Perplexity is best for consultants doing desk research, anyone who needs sources with an answer and freelancers checking claims before quoting them. Its clearest advantage: Cites its sources, which is the whole point for research work.
- Avoid if
- long-form drafting
- Cheapest useful plan
- $17.00/mo equivalent · Pro: Annual commitment required
- Free plan
- Yes
- Setup effort
- easy: minutes
- Main limitation
- No monthly price published: annual commitment is the advertised path
- Cites its sources, which is the whole point for research work
- Free tier is usable for occasional lookups
- Lets you pick between several underlying models
- long-form drafting
- anyone who wants one tool for everything
What it actually does
Answers with citations, choice of underlying models, deep research mode, Computer, an agent for multi-step tasks with adjustable effort, Skills Marketplace.
Before you pay
Who it is for
Perplexity is built for research: every answer cites its sources, and you can choose between several underlying models. The free tier covers occasional lookups. It is not built for long-form drafting, so a writer will usually pair it with a general assistant rather than replace one.
What a year costs
The page quotes annual billing only. Pro is $17 a month billed annually, $204 a year paid upfront. Max is $167 a month billed annually, $2,004 a year. No month-to-month rate is shown, so the cost of staying flexible is not published. We read the same $17 on 20 August, 13 September, 10 October and 25 October.
What we would check before paying
That a year's commitment suits you, since it is the only advertised path. Whether the free tier already answers your questions: for a few lookups a week it often does. Check the cited sources yourself before reusing an answer.
What changed recently
Computer gets Ultrafast model options, a Decisions API classifies and scores content, and administrators can control access to connectors by role. Source ↗
Automations for recurring work and interactive visualisations inside threads. Source ↗
Computer gets a selectable effort level, a marketplace of reusable Skills and a Side Chat for side questions. Source ↗
Read on each vendor's official changelog, not tested by us.
The limits to know
- No monthly price published: annual commitment is the advertised path
- Not built for long-form drafting
- Narrower than a general assistant for the same money
Pricing & billing commitment
- Rate on record
- $17.00/mo equivalent · Pro
- What that figure is
- Monthly equivalent of a twelve-month commitment per account. The vendor publishes no month-to-month rate for this plan.
- Commitment
- Annual commitment required
- Yearly bill
- $204.00/year
- The vendor's exact condition
- USD 17/month shown for annual billing; the public pricing page publishes no monthly-billing figure
In practice
- Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android
- Integrations
- Web, Chrome
- Setup
- easy: minutes
Perplexity in our comparisons
Alternatives to Perplexity
Compare side by side:Perplexity / ChatGPTPerplexity / ClaudePerplexity / Microsoft 365 Copilot
Frequently asked questions
What is Perplexity?
Perplexity is a tool from Perplexity AI, used mainly for sourced research, fact-checking, competitive scanning. Main features: answers with citations, choice of underlying models, deep research mode. It has a permanent free plan; the paid entry point is $17.00/mo equivalent · Pro.
How much does Perplexity cost?
The paid entry point is $17.00/mo equivalent · Pro. Monthly equivalent of a twelve-month commitment per account. The vendor publishes no month-to-month rate for this plan. Annual commitment required. ($204.00/year.) The exact condition attached to that figure: USD 17/month shown for annual billing; the public pricing page publishes no monthly-billing figure. Read on the official pricing page on 25.10.2026. Prices move quickly: confirm before subscribing.
Does Perplexity have a free plan?
Yes. Perplexity publishes a permanent free plan. Check this before settling on it: no monthly price published: annual commitment is the advertised path.
What devices and tools does Perplexity work with?
According to the vendor's documentation, Perplexity runs on: Web, iOS, Android. Documented integrations: Web, Chrome. Listed from the official sources, not tested by us: check your own setup on the free plan.
How we checked this record
The evidence record
- Evidence level
- Vendor documented: Official documentation and pricing page reviewed and dated. No independent verification, no hands-on test recorded.
- Affiliate status
- No affiliate link on this record, no commission.
Hands-on test
No automated hands-on test has been completed for this review cycle. This record rests on the vendor's official documentation and pricing page, re-read and dated. We say so rather than imply otherwise.
The research record
Read on the vendor's monthly view, from France; screenshot kept
Read on the vendor's annual-billing view, the only one published for this plan, from France
Re-read, unchanged
Read on the vendor's published view
Sources
The official pages this record rests on. No tracking links here: these addresses name the vendor.
Evidence freshness
Each kind of check has its own clock and its own threshold. A price ages in weeks and a feature list in months; sharing one date between them would let an old review pass for a recent check.
| Check | When | State |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Checked 18 days ago | Fresh |
| Features | Checked 18 days ago | Fresh |
| Privacy & data | Never checked | Not independently checked |
| Hands-on test | Never checked | Not independently checked |
| Page review | Checked 96 days ago | Due soon |
What remains unverified
- No workflow was run inside the product. Everything here comes from the vendor's documentation and public pages.
- Data handling and the privacy policy were not independently verified during this research cycle. We therefore publish no conclusion about security or where data is stored.
- Export terms and the real cost of leaving are not on this record: we have not tested them.