Alternatives to Perplexity Pro
Below are the 18 other tools in Research & Search, the category where we list Perplexity Pro. For each one you get what it is, the starting price shown on its own site, and whether it has a free tier.
Perplexity Pro has a free tier, and its paid plans start at Free / $17+ (billed yearly). Read the full Perplexity Pro profile, or see everything in Research & Search.
Price and free tier at a glance
| Tool | Starting price | Free tier |
|---|---|---|
| Perplexity Pro | Free / $17+ (billed yearly) (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| ChatPDF | $14.99/mo | Yes |
| Consensus | Free; paid plans from $12/mo (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| Elicit | Free; paid plans from $49/mo (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| Felo AI | Free; paid plans from $12.50/mo | Yes |
| Gemini Notebook | Free; paid plans from $4.99/mo | Yes |
| Humata | Free; paid plans from $9.99/mo (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| Kagi | Trial / $5+ (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| Liner | Free; paid plans from $14.99/mo (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| Otio | Free; paid plans from $7/mo (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| Paperguide | Free; paid plans from $12/mo (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| Paperpile | $4.15/mo (checked October 2026) | Not listed |
| Recall | Free; paid plans from $10/mo (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| ResearchRabbit | Free; paid plans from $10/mo (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| Scholarcy | See pricing (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| SciSpace | Free; paid plans from $12/mo (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| Scite.ai | $12/mo (checked October 2026) | Not listed |
| Undermind | Free; paid plans from $16/mo (checked October 2026) | Yes |
| You.com | Usage-based (checked October 2026) | Yes |
Perplexity Pro is the first row. The rest are in alphabetical order.
Alternatives with a free tier
16 of the 18 alternatives list a free tier or free plan. Free tiers usually come with usage limits.
- ChatPDF
- Consensus
- Elicit
- Felo AI
- Gemini Notebook
- Humata
- Kagi
- Liner
- Otio
- Paperguide
- Recall
- ResearchRabbit
- Scholarcy
- SciSpace
- Undermind
- You.com
Listed at a lower starting price than Perplexity Pro
15 of the 18 tools below list a lower starting price ($17/mo) than Perplexity Pro. A lower starting price does not mean the same features: plan limits differ a lot between tools.
- ChatPDF · $14.99/mo
- Consensus · $12/mo
- Felo AI · $12.50/mo
- Gemini Notebook · $4.99/mo
- Humata · $9.99/mo
- Kagi · $5/mo
- Liner · $14.99/mo
- Otio · $7/mo
- Paperguide · $12/mo
- Paperpile · $4.15/mo
- Recall · $10/mo
- ResearchRabbit · $10/mo
- SciSpace · $12/mo
- Scite.ai · $12/mo
- Undermind · $16/mo
Head-to-head comparisons
All 18 alternatives
ChatPDF
Chat with uploaded documents (