Perplexity

Free Tier Ratings

Last Reviewed: 2026-07-14

Limited Pro searches. Basic model produces adequate but not polished content. Better for research than creation. Consumer ToS restricts commercial use as of January 2026. A pending April 2026 lawsuit alleges chat content may be shared with Meta/Google via tracking technology; avoid any non-public content.

Can help with research and fact-checking. Not ideal for sensitive donor data. Consumer ToS now restricts commercial use. Pending lawsuit alleges third-party data sharing even in Incognito mode.

Good for research summaries. Limited searches constrain heavy use. Consumer ToS may restrict organizational use.

Excellent for cited research but limited Pro searches. Consumer ToS restricts commercial use.

Good for creating cited training materials. January 2026 ToS restricts consumer tiers to personal non-commercial use — organizational use may violate ToS.

Better at research than creation. January 2026 ToS restricts consumer tiers to personal non-commercial use — commercial social media campaigns may violate ToS.

Can help with research but not designed for email copywriting. Consumer ToS restricts commercial use.

Perplexity's core strength, but very limited Pro searches at free tier. January 2026 ToS restricts organizational use. Opt out of training; note the July 2026 Privacy Notice no longer describes the opt-out mechanism in writing (the toggle still functions per the Help Center).

Strong for policy research with citations. Consumer ToS restricts non-commercial use. Very limited Pro searches.

Good for venue research and logistics. Consumer ToS may restrict use for organizational events.

Yes (opt-out available)

Consumer tier data used to improve AI models unless user opts out. Opt-out toggle in Account Settings > AI Data Retention still functions per Perplexity's Help Center, but as of the July 2, 2026 Privacy Notice restructuring, the written policy document no longer explicitly describes this opt-out mechanism (removed per independent policy-change trackers). Opt-out only affects future data. Deidentified data may still be used for other purposes.

Yes

Toggle in Account Settings > Preferences > AI Data Retention. Opt-out only affects future data processing; the mechanism itself is unchanged but is no longer spelled out in the July 2026 Privacy Notice text.

Possible

Privacy Notice does not explicitly address human review. Implied possible for safety and service improvement as is standard practice. No explicit 'never' guarantee for consumer tiers. A pending April 2026 class-action lawsuit separately alleges third-party trackers (Meta, Google) may capture chat transcripts, including in Incognito mode — this claim is unresolved as of July 2026.

Retained as needed

As of the July 2026 Privacy Notice, data is retained 'for only as long as necessary' with no specific timeframe stated; the previous explicit '30-day' account-deletion target is no longer described in the policy text, per independent trackers. Opted-out users have data excluded from future training.

Consumer grade

Standard encryption. No enterprise certifications for consumer tier. No end-to-end encryption or anonymous search settings per published reports. A pending 2026 lawsuit alleges undisclosed tracking technologies share data with third parties even in Incognito mode.

Research Tool, Not Writing Tool

Perplexity excels at AI-powered search with citations. It's designed for research, fact-checking, and finding information, not creative writing or content generation. For writing tasks, pair it with Claude or ChatGPT. Perplexity Computer adds agentic capabilities (available to Max subscribers, with Enterprise Max access announced for the near future), but the core strength remains research.

January 2026 ToS: Personal/Non-Commercial Use Only on Consumer Tiers

Perplexity updated its Terms of Service on January 23, 2026, without announcement. The updated terms restrict Free, Pro, and Max tiers to personal, non-commercial use only. Organizations using consumer tiers for grant writing, donor communications, marketing, or other organizational work may be violating the ToS. Enterprise Pro is the only tier explicitly designed for organizational use.

July 2026 Privacy Notice Rewrite Removed Written Commitments

On July 2, 2026, Perplexity replaced its 'Privacy Policy' with a restructured 'Privacy Notice.' Independent policy-change trackers confirm the new document removed explicit written descriptions of three protections: the AI-training opt-out mechanism, the 30-day account-deletion timeline, and the commitment to notify users of material policy changes. Perplexity's Help Center indicates the underlying opt-out toggle still functions, but nonprofits should note that the formal policy document no longer commits to these specifics in writing — a meaningful transparency reduction even though functionality is reportedly unchanged.

Pending Lawsuit Over Third-Party Data Sharing

A class-action lawsuit filed April 1, 2026 in Northern California alleges Perplexity's tracking technologies share full chat transcripts with Meta and Google — including prompts entered in Incognito mode — without adequate user consent, in possible violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). As of July 2026 the case remains in early stages and is unresolved. Nonprofits should treat consumer-tier conversations as potentially exposed to third parties until this is resolved and avoid inputting any sensitive data on Free, Pro, Education Pro, or Max tiers.

Max Tier Trap

The $200/month Max plan uses CONSUMER data policies. Despite the premium price, your data can still be used for training (opt-out available). As of January 2026, Max is also restricted to personal non-commercial use by ToS. For organizational protection and compliant use, you must purchase Enterprise Pro.

Nonprofit Discount Is 25% Off, Not 50%

Enterprise Pro is $40/seat/month standard. The nonprofit/education/government rate is $30/seat/month — a 25% discount. Some sources incorrectly cite $20/seat. Perplexity's official blog and Help Center confirm $30/seat/month or $300/seat/year. Eligibility now requires documentation (e.g., 501(c)(3) certificate). No TechSoup or Goodstack listing found.

