Perplexity search API pricing.
Prices checked
Perplexity Search API, fast costs $1 per 1,000 searches when you make 1,000 a month and $1 at 100,000, checked .
At 1,000 searches a month
Perplexity
Search API, fast · pay as you go
What 1,000 searches cost you, bought the cheapest way Perplexity sells them.
At 100,000 a month
Perplexity
pay as you go
The same price per search at any volume: no discount for more.
The model's tokens are billed on top of every search. What Perplexity's models cost by the token
Every way Perplexity sells it
Search API, fast, Own index
$1 per 1,000 searches at 1,000 a month; $1 per 1,000 searches at 100,000.
- 1
Pay as you go
pay as you go
$1/1k searches
web_search tool, fast, Model tools
$1 per 1,000 searches at 1,000 a month; $1 per 1,000 searches at 100,000.
- 1
Pay as you go
pay as you go
$1/1k searches
web_search tool, Model tools
$2.50 per 1,000 searches at 1,000 a month; $2.50 per 1,000 searches at 100,000.
- 1
Pay as you go
pay as you go
$2.50/1k searches
Search API, Own index
$5 per 1,000 searches at 1,000 a month; $5 per 1,000 searches at 100,000.
- 1
Pay as you go
pay as you go
$5/1k searches
How each price is read
- Lower latency. A request of up to five queries is billed once; failed and rate-limited requests are not billed.
- The same tool with lower latency; the model's tokens are billed on top.
- Per search the model makes in the Agent API; the model's tokens are billed on top.
- A request of up to five queries is billed once; failed and rate-limited requests are not billed.
How we count
Each price is per 1,000 searches when you make 1,000 or 100,000 searches a month and buy them the cheapest way that provider sells: pay as you go, the plan that covers them with its overage, or a pack spread over the months it lasts. A free allowance is not subtracted; free tiers are listed on their own.
A free tier is a limit, not a price: it is listed on every page and called the cheapest on none. A model's search tool bills the model's tokens on top of each search, so it is compared only with other model tools. A price read for the first time, or that moved a lot, is marked while a second reading checks it.
Similar APIs
Other web search APIs with their own index, cheapest first. Each percentage is against Perplexity's $1 per 1,000 searches at 1,000 searches a month.
Search, fast
pay as you go · $1 at 100k · page text
Parallel$1/1k searchesSame priceLite search
pay as you go · $4 at 100k · page text
Exa$4/1k searches300% moreSearch
pay as you go · $5 at 100k · page text
Brave Search API$5/1k searches400% moreStandard search
pay as you go · $5 at 100k · page text
Linkup$5/1k searches400% more
Frequently asked
- How much does the Perplexity search API cost?
- $1 per 1,000 searches for Search API, fast when you make 1,000 a month (pay as you go), and $1 per 1,000 searches at 100,000 a month (pay as you go), checked 21 Oct 2026. Tax is extra.
- Does Perplexity have a free tier?
- Perplexity publishes no free tier we can read.
- What does a Perplexity search return?
- Own index: Results from the provider's own web index, built for a model to read, most with the page's text. Model tools: The search a model makes for itself inside a model call, with the model's tokens billed on top.
- What is cheaper than Perplexity?
- Nothing of the same kind is cheaper at 1,000 searches a month today.
Where it ranks
Where to go next