Perplexity Free vs Pro
Pro costs $20 more a month ($240 a year) than Free. Here is exactly what that extra money buys.
Free
$0 a month
Best for: Looking things up now and then and seeing where the answer came from.
Pro
$20 a month
Best for: Most people who look things up every day and want proper research reports.
What you get by choosing Pro
- How much you can use it before it makes you wait: About ten times the free amount (instead of A small number each week)The free plan gives you a limited number of the better searches each week. Paid plans give you far more.
- How smart the answers are: The leading systems from OpenAI, Google and Anthropic (instead of The basic answering system)Perplexity does not build its own answering systems; it uses ones from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Paid plans let you use the better ones.
- Choosing which answering system is used: Included (instead of Not included)Most people are happy letting it choose. This matters mainly to people who prefer one particular assistant.
- Long, thorough research reports: Included (instead of Not included)This takes several minutes and reads many websites for you.
Same on both
getting new features first (not included).
Which one should you pick?
It depends on what you actually use. If you don't need how much you can use it before it makes you wait or how smart the answers are or choosing which answering system is used or long, thorough research reports, Free does the same job for less. Answer a few questions and we'll tell you which plan fits.
Prices and features verified September 21, 2026 from Perplexity's official pages (source ↗). Prices are before tax and can change. See all Perplexity plans.