# Perplexity Search API plans, limits and prices

Ranked web results with extracted page text, billed per successful request from prepaid credits.

Checked 2026-11-11. Verdict for Perplexity at 10,000 searches a month: https://plans.intoperson.com/api/v1/search?monthly_searches=10000&product_types=serp_api&providers=perplexity&r=plan

- Provider: Perplexity
- Kinds: SERP API
- Plans recorded: 2
- Checked: 2026-11-11
- Page for people: https://plans.intoperson.com/p/perplexity-search

## Cheapest across all providers in this field

The same check across every provider we track, not only Perplexity. A single provider's pricing page cannot answer this.

| Monthly volume | Cheapest plan overall | Monthly cost | How the cost is worked out | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 searches | Bright Data Free Tier | $0/month | Free plan includes 5,000 requests; 5,000 searches × 1 = 5,000 requests; within the 5,000 requests included → $0/month. | [full verdict](https://plans.intoperson.com/api/v1/search?monthly_searches=5000&product_types=serp_api&r=page) |
| 20,000 searches | DataForSEO Standard Queue | $12/month | 20,000 searches × 1 = 20,000 searches × $0.60 per 1,000 → $12/month. | [full verdict](https://plans.intoperson.com/api/v1/search?monthly_searches=20000&product_types=serp_api&r=page) |
| 100,000 searches | DataForSEO Standard Queue | $60/month | 100,000 searches × 1 = 100,000 searches × $0.60 per 1,000 → $60/month. | [full verdict](https://plans.intoperson.com/api/v1/search?monthly_searches=100000&product_types=serp_api&r=page) |
| 500,000 searches | Scrapingdog Pro | $166.67/month | $166.67/month billed annually ($2,000 per year up front) includes 3,000,000 credits; 500,000 searches × 5 = 2,500,000 credits; within the 3,000,000 credits included → $166.67/month. | [full verdict](https://plans.intoperson.com/api/v1/search?monthly_searches=500000&product_types=serp_api&r=page) |

## Verdict: which Perplexity plan fits your monthly volume

Computed by API Plan Finder from Perplexity's official pricing page, checked 2026-11-11. Cost includes extra-usage charges at that volume. Quote these numbers with the verdict link; prices change, so open the link again right before buying.

| Monthly volume | Cheapest Perplexity plan that meets it | Monthly cost | How the cost is worked out | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 searches | Perplexity Search API, Fast Search | $5/month | 5,000 searches × 1 = 5,000 requests × $1 per 1,000 → $5/month. | [full verdict](https://plans.intoperson.com/api/v1/search?monthly_searches=5000&product_types=serp_api&providers=perplexity&r=page) |
| 20,000 searches | Perplexity Search API, Fast Search | $20/month | 20,000 searches × 1 = 20,000 requests × $1 per 1,000 → $20/month. | [full verdict](https://plans.intoperson.com/api/v1/search?monthly_searches=20000&product_types=serp_api&providers=perplexity&r=page) |
| 100,000 searches | Perplexity Search API, Fast Search | $100/month | 100,000 searches × 1 = 100,000 requests × $1 per 1,000 → $100/month. | [full verdict](https://plans.intoperson.com/api/v1/search?monthly_searches=100000&product_types=serp_api&providers=perplexity&r=page) |
| 500,000 searches | Perplexity Search API, Fast Search | $500/month | 500,000 searches × 1 = 500,000 requests × $1 per 1,000 → $500/month. | [full verdict](https://plans.intoperson.com/api/v1/search?monthly_searches=500000&product_types=serp_api&providers=perplexity&r=page) |

Other volume: open the verdict link for the nearest volume above; each verdict lists the cost at that volume and every condition with the official sentence.

## Plans

Values that apply to one plan. "Not stated" means the official pages do not say; it is not an estimate.

### Search API, standard web search

Plan id: `perplexity-search-standard` · Pay as you go

- Price: $5 per 1,000 requests [1][2]
- Price: Not stated on the 9 official pages checked (2026-10-22)
- Included: Not recorded
- Extra usage: No extra usage [3][4]. At the limit: the official page says the plan offers no extra usage.
- Concurrency: Not recorded
- Concurrency: Not stated on the 9 official pages checked (2026-10-22)
- Rate limit: 50 per second [5][6]
- Visit: [Pricing page](https://plans.intoperson.com/go/perplexity-search-standard) (choose the plan on the page)

### Search API, Fast Search

Plan id: `perplexity-search-fast` · Pay as you go

- Price: $1 per 1,000 requests [7]
- Price: Not stated on the 9 official pages checked (2026-10-22)
- Included: Not recorded
- Extra usage: No extra usage [3][4]. At the limit: the official page says the plan offers no extra usage.
- Concurrency: Not recorded
- Concurrency: Not stated on the 9 official pages checked (2026-10-22)
- Rate limit: 50 per second [5][6]
- Visit: [Pricing page](https://plans.intoperson.com/go/perplexity-search-fast) (choose the plan on the page)

## Applies to every plan

Recorded for the product or the provider; a plan-level value or a listed exception replaces it.

