What it is
Perplexity is an answer engine from Perplexity AI, Inc., a San Francisco company founded in 2022. You ask a question, it searches the web, and it writes a conversational answer with citations that link to the pages it used. Follow-up questions keep the context of the session.
What you can do with it
Search is the default mode. Left on Best, Perplexity picks a model for each query. Paid plans can choose the model themselves, from Perplexity's own Sonar and from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI and others. Deep Research writes longer reports with more sources and charts. Create files and apps builds reports, spreadsheets, presentations, dashboards and simple web apps.
You can upload files up to 40 MB each (PDFs, CSVs, images, audio and video) and ask about them, narrow a search to sources such as Academic or Finance, and keep related searches, files and instructions together in Projects. Paid plans also generate images and video. There are apps for web, iOS, Android, Windows and Mac. The same company makes the Comet browser.
Plans and prices
- Free: practically unlimited basic searches, a very limited number of Pro Searches, limited file uploads, and no choice of advanced model.
- Pro: extended Pro Search and Research, a choice of advanced models, image and video generation, and higher upload allowances. £20 a month or £200 a year in the UK App Store.
- Max: everything in Pro plus the top models (such as Claude Opus 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol), higher limits on Create files and apps, and early access to new features. $200 a month or $2,000 a year on the web (annual is web only), or £200 a month in the UK App Store.
- Education Pro: $10 a month for verified students and educators.
- Enterprise Pro: from $40 per seat a month or $400 a year, with admin controls and a no-training data policy. Enterprise Max is also available.
UK customers can get a refund if they cancel within 14 days of purchase, on monthly or annual plans.
Limits
File uploads have a weekly allowance on every plan, including Max, and Perplexity does not show how much is left. Access to advanced models may be limited in weeks of heavy use, and the model list changes often. A citation shows where a claim came from, not that the summary is accurate, so open the sources before relying on an answer. Publishers including Dow Jones, The New York Times and the BBC have sued Perplexity or sent it legal demands over its use of their content.
