) require either 50+ team members or at least 1 Enterprise Max user. At $325/month, it's significantly more expensive than competitors' top tiers (ChatGPT Pro $200/month) and only justified for teams with extreme research needs.