Alternatives

Perplexity alternatives

Perplexity: An AI search tool that answers questions with links to the sources it used. Its price when we checked: Free to sign up. Pro: US$17 a month billed annually. Max: US$167 a month billed annually. If it isn't right for you, these tools do a similar job.

Prices at a glance

Tool	Cheapest paid plan	Free plan
Perplexity	$17 (Pro, per month, billed annually)	Yes
ChatGPT	Not published	Yes
Claude	$20 (Pro, per month)	Yes
Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)	Not published	Yes
Gemini (Google AI plans)	$4.99 (Google AI Plus, per month)	Yes
Microsoft 365 Copilot	£13.80 (Copilot Business, per user a month, paid yearly, excl. VAT (offer))	No

Our verdict

Free plans: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM), Gemini (Google AI plans). Priced in pounds (no exchange-rate surprises): Microsoft 365 Copilot. Cheapest dollar-priced entry plan: Gemini (Google AI plans) at $4.99 (Google AI Plus, per month). Choose by the job you need doing: each entry says who it suits best.

ChatGPT

A general AI assistant for drafting emails, quotes, policies and posts, summarising documents and answering questions.

Price: Free plan available. Paid plans (Go, Plus, Business, Enterprise) are priced per user per month; see the pricing page for current amounts.
Free plan: Yes. Unlimited everyday text chats, subject to abuse safeguards. Web search, file and image uploads, data analysis, image creation and 500 MB Library storage, each with its own usage limits. Ads may appear on the free plan in some countries.
Best for: Day-to-day drafting: customer replies, quotes, job adverts, social posts and summaries.

Compare Perplexity and ChatGPT side by side

Claude

An AI assistant that is good with long documents, careful writing and summaries.

Price: Free plan: $0. Pro: $20 a month or $200 a year. Max: $100 or $200 a month.
Free plan: Yes. Chat on web, desktop and mobile, web search, file creation, code, memory and Artifacts. Usage limits reset on a rolling five-hour window, with no fixed message count.
Best for: Reading contracts, tenders and policies and turning them into plain-English summaries; longer written drafts.

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Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)

Upload your own documents and ask questions that are answered from them, with references back to the source.

Price: Free with a Google account. Higher limits come with Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra plans or qualifying Workspace plans.
Free plan: Yes. 100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook and 50 chats a day on the free tier, according to Google's help page (limits may change).
Best for: Building an internal help desk from your handbook, price lists, manuals and procedures.

Gemini (Google AI plans)

Google's AI assistant, in its own app and built into Gmail, Docs and other Google apps on paid plans.

Price: Free: $0 with a Google Account. Google AI Plus: $4.99 a month. Google AI Pro: $19.99 a month. Ultra from $99.99 a month.
Free plan: Yes. Everyday help in the Gemini app with a Google Account, with lower usage limits than the paid plans.
Best for: Businesses already on Google Workspace or Gmail who want AI inside the tools they use.

Compare Perplexity and Gemini (Google AI plans) side by side

Microsoft 365 Copilot

AI built into Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams for businesses on Microsoft 365.

Price: Microsoft 365 Copilot Business: from £13.80 per user a month (offer; normally from £16.10), paid yearly. Business Standard with Copilot: £18.10. Business Premium with Copilot: £24.60. Prices exclude VAT.
Free plan: No. No free business plan; a free trial is offered.
Best for: Businesses that already live in Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams.

Compare Perplexity and Microsoft 365 Copilot side by side

Sources

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