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Claude vs Perplexity: Should you pay for Claude itself, or for Perplexity with Claude inside?

Facts checked Oct 22, 2026. Every number links to its source.

Summary

Derived from sourced facts, not from builder opinions
  • Claude Pro and Perplexity Pro both cost $20 a month.
  • Perplexity Pro includes Claude Sonnet 5.5 in Search. Choosing Claude Opus 5.5 or Fable 5.1 in Search needs Perplexity Max at $200, while Claude Pro includes Opus.
  • Claude Pro includes the Claude Code coding agent.
  • Perplexity pairs web search and citations with models from several makers, so one plan also covers GPT, Gemini and Grok models.

Choose Claude if

  • You want Claude Opus 5.5 for $20.
  • You plan to use Claude Code.
  • You write or analyze long documents and want Claude's own apps and projects.
  • You want Claude as Anthropic runs it. Perplexity says models there can behave differently from the same model in its maker's app.

Choose Perplexity if

  • You mainly research and want cited sources with each answer.
  • You want GPT, Gemini and Grok models alongside Claude Sonnet.
  • You want an agent (Computer) that runs long tasks across your tools.
Claude
Perplexity

Follow both to get an email when either one changes its price, limits or behavior.

Plans

Claude plans

Free
Free

Sonnet and Haiku · web search, memory, connectors, Artifacts

Pro
$20/month

Claude Code and Opus included · $17/month billed annually

Max
$100/month

From $100: 5x or 20x Pro usage

Team Standard seat
$25/month

Per seat, monthly · $20 billed annually

Enterprise
$20/month

Per seat billed annually, 20-seat minimum, plus usage at API rates

Perplexity plans

Free
Free

Basic searches · 3 Pro Searches a day · no model choice

Pro
$20/month

Pro plan billed monthly in the app

Max
$200/month

Highest access to advanced models · $2,000/year on the web

Subscription agents are priced per seat with usage limits, so this compares plans rather than dividing a subscription by a guessed number of tasks.

Side by side

ClaudePerplexity
MakerAnthropic
Not published
PlansFree $0 · Pro $20/month ($17 billed annually) · Max from $100 (5x or 20x Pro usage) · Team Standard $25/seat monthly ($20 annual), Premium $125 ($100 annual) · Enterprise $20/seat plus usage at API rates
Free · Pro $20/month · Max $200/month or $2,000/year
Usage limitsRolling 5-hour windows on every plan, plus weekly limits on paid plans · Pro gives at least 5x Free usage per 5 hours, Max 5x or 20x Pro · no fixed message counts · paid plans can buy usage credits at API rates
Not published
Models in the appCurrent models are Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5 and Fable 5.1 · Free gets Sonnet and Haiku · Opus from Pro · Fable with usage credits on Pro and up to 50% of weekly limits on Max
Not published
Context windowUp to 1M tokens on every plan, depending on the model
Not published
Key featuresFree: web search, file creation and code execution, memory, connectors, Artifacts, Claude Design, Slides and Docs · Pro adds Claude Code, Research, unlimited Projects, Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365
Not published
Coding agentClaude Code is included in every paid plan and shares the plan's usage limits
Not published
Model trainingOpt-out on Free, Pro and Max · off by default on Team and Enterprise
Opt-out on consumer Pro and Max · never on Enterprise
What it isNot publishedAn answer engine that pairs web search and citations with its own and third-party models
Education and businessNot publishedEducation Pro $10/month with verification · Enterprise Pro from $40/seat monthly or $400/year
Models on ProNot publishedGPT-6.1 Sol, Claude Sonnet 5.5, Gemini 3.8 Flash, Grok 4.7, Kimi K3, GLM 5.3 and Nemotron 3.5 in Search
Max-only models in SearchNot publishedGPT-6 Astra, Gemini 4 Argon, Claude Opus 5.5 and Claude Fable 5.1 for manual choice in Search · eligible Pro subscribers can use GPT-6 Astra and Fable 5.1 in Computer, on credits
Computer models on ProNot publishedEligible Pro and Max subscribers can run GPT-6 Astra for Computer tasks, depending on plan and data-retention eligibility
Free planNot publishedUnlimited basic searches, 3 Pro Searches a day, 1 Research query a month, no model choice
AgentNot publishedComputer runs long tasks, coding included, on credits · Claude Opus 5.5 powers Standard effort for eligible paid accounts

Scores appear side by side only when both were published for the same test. Settings differ between sources, so small gaps can reverse under another harness.

Updates

Claude

27 recorded incidents in the last 90 days.

Limits change

Accounts that keep trying to extract Claude's reasoning face stricter usage limits

Anthropic said users who repeatedly try to extract Claude's reasoning now get stricter usage limits, and accounts with persistent distillation attempts are banned. The same post restates that blocked pre-output requests have been billed again since September 24.

Who is affected:
Accounts whose prompts repeatedly try to get Claude to reveal its full reasoning.
What to do:
No action needed for normal use. Do not build workflows that try to extract hidden reasoning.

Perplexity

FAQ

Can I use Claude in Perplexity?

Yes. Perplexity Pro includes Claude Sonnet 5.5 in Search. Choosing Claude Opus 5.5 or Fable 5.1 in Search needs Max. Claude Opus 5.5 also powers Standard effort in Computer for eligible paid accounts.

Is Claude in Perplexity the same as Claude itself?

Not exactly. Perplexity runs third-party models with its own search, citations, tools, prompts and limits, so the same model can behave differently there.

How much do Claude and Perplexity cost?

Claude: Free, Pro $20 ($17 a month billed annually) and Max from $100. Perplexity: Free, Pro $20 and Max $200.

Does Perplexity train on my data?

On consumer Pro and Max plans you can opt out of AI training data collection. Enterprise data is never used for training.

What do I get with Perplexity Free?

Unlimited basic searches, 3 Pro Searches a day and 1 Research query a month, with no model choice.

Does Claude Pro include Claude Code?

Yes. Claude Code is in every paid plan and shares the plan's usage limits.

Does Claude train on my chats?

Only if you allow it on Free, Pro and Max, where you can opt out. It is off by default on Team and Enterprise.

Related comparisons

Claude vs ChatGPTClaude vs Gemini appClaude vs GrokDeepSeek vs ClaudeChatGPT vs PerplexityClaude pagePerplexity page

Sources and method

Prices, specs and limits come from each maker's own pages. Benchmark scores come from independent benchmark publishers and the makers' announcements, with the setting each was measured in. Changes come from changelogs, deprecation pages and status pages. The summary is written from these facts only.