ChatGPT Plus vs Perplexity Pro
ChatGPT Plus and Perplexity Pro side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| ChatGPT Plus | Perplexity Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Writing & Copy | Research & Search |
| Starting price | $20/mo (checked October 2026) | Free / $17+ (billed yearly) (checked October 2026) |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Both list a free tier, so you can try each before paying.
Perplexity Pro has the lower starting price ($17/mo against $20/mo for ChatGPT Plus). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.
They sit in different categories (Writing & Copy and Research & Search), so they overlap only partly.
About each tool
ChatGPT Plus
OpenAI's paid personal ChatGPT plan with expanded chat, deep research, image creation, voice, projects, custom GPTs and Codex. Plus is $20 a month, billed monthly; the Free and Go plans are separate.
Who it is for
Individuals who want more usage and tools than the Free or Go plans give them. OpenAI sells Business and Enterprise plans separately for organizations.
Strengths
- OpenAI lists projects, scheduled tasks and custom GPTs on Plus
- OpenAI lists expanded deep research, memory and context, and Codex usage over Free and Go
- Codex on the web, command line, IDE extension and iOS is included, and extra usage can be bought with ChatGPT credits
- OpenAI says Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts will not have ads
- You can turn off Improve the model for everyone in Settings under Data controls, and OpenAI says Temporary Chats are not used to improve models
Limitations
- Higher Codex, memory, image and deep research allowances are reserved for Pro, which OpenAI states as 5x Plus usage at $100 a month and 20x at $200 a month
- OpenAI says ads can appear on the Free and Go plans, which is a plan difference rather than a Plus limit
- The pages we read were inconsistent on agent mode, so we do not list it as a Plus feature
Perplexity Pro
AI search and assistant that answers with cited sources. Free plan; Pro adds higher Research, file-upload and browser-agent limits. Pro price reported at $200 a year or $20 monthly.
Who it is for
Individuals who do research or multi-step searches and want higher limits than the Free plan. Verified students and educators have a separate Education Pro plan, and teams and organizations are directed to Enterprise Pro and Enterprise Max.
Strengths
- Pro includes advanced AI models, image generation, and limited video generation, per the help center
- Pro has Research mode, Create files and apps, and a browser agent (Comet Assistant), each with monthly limits for average use
- Pro can upload PDFs, CSVs, audio, video and images, with up to 50 file uploads per project
- Free, Pro and Max users can opt out of AI training in Account settings
- Enterprise plans state that organization data is never used to train or fine-tune Perplexity's models, and the Enterprise Pro article says Perplexity is SOC 2 Type II certified
Limitations
- The Free plan has 3 Pro Searches a day and 1 Research query a month, with no advanced models, no image generation and no browser agent
- Paid-plan limits are not published as numbers. The comparison page says Pro has weekly limits for Pro Searches and monthly limits for Research, browser agent queries and file or app creation, based on average use
- The Pro article says access to advanced model queries may be limited during weeks of especially heavy usage
- A subscription does not include API access, which is billed separately with prepaid credits
