Perplexity

Overview

Perplexity is a search-focused AI assistant that attaches citations to every answer. It's available on Web, iOS, and Android, plus its own AI-native browser Comet. In 2026 Perplexity added an agentic system called Perplexity Computer and established itself as the go-to tool for research, comparison, and summarization workflows. Queries can be routed to frontier models such as GPT-5.6, Claude Opus 5, Gemini 3.1 Pro, and Grok 4.6, or to Perplexity's own Sonar family.

Latest / Key Features

Comet Browser Now Free for Everyone

Perplexity's AI-native browser Comet is free for all account holders — no subscription required — on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

Perplexity Computer (Agent)

Available on Max, Perplexity Computer orchestrates many frontier models in parallel to complete multi-step tasks — research, comparison, booking, and more. Deep Research now runs inside Computer as a subsystem, decomposing hard questions into subtasks and returning reports, decks, and dashboards.

Multi-Model Routing

Choose between GPT-5.6, Claude Opus 5, Gemini 3.1 Pro, Grok 4.6, and Perplexity's in-house Sonar models (Sonar Reasoning Pro for the hardest questions, Sonar Pro Search for speed). Max removes the caps on the top-tier models.

Comet Plus

A standalone Comet Plus subscription exists at $5/month for premium publisher content, and it's included with Pro and Max.

Deep Research / Labs

Deep Research runs multi-source investigations, while Labs produces GUIs, dashboards, and mini-apps. Labs is unlimited on Max, limited on Pro.

Personal Computer desktop app on Mac and Windows

The Personal Computer desktop agent, which automates workflows across local files, apps, and the web, reached general availability on Mac in May 2026 and expanded to Windows on July 28, 2026.

Plans & Pricing

Perplexity sells Free, Pro at $20/month, Max at $200/month, Education Pro at $10/month for verified students, plus Enterprise Pro ($40/seat) and Enterprise Max ($325/seat).

Plan	Monthly	Highlights
Free	$0	Basic search, Comet browser free
Pro	$20	Unlimited Pro searches, GPT-5.6 / Opus 5 / Gemini 3.1 Pro, limited Labs, Comet Plus
Max	$200	Perplexity Computer, background assistants, uncapped top models, ~10,000 credits, unlimited Labs
Enterprise Pro / Max	$40 / $325 per seat	Comet Enterprise supports silent mass-deployment via MDM, SSO, admin controls, no training on data

Common Use Cases

• Research: Cited information gathering for academic/work projects
• Comparison: Side-by-side comparison of products, tools, services
• News summaries: Multi-source aggregation of current events
• Comet browsing: Page summaries, tab-wide search, form autofill
• Agent tasks: Multi-step automation via Perplexity Computer (Max)

Strengths

• ✅ Citations on every answer — traceable sources
• ✅ Multi-model — pick the best model per task
• ✅ Free Comet browser — AI browser available to everyone
• ✅ Perplexity Computer — powerful agentic system (Max)
• ✅ Personal Computer desktop agent on both Mac and Windows
• ✅ Comet Enterprise — silently mass-deploys to macOS/Windows via MDM, inheriting existing audit-log and data-retention policies
• ✅ Strong real-time information

Weaknesses

• ❌ Max at $200/mo is expensive for individuals
• ❌ Creative writing lags ChatGPT and Claude
• ❌ Code generation weaker than Claude
• ❌ No Custom GPT-like ecosystem
• ❌ Tight free-tier message caps

Official Links

• Website: https://perplexity.ai
• Pricing: https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/technical-faq/what-is-perplexity-pro
• Comet: https://www.perplexity.ai/comet
• Help Center: https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en