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Perplexity

Perplexity · #6 most active of 14 in Search & Research

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Conversational search that cites its sources and offers deep research modes.

67

Trust score · Mixed

3 data points checked · 2026-09-10

Entry price: VerifiedVersion: DisputedModel stack: DisputedUsage claim: UnverifiableHow this works →

Current version

Sonar API

Entry cost

from $20/mo

Changes / 30d

2

The short answers · verified September 11, 2026

What is the latest version of Perplexity?
The current shipped version of Perplexity is Sonar API, as of September 11, 2026.
How much does Perplexity cost?
Perplexity starts at $20 per month on its cheapest paid tier, as of September 11, 2026.
What AI model does Perplexity use?
Perplexity runs primarily on Claude Opus 4.5.

Source: Perplexity — perplexity.ai · Reusable under CC BY 4.0 — cite Tomorrow

Capabilities

  • Cited answers
  • Deep research
  • Comet browser
  • Spaces
  • Shopping
  • Focus modes
  • Gateway API
  • Agent API
  • Search API
  • Embeddings API
  • OpenAI Compatibility
  • Perplexity MCP Server
  • Perplexity CLI
  • RAG Pipelines
  • Sonar API
  • Web search grounding
  • Citations
  • MCP Server
  • Computer MCP
  • Web Search
  • Router API
  • MCP
  • MCP Perplexity
  • Web search API
  • MCP server
  • CLI tool
  • OpenAI compatibility
  • Web search tools
  • OpenAI-compatible
  • MCP Perplexity Computer
  • CLI
  • Contextualized Embeddings
  • Real-time web search

Pricing

  • Free

    Free

  • Pro

    $20

  • Max

    $200

  • Enterprise Pro

    $40

Entry price over time

6/12/2026 · $209/11/2026 · $20

Geek mode

Models under the hood

  • Claude Opus 4.5

    Anthropic

    disclosed

  • Frontier Models

    Anthropic

    disclosed

  • Gemini 3 Pro

    Google

    disclosed

  • GPT-5.2

    OpenAI

    disclosed

  • Sonar

    Perplexity

    disclosed

Context window

Varies by model

Public API

yes

Multi-model routing

yes

Stack signals

  • api
  • mcp
  • cli
  • embeddings

Shared model stack

Other tracked products running on the same foundation models — a quick read on how much of the catalog moves when one of these models changes.

green disclosed · amber inferred · grey unattributed. Aliases are folded into one model; provider concentration counts only models with an established vendor.

Reported scale

Reference data. Each figure is whatever the source actually said — weekly users, downloads, revenue run-rate — with its own definition and date. These are not comparable between tools and are never used to rank anything.

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Elsewhere on the same models

Products in other segments that name one of Perplexity's models in their stack.

Breeze

HubSpot

3

AI across the CRM

Version
Breeze Assistant
Cost
Free tier · from $20/mo
Model
GPT-5.2
ChatGPT Agent

OpenAI

7

Browser-using assistant

Version
gpt-6-astra
Cost
from $20/mo
Model
GPT-5.2
Gemini Code Assist

Google

6

Enterprise coding assistant and agent mode across IDEs and GCP.

Version
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Cost
from $19/mo
Model
Gemini 3 Pro
Icon

Icon

Ad creative generation and performance iteration.

Version
2025
Cost
from $499/mo
Model
frontier models

Change history

  • capability

    New capabilities: Real-time web search

    32 tracked33 tracked · +Real-time web search

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: Contextualized Embeddings

    31 tracked32 tracked · +Contextualized Embeddings

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: CLI

    30 tracked31 tracked · +CLI

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: MCP Perplexity Computer

    29 tracked30 tracked · +MCP Perplexity Computer

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: Web search tools, OpenAI-compatible

    27 tracked29 tracked · +Web search tools, OpenAI-compatible

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: MCP server, CLI tool, OpenAI compatibility

    24 tracked27 tracked · +MCP server, CLI tool, OpenAI compatibility

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: Web search API

    23 tracked24 tracked · +Web search API

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: MCP Perplexity

    22 tracked23 tracked · +MCP Perplexity

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: MCP

    21 tracked22 tracked · +MCP

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: Router API

    20 tracked21 tracked · +Router API

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: Web Search

    19 tracked20 tracked · +Web Search

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: Computer MCP

    18 tracked19 tracked · +Computer MCP

    source
  • version

    Perplexity moved to Sonar API

    SonarSonar API

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: MCP Server

    176

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: Web search grounding, Citations

    157

    source
  • version

    Perplexity moved to Sonar

    Comet eraSonar

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: Sonar API

    145

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: Perplexity MCP Server, Perplexity CLI, RAG Pipelines

    118

    source
  • model

    Perplexity added Frontier Models, Frontier Models, Frontier Models, Frontier Models to its model stack

    Claude Opus 4.5, GPT-5.2, Gemini 3 Pro, SonarClaude Opus 4.5, Frontier Models, GPT-5.2, Gemini 3 Pro, Sonar

    source
  • capability

    New capabilities: Gateway API, Agent API, Search API

    65

    source
  • capability

    Comet browser opened to all Pro subscribers

    Cited answers, Deep research, SpacesCited answers, Deep research, Comet browser, Spaces, Shopping

    source
  • model

    Claude Opus 4.5 and Gemini 3 Pro added to the model picker

    Sonar, GPT-5Sonar, GPT-5.2, Claude Opus 4.5, Gemini 3 Pro

    source
Subscribe to Perplexity changes

Perplexity compared

Straight head-to-head pages against the busiest products in Search & Research.

Perplexity vs ElicitPerplexity vs GeminiPerplexity vs ChatGPT Deep ResearchPerplexity vs ExaPerplexity vs GleanPerplexity vs Consensus

How to cite this page

Free to cite and reuse under CC BY 4.0. Permalink: https://tomorrow.aliensquad.ai/tools/perplexity

APA
Tomorrow. (2026). Perplexity — version, pricing and model stack [Data set entry]. AlienSquad. Retrieved 2026-09-17, from https://tomorrow.aliensquad.ai/tools/perplexity
BibTeX
@misc{tomorrow-tools-perplexity,
  author       = {{Tomorrow}},
  title        = {Perplexity — version, pricing and model stack},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {AlienSquad},
  howpublished = {\url{https://tomorrow.aliensquad.ai/tools/perplexity}},
  note         = {Accessed: 2026-09-17}
}