Perplexity
by Perplexity AI
At a glance
AI answer engine that combines web search with cited, conversational answers.
search citations
- Licence
- Not recorded
- Category
- Answer Engines
- Business model
- Freemium
- Availability
- Global
- Launched
- 2022-12
Overview
Perplexity is an answer-engines product: an AI answer engine that combines live web search with conversational answers and inline citations. It is run by Perplexity AI, a US company founded in 2022. You use it mainly through the hosted web app, while the vendor also publishes API documentation for developers. No material change was found in this review. Its pricing page returned error 403 to this review's fetcher, so the Pro price could not be read and none is recorded here.
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Key features
- Web-grounded answers with inline source citations
- Deep Research mode for multi-step investigations
- Choice of frontier models on Pro plans
- File upload and data analysis in threads
Use cases
- Research questions needing sourced, current answers
- Comparing products, papers, and topics quickly
- Replacing traditional search for complex queries
Pricing
A free tier is available; Perplexity Pro adds more Deep Research queries, frontier model choice, and file limits.
Record details
Provenance, dates and links are kept here so the main sections stay about the product itself.
Links, dates and provenance
- Record updated
- 2026-10-09
- Documentation
- docs.perplexity.ai ↗
- Founded
- 2022
- Headquarters
- US
Selection profile
Every field says where its value comes from. "Unknown" means we have not confirmed it — it does not mean the product lacks the feature.
Selection profile11 fields3 unknown
- Tasks it fits
- Research with citations Search
Derived from the record: category "answer-engines".
Suggest a correction - How you use it
- Web app
Hosted product with no desktop/CLI tag in the record; assumed web-delivered.
Suggest a correction - Runs on
- Web
Derived from platform words in the record description/features/tags.
Suggest a correction - Where it runs
- Vendor cloud
Vendor-hosted product; no self-hosted option is recorded.
Suggest a correction - Works offline
- Not recorded
The record contains no offline-operation claim.
Suggest a correction - Official service region
- Global
Mirrors the availability field already on the record ("global").
Suggest a correction - Public API
- Yes
Matched on the vendor page: “lete llms.txt documentation index. Perplexity home page Docs Cookbook API Reference Get Started Get Started Search... Navigation Getting Started Overview Search ⌘ K Commu”
Suggest a correction - Licence
- proprietary
Commercial product; no source licence is published in the record.
Suggest a correction - Commercial use
- Not recorded
Commercial product; the terms reviewed here do not state a non-commercial restriction, but that was not verified.
Suggest a correction - Interface languages
- Not recorded
No vendor page read in this pass states the product's own interface languages; the key exists so the field can be answered later rather than left absent.
Suggest a correction - Billing
- Subscription Free allowance: Limited Subscription required: No
Prices are the vendor’s advertised entry price and exclude taxes; always confirm on the vendor’s own page.
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Where each value comes from
- Tasks it fits
- Our inference
- How you use it
- Our inference
- Runs on
- Our inference
- Where it runs
- Our inference
- Works offline
- Our inference
- Official service region
- Our inference
- Public API
- Verified 2026-10-09 docs.perplexity.ai ↗
- Licence
- Our inference
- Commercial use
- Our inference
- Interface languages
- Unknown
Key facts and their evidence
Each fact lists the conditions it holds under, the page it was read from and the day it was checked.
-
API: Public API documented Verified 2026-10-09 docs.perplexity.ai ↗
Applies to: As stated on docs.perplexity.ai on 2026-10-09
Matched on the vendor page: “lete llms.txt documentation index. Perplexity home page Docs Cookbook API Reference Get Started Get Started Search... Navigation Getting Started Overview Search ⌘ K Commu”
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Frequently asked questions
Does Perplexity cite its sources?
Yes. Perplexity answers include inline citations linking to the web sources used.
Is Perplexity free?
Yes. A free tier is available; Pro subscriptions add advanced research modes and model choices.
Who develops Perplexity?
Perplexity is developed by a San Francisco-based company founded in 2022.
Who should not choose Perplexity?
Buyers who must confirm the subscription price in advance: the pricing page was unreachable in this review, so no Pro price is recorded here. The product is also cloud-only, with no offline mode documented.
Similar products
- You.com — Web search and research APIs for AI applications, after a pivot from consumer AI search to an API-first data layer.
- Genspark — AI workspace that grew out of an answer engine, offering agents and tools for research, presentations, documents, and task automation.
- Ecosia — Berlin-based search engine that pairs web search with AI overviews, an AI chat, and an option to turn AI off.
- Felo — Multilingual AI search engine that generates sourced answers and mind-map style summaries.
- iAsk — AI search engine that returns direct, sourced answers to natural-language questions.
- Naver — South Korean search portal whose service includes AI Briefing summaries and the AI Tab conversational search interface.
All Perplexity alternatives → · All Answer Engines products →
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This record was last reviewed on 2026-10-09.
Machine-readable record: /api/products/perplexity.json · Spot an error? Suggest a correction