Revenue went up
after the free plan ended.
Perplexity's free-Pro partnership with Indian telecom giant Airtel drove 5.9 million downloads in July 2025 alone. But the more interesting number comes after that free door closed: since early 2026, Perplexity's India revenue is up roughly 60%.
One month beat the
entire prior half-year
In July 2025, Perplexity partnered with Airtel, India's second-largest telecom carrier with 360 million subscribers, to offer a free 12-month "Perplexity Pro" subscription normally worth around $200. Per TechCrunch, the month the offer launched alone drove 5.9 million app downloads in India — up 625% month over month, and more than the entire first half of 2025 combined (5.4 million).
Over the seven months the offer was open to new users, cumulative downloads reached 56 million — more than 9 times the prior seven-month period. Monthly active users (MAU) more than doubled to 8.9 million by that July, and peaked at 22 million in October 2025.
Free was the door in,
not the destination.
Revenue didn't grow
while it was free
The counterintuitive order is the heart of this story. Downloads exploded during the free offer; revenue grew after it ended.
The free offer for new Airtel users to Perplexity Pro wrapped up in early 2026, and from that point through mid-August 2026, Perplexity's India in-app purchase and subscription revenue rose roughly 60% compared with the period when the offer was still open, according to TechBuzz and Unite.AI. The picture that emerges: the roughly 22-million-strong user base and usage habits built during the free period became the foundation, and once that free door closed, the paid-conversion funnel actually started working.
This reads as a real-world case of the classic freemium playbook — acquire cheaply with free access, then monetize — actually paying off. Working backward from these numbers, it looks less like a pure user-count exercise and more like a strategy designed from the start with the later monetization stage baked in. Piggybacking for free on a telecom carrier's existing subscriber base (Airtel's 360 million) also let Perplexity build awareness and usage habits without spending on acquisition advertising.
During the offer,
versus after
| During the free offer | After the offer ended |
|---|---|
| Download surge (5.9M in one month) | New-user inflow pace cools |
| MAU peaks at 22M | In-app purchases/subscriptions become the main battleground |
| Acquisition cost effectively covered by Airtel | Revenue up 60% vs. the prior period |
Who this matters to,
and how
Marketing and growth teams
A telecom-partnership-driven mass free distribution followed by post-offer paid conversion is a concrete playbook worth studying for similar plays in emerging markets.
Business leaders
In a market where Google Search and Meta AI hold strong positions, using price as a wedge to build a foothold is worth watching — including for domestic AI companies eyeing overseas expansion.
General readers
Little direct relevance. Still, it's a useful data point for gauging Perplexity's global momentum as one facet of the AI-search competition.
+60% still comes off
a small absolute base
The growth rate alone looks impressive, but India revenue is likely still a small slice of Perplexity's overall business. A 60% gain is easier to post off a relatively small base, and this momentum doesn't automatically translate into a major contribution to global revenue.
It's also unclear from public information what share of the roughly 22 million users acquired during the free period actually converted to paying subscribers. Google and Meta AI are also pushing free or low-cost generative AI in India, and if that price competition intensifies further, there's no guarantee this paid-conversion momentum holds. This is a genuine success story, not a promise that the same growth rate continues indefinitely.