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Perplexity AI
AI answer engine and search APIs for people and developers
Paid perplexity.ai
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perplexity.ai
Pricing
Paid
API
Yes
Platforms
WebAPI
What is Perplexity AI?
Perplexity AI is an AI search and answer engine that answers questions using live web search. It also offers developer APIs, so teams can add the same search and agent features to their own products.
Perplexity's developer documentation lists several APIs. The Search API returns web results. The Agent API runs third-party models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Z.AI, Moonshot AI and NVIDIA, with tools such as web search, image search, URL fetching, people search, finance search and a code sandbox. There is also an Orchestrator API, an Embeddings API with pplx-embed models, and a Decisions API.
API usage is billed per token or per 1,000 requests, with no per-request fees on the Orchestrator API. Perplexity fits researchers and knowledge workers who want sourced answers, and developers who need search grounding for their apps or agents.
Key features
- Answers questions using live web search
- Search API with Standard and Fast Search modes
- Agent API running OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and other models
- Built-in tools: web, image, people and finance search
- Code sandbox sessions for agents
- pplx-embed embedding models
- Orchestrator API with per-token billing
- Decisions API that charges for input tokens only
Use cases
Who it's for
ResearchersKnowledge workersDevelopersAI product teams
Researching a topic
Ask a question and get an answer drawn from live web search instead of reading many separate pages.
Grounding an app in web data
Developers can call the Search API to give their product current web results.
Building AI agents
The Agent API combines third-party models with tools for search, URL fetching and sandboxed code.
Semantic search and retrieval
The Embeddings API produces vectors for indexing and retrieving documents at low per-token cost.
Perplexity AI pricing
From the vendor's site, checked Oct 26, 2026; we re-check prices monthly. Prices change — confirm on their pricing page.
Search API
usage-based
$5.00 per 1K requests (Standard); $1.00 per 1K (Fast Search)
- Successful requests are billed, even with no results
- Up to five queries per request count as one billing unit
Agent API tools
usage-based
From $0.50 per 1K calls
- web_search $2.50/1K, Fast Search $1.00/1K
- fetch_url $0.50/1K; people and finance search $5/1K
- Sandbox $0.03 per session
- Model tokens billed at each model's rate; flex tier 0.5x, priority 2x
Embeddings API
usage-based
$0.004–$0.05 per 1M tokens
- pplx-embed-v1 and pplx-embed-context-v1 models in 0.6b and 4b sizes
Decisions API
usage-based
$0.01–$0.02 per 1M input tokens
- Output tokens are free
How Perplexity AI compares
- Perplexity AI has no free plan, while all 4 alternatives below have one.
| Tool | Starts at | Free plan | Free trial | API | Open source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PPerplexity AI | — | — | — | — | ||
D DuckDuckGo | Free | — | — | — | Perplexity AI vs DuckDuckGo | |
S Semantic Scholar | Free | — | — | Perplexity AI vs Semantic Scholar | ||
C Consensus | $20/mo | — | — | Perplexity AI vs Consensus | ||
E Elicit | $49/mo | — | — | Perplexity AI vs Elicit |
Compare 4 capabilities
| Capability | Perplexity AI | DuckDuckGo | Semantic Scholar | Elicit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inline citations | — | — | ||
| Citation export | — | — | ||
| Reference manager import | — | — | — | |
| Model choice | — | — | — |
Capabilities as stated on each vendor's own site; — means the site doesn't say. The closest alternatives in our directory by category. “Starts at” is the cheapest paid plan per month, as each vendor lists it.
Who's behind Perplexity AI
- Company
- Perplexity
- Founded
- 2022
From Perplexity AI's own about, terms and privacy pages and Wikidata, checked Oct 28, 2026.
Pros and cons
Strengths
- Published per-request and per-token API pricing
- Requests rejected with a 429 error are not billed on the Orchestrator API
- Access to models from several vendors through one Agent API
- Decisions API output tokens are free
Limitations
- Search API bills successful requests even when they return no results
- Per-token model rates are on separate pages rather than in the main pricing overview
Perplexity AI FAQ
How much does the Perplexity Search API cost?
$5.00 per 1,000 requests for Standard and $1.00 per 1,000 for Fast Search. A request with up to five queries counts as one billing unit.
Does Perplexity have an API?
Yes. The developer docs list Search, Agent, Orchestrator, Embeddings and Decisions APIs.
Which models can I use through the Agent API?
Third-party models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Z.AI, Moonshot AI and NVIDIA, billed at per-token rates.
Am I charged for failed requests?
Orchestrator API requests rejected with a 429 error are not billed. Successful Search API requests are billed even when they return no results.
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