Perplexity
Answer engine that routes across frontier models with cited sources
Best for:researchcitationssearchfact checking
Perplexity is a research-first answer engine rather than a single-model assistant. It routes queries across frontier models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google and returns answers with inline citations. The buying question is not which model it uses but whether cited, search-grounded answers beat a general assistant for your workflow.
Workflow Fit
This page is optimized for platform selection: who this tool is best for, the practical workflows it supports, and the models available under the hood.
Best use cases
researchcitationssearchfact checking
Provider & model access
Provider: Independent
Free tier: Yes
API access: Yes
Pros
- Inline citations on every answer, which general assistants still do inconsistently
- Model choice across OpenAI, Anthropic and Google on one subscription
- Best-in-class for search-grounded research tasks
- Search API available for developers
Cons
- You are paying a margin on top of the underlying model providers
- Weaker than the native assistants at long-form generation and coding
- Model routing is opaque — you don't always know what answered
Specifications
- Free Tier
- Yes
- API Access
- Yes
Features
Context WindowVaries by routed model
Vision Input
Reasoning Mode
Open Weights
Web Search
API Access
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Limits | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | — | Unlimited quick search • Limited Pro searches |
| Pro | $20/mo | — | 300+ Pro searches/day • Model selection • File upload |
| Max | $200/mo | — | Unlimited Pro search • Priority models • Labs access |
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Company
- Company
- Perplexity AI
- Founded
- 2022
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, USA
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