Perplexity announced on Tuesday that it is launching a new “Max” tier with a subscription plan that costs $200 a month. This tier offers users unlimited access to the startup’s spreadsheet and report generation tool Labs as well as early access to new features including Perplexity’s forthcoming AI-powered browser, Comet.
Max subscribers will also get priority access to any Perplexity services using the latest frontier models, such as OpenAI o3-pro and Claude Opus 4.
Perplexity’s other subscription plans include a consumer Pro plan for $20 a month, as well as an Enterprise Pro plan that costs $40 a month per person. The startup says it will eventually offer a hyper-premium Max plan for Enterprise customers as well.
The latest development makes Perplexity the latest AI company to offer a hyper-premium plan. OpenAI was the first to do so with its $200-a-month ChatGPT Pro subscription, and Google, Anthropic, and Cursor have followed suit.
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Perplexity said via a blog post that Perplexity Max has been designed for “professionals who need unlimited access to comprehensive analysis tools, content creators and writers who require extensive research capabilities, business strategists conducting competitive intelligence and market research, and academic researchers working on complex, multi-faceted projects.”
Max also provides the capability to create an unlimited number of “Pro Search” pages. The company also promises priority support, which can be important for professionals working on big projects. Perplexity also stated that the Max tier is now available on web and iOS.
In 2024, Perplexity generated roughly $34 million in revenue largely driven by subscriptions to its $20-a-month Pro plan, while also burning around $65 million in cash, according to The Information. Most of the spending has been on cloud servers and buying access to AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic. The company’s business had grown last year, reaching an ARR of $80 million in January. However, it still needs to generate significantly more revenue to justify its valuation.
READ: Perplexity aims for a $18 billion valuation (March 21, 2025)
The launch of the premium tier indicates Perplexity’s ambition to play in the big leagues. This tier allows the startup to cater not just to individual users seeking quick answers, but also to professionals and teams who need a more robust and collaborative AI research tool. The price point, which is similar to that of OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s offerings, indicates Perplexity’s aim to capture a segment of the market that demands premium AI capabilities.
Recently, there have been talks of a possible acquisition of Perplexity by Apple. Apple has reportedly held in-house talks about this matter, aiming to advance its AI ventures. The tech giant’s interest in Perplexity is linked to mounting antitrust pressure on its $20 billion-per-year search partnership with Google, which is under threat from U.S. regulators. If the deal comes through, Apple will be able to reduce its dependence on Google by integrating Perplexity’s conversational AI and real-time search technology. Previously, Meta had also approached the startup for an acquisition offer, however, that deal ended up not going through.