Perplexity AI

Perplexity is a cited AI search product. Rechecked 2026-08-17: the Pro help article still sells Pro at $20 / month or $200 / year. perplexity.ai/max sells Max at $200 / month or $2,000 / year. Free is limited. Do not keep "unlimited GPT-3.5" or "unlimited Pro Search with GPT-4 / Claude / o1" from the old page. Enterprise and internal-search seats exist; we did not invent a public seat dollar.

Compare Grok if you wanted xAI's grok-4.6 API and Imagine meters, and ChatGPT if you wanted OpenAI's consumer Plus / Pro seats instead of a cited search box.

Key Features

Cited answers: The product still answers with source links. Recheck the live citation UI; do not promise every claim is audited.
Pro research: Help docs still describe a deeper Pro research mode and file uploads on paid seats. Limits sit on the help article, not on this page.
Max: The Max page is a higher consumer tier at $200 / month. Treat that page as the catalog for Max extras.
Collections and apps: Marketing still mentions Spaces / Collections and mobile / browser apps. Recheck names in-product.
Enterprise: There is a business / internal-search surface. Do not paste an unverified per-seat price.

Use Cases

People who want cited web answers and will stay on Free only long enough to hit the cap.
Researchers who will pay Pro $20 / month or $200 / year for the paid research mode.
Heavy users looking at Max $200 / month, not at a leftover "unlimited GPT-4" slogan.

Limitation: Free is not unlimited. Pro is not Max. Model names on the consumer picker change; do not freeze GPT-3.5, DALL-E, or o1 as the current catalog.

Pricing

Help Center Pro article and perplexity.ai/max on 2026-08-17.

Plan	Price	Notes from those pages
Free	$0	Limited. Not unlimited GPT-3.5.
Pro	$20 / month or $200 / year	Paid research seat from the help article.
Max	$200 / month or $2,000 / year	Higher consumer tier.
Enterprise	Custom	Internal search / business. No public seat $ here.

If a leftover blog still lists unlimited Pro Search plus DALL-E, treat the live Pro and Max pages as the source.

Getting Started

Open perplexity.ai on Free and run one cited query.
Read What is Perplexity Pro? before you pay $20.
Open perplexity.ai/max only if Pro is not enough.
Recheck ChatGPT or Grok if you already pay for a general assistant, not a search box.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Free still unlimited GPT-3.5?

No. The old unlimited GPT-3.5 line is out. Free is limited.

Is Pro still $20?

Yes. $20 / month or $200 / year on the help article we opened.

What is Max?

A higher consumer plan at $200 / month or $2,000 / year. It is not the Pro seat.

Same as Grok or ChatGPT?

No. Perplexity is cited search with Pro / Max SKUs. Grok is an xAI model family. ChatGPT is OpenAI's consumer assistant.

Alternatives

ChatGPT: OpenAI consumer assistant if you did not need citations first.
Grok: xAI grok-4.6 API plus Imagine / Voice meters.
Claude: Terminal / IDE agent if the job is code, not web research.

Tips

Quote $20 / $200 and $200 / $2,000 from the Pro help article and Max page.
Do not paste unlimited GPT-3.5 or DALL-E into a deck.
Recheck Enterprise only on a first-party business page.

Conclusion

Perplexity is a priced cited-search product with Free limits, Pro at $20 / month, and Max at $200 / month, not an unlimited GPT-3.5 box. Start at the Pro help article, then decide whether ChatGPT or Grok already covers the seat you need.