Enterprise Agreements Matter

Enterprise Pro includes formal Data Processing Addendum agreements with ALL third-party model providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) preventing them from using your data for training. Consumer tiers have no such protection, even with opt-out. Enterprise Pro is governed by separate Enterprise Terms, not the consumer Privacy Notice — a distinction now made explicit in the July 2026 Privacy Notice text itself.

Citation-First Approach

Every answer includes source citations by default. This makes Perplexity excellent for grant research, policy briefs, and any work requiring verifiable sources. Enterprise users have access to premium sources (CB Insights, PitchBook, Statista) and Deep Research benchmarked at state-of-the-art performance.

FedRAMP Certified for Government Use

Perplexity's Enterprise Pro for Government has progressed from the November 2025 FedRAMP AI Prioritization designation to full FedRAMP Certification at the Class B (Low) level in early 2026 — one of the first two AI services (alongside Google's Gemini for Government) to complete this streamlined pilot pathway. This is relevant primarily to government-agency nonprofits or nonprofits contracting with federal agencies; it does not change consumer-tier protections.

2026-07-02

Perplexity replaced its consumer 'Privacy Policy' with a restructured 'Privacy Notice.' Independent trackers confirm the rewrite removed explicit written descriptions of the AI-training opt-out mechanism, the 30-day account-deletion timeline, and the commitment to notify users of material changes, while adding new disclosures for the Comet browser, Email Assistant, and health/genetic data collection, and explicitly excluding Enterprise/API data from the notice's scope. The underlying opt-out toggle reportedly still functions per Perplexity's Help Center.

2026-04-01

A class-action lawsuit was filed in Northern California alleging Perplexity's tracking technologies share full chat transcripts with Meta and Google — including prompts entered in Incognito mode — without adequate consent, under California's Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). As of July 2026, the case is in early stages and unresolved.

2026-06-29

Perplexity formally relaunched/reframed 'Perplexity Computer' as a unified agentic system coordinating 19+ specialized AI models to execute long-running, multi-step workflows. Available to Max subscribers; access for Enterprise Max users announced as forthcoming.

2026-02-early

Perplexity Enterprise Pro for Government progressed from FedRAMP AI Prioritization (Nov 2025) to full FedRAMP Certification at the Class B (Low) level, per the FedRAMP AI page and FedRAMP Marketplace listing.

2026-03-13

Perplexity Computer rolled out to all Pro subscribers (previously Max-only for some features). Computer provides access to 20+ specialized models, 400+ connectors, and multi-step agentic workflows. Also launched for Enterprise Max and Pro. Computer in Slack available for enterprise. Comet Enterprise launched for organizations.

2026-02-06

Major upgrade: Deep Research with upgraded benchmarks (state-of-the-art on leading external benchmarks), Model Council for parallel multi-model answers, improved Memory engine (95% recall rate), expanded enterprise controls with granular feature access controls and expanded audit logs.

2026-01-23

Terms of Service updated (without announcement): Consumer tiers (Free, Pro, Max) now explicitly restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. Added irrevocable license on user inputs while stored with Perplexity. Mandatory AI-generated attribution for published outputs. This change restricts organizational use of consumer tiers.

2025-11-25

Pro plan limits silently reduced between November 2025 and February 2026: unlimited daily Pro searches reduced to weekly limits; Deep Research queries reduced from ~500/day to 20/month; model access throttled for certain selections. Annual subscribers affected mid-contract. Perplexity cited heavy usage as justification.

2025-11-19

GSA-Perplexity OneGov deal announced: Enterprise Pro for Government available to all federal agencies for $0.25/agency for 18 months via GSA's Multiple Award Schedule. Perplexity received FedRAMP AI Prioritization designation — second AI service after OpenAI to achieve this designation.

Best for

Nonprofits that need citation-backed research for grants, policy work, and reports. Perplexity's strength is finding and synthesizing information with sources, not generating creative content. Enterprise Pro is required for compliant organizational use following January 2026 ToS changes, and is also the only tier unaffected by the July 2026 consumer Privacy Notice changes and the pending third-party data-sharing lawsuit.

For organizations with 5+ staff

Enterprise Pro at $30/seat/month (nonprofit rate) is the right choice for teams doing organizational work. The January 2026 ToS restricts consumer tiers to personal non-commercial use — Enterprise Pro is the only ToS-compliant path for organizational grant writing, donor communications, and program work, and it is contractually excluded from the consumer Privacy Notice and the risks raised in the pending 2026 lawsuit. Perplexity Computer (agentic AI) is available on Enterprise Pro.

For organizations with fewer than 5 staff

Pro ($20/month) with training opt-out is useful for individual research, but the January 2026 ToS restricts Pro to personal non-commercial use, and as of July 2026 the consumer Privacy Notice no longer commits in writing to the opt-out mechanism or a 30-day deletion timeline (though both reportedly still function). For any formal organizational work, even small nonprofits need Enterprise Pro at $30/seat. If budget is truly constrained, use Pro only for background research that does not produce organizational deliverables and avoid entering any sensitive information given the pending lawsuit over third-party data sharing.

For health data or vulnerable populations

Enterprise Pro with executed BAA only. Consumer tiers including Max ($200/month) are not appropriate for PHI. Never enter health information about clients or beneficiaries into any consumer Perplexity tier — this is especially important given the pending 2026 lawsuit alleging third-party tracking scripts may capture chat content even in Incognito mode, and the July 2026 Privacy Notice's reduced written commitments around data handling.