In one line: Perplexity answers your question in plain language with numbered links to the pages it used, and its free plan gives you practically unlimited basic searches plus a small number of Pro Searches and 1 Research report a month, with Pro at $20 a month or $200 a year.
What it is
Perplexity is a search engine that writes the answer instead of handing you ten blue links. You type a question, it searches the web, reads the results and gives you a short answer with inline citations, so you can click through and check where each claim came from. You can keep asking follow-up questions in the same thread and it keeps the context. On paid plans, Pro Search kicks in automatically for harder, multi-step questions, Research mode runs dozens of searches and writes a longer report in a few minutes, and you can pick models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and xAI instead of letting it choose. You can also upload PDFs, spreadsheets and images and ask questions about them. Perplexity also makes Comet, a free Chromium-based browser for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android with a built-in assistant that can summarize the page you're on and, on paid plans, act as a browser agent that does tasks for you.
Who it's for
Anyone who searches a lot and is tired of clicking through ads and SEO filler to find one answer: comparing products, checking a fact before you post it, getting up to speed on a topic you know nothing about. It's especially useful when you need to show where something came from. If your question is about scientific evidence, Consensus (issue #24) answers from research papers instead of the open web. If you want answers drawn only from your own documents, Gemini Notebook (issue #6) is a better fit. And if you mainly want an agent that clicks around websites for you, compare Comet with Browser Use (issue #5) or Manus (issue #3).
Try this today
Go to perplexity.ai and ask a question you'd normally spend 20 minutes googling, with your specifics in it: "What's the cheapest way to ship a 20 lb box from Chicago to Toronto, and what customs forms do I need?" Then do the part most people skip: open two or three of the numbered sources and check that they actually say what the answer claims. Ask one follow-up ("which of these is fastest?") to see how it keeps the thread going. If you have a real research question, save your one free Research report of the month for it and compare the report with what you'd have found yourself.
The catch
The citations make answers easy to check, not automatically right. The AI can still misread a source or lean on a weak one, so click through before you rely on anything important. The free plan is generous for quick answers but thin on the good stuff: only a "very limited" number of Pro Searches and 1 Research query a month, Perplexity picks the model for you, file uploads are limited, and there's no image generation. Paid limits aren't published as numbers either: Pro and Max are described as weekly or monthly limits for "average" or "advanced" use, so heavy users can still hit a ceiling. Comet itself is free, but its browser agent (Comet Assistant) isn't included on the free plan. Perplexity Computer, its agent for multi-step work, runs on credits, and the Pro plan's weekly Computer allowance is still rolling out gradually.
Pricing
Free: $0, with practically unlimited basic searches, a very limited number of Pro Searches, 1 Research query a month, limited file uploads and help-center support. Pro: $20 a month or $200 a year (about $17 a month billed yearly), with extended Pro Search and Research, Comet Assistant browser agent queries, a choice of advanced AI models, image and limited video generation, more file uploads, priority support and the option to opt out of AI training; paid Pro plans also include weekly Computer usage (rolling out gradually) and new subscribers may get a one-time 4,000-credit bonus that expires in about 30 days. Education Pro: $10 a month for students and educators verified through SheerID. Max: $200 a month or $2,000 a year (about $167 a month billed yearly), with the highest limits, 10,000 Computer credits a month and early access to new features. For teams, Enterprise Pro is $40 a month or $400 a year per seat and Enterprise Max is $325 a month or $3,250 a year per seat.
Pricing checked on Perplexity's Max page and its help center (What is Perplexity Pro?, Which Perplexity subscription plan is right for you?, Perplexity Max, How credits work on Perplexity, and the Comet help center) on Nov 15, 2026.