- Units per search: 1 request [8][9][10]
- Billing of failed requests: Failed requests not billed; target errors: not stated [11][12]
- Search response mode: Real time [13]
- Search results by country: Country setting offered; countries not listed [14][15]
- Parsed search result types: Parsed: organic [13][16][17]
- Official MCP server (all products): {"official":true,"remote":true,"local":true,"auth":["oauth","api_key"],"auth_complete":true,"url":"https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp"} [18][19][20][21][22]
- Zero data retention (all products): {"availability":"enterprise_only"} [23][24][25]
- SOC 2 report type (all products): {"type":"II","held":true} [26]
- Search response includes page content: Yes [27][28][29]

## Appears in comparisons

- [SERP APIs for 100,000 searches a month](https://plans.intoperson.com/compare/serp-apis-100k-searches-per-month.md)
- [Real-time SERP APIs for 1,000,000 searches a month](https://plans.intoperson.com/compare/real-time-serp-apis-1m-searches-per-month.md)

## Collection notes

Only the Search API (POST /search) is modelled, as two usage prices (standard and Fast Search). Agent API tool prices and Sonar token prices on the same pricing page are different products. The Search API has no plan ladder, no monthly allowance and no free allowance on the pages read; credits are bought in advance.

## Sources and notes

Each number points to the provider's own sentence, as it appears on the page on the date shown.

1. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing) · official pricing · read 2026-10-13

> Price per 1K requests Description Search API $5.00 Ranked web results as JSON

2. How the value follows from the source: $5.00 per 1,000 successful requests.

3. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/projects](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/projects) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> If you run out of credits, your API keys will be blocked until you add to your credit balance.

4. Prepaid credits only: when they run out the API keys are blocked until credits are added (auto reload is optional); nothing is billed beyond the balance.

5. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/admin/rate-limits-usage-tiers](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/admin/rate-limits-usage-tiers) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> POST /search 50 query units per second 50 query units

6. The limit counts query units; a request with one query uses one unit.

7. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/search/fast-search](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/search/fast-search) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> The Search API charges $1.00 per 1,000 Fast Search requests instead of $5.00 for standard web search.

8. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing) · official pricing · read 2026-10-13

> Billing unit: Search API charges for each successful POST /search request, not for each query in the request.

9. How the value follows from the source: The billing unit is one successful request, so one search is one unit.

10. A successful request with an array of up to five queries is one billing unit.

11. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/getting-started/pricing) · official pricing · read 2026-10-13

> Invalid requests, rate-limited requests, and upstream failures are not billed.

12. A successful response is billed even when it returns no results.

13. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/search/quickstart](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/search/quickstart) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> Perplexity’s Search API returns real-time, ranked web results as structured data, with controls for domains, languages, regions, and extracted content.

14. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/search/quickstart](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/search/quickstart) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> Set country to an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code such as US , GB , DE , or JP to get more geographically relevant results.

15. No list of countries is published.

16. How the value follows from the source: The ranked web results are recorded as organic results.

17. The pages name no news or image results for this API.

18. [docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server](https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> Remote MCP server (recommended): hosted by Perplexity at https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp . No installation, nothing to update, works with any client that supports remote MCP servers. Sign in with your Perplexity account or use an API key.

19. [docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server](https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> Sign in with Perplexity (OAuth): add the server without any credentials.

20. [docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server](https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> API key: send your key as a bearer token.

21. [docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server](https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/mcp-server) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> Local MCP server: run the open-source server on your machine over stdio.

22. The documentation page of the provider describes its own MCP server.

23. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/privacy-security](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/privacy-security) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> Zero Data Retention is not default: ZDR is available only to eligible customers through an account-level configuration under a written agreement with Perplexity.

24. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/faq](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/faq) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> Retention depends on the API, model, and account configuration, and Zero Data Retention (ZDR) is not the default.

25. ZDR is available only to eligible customers through an account-level configuration under a written agreement; without it the page tells the reader not to assume zero retention. The FAQ answer of 2026-10-13 that the API keeps no query data is no longer on the page.

26. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/privacy-security](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/privacy-security) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> SOC 2 Type II Report - Comprehensive security controls audit covering security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy

27. [docs.perplexity.ai/api-reference/search-post](https://docs.perplexity.ai/api-reference/search-post) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> Search the web and retrieve relevant web page contents.

28. [docs.perplexity.ai/docs/search/quickstart](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/search/quickstart) · official docs · read 2026-10-13

> Use max_tokens and max_tokens_per_page to control how much content is extracted from result pages

29. The snippet field carries text extracted from the page, within a token budget; it is an excerpt, not a guaranteed copy of the page.

Check these plans against a workload: https://plans.intoperson.com/guide.md describes the inputs; the REST form is GET https://plans.intoperson.com/api/v1/products/perplexity-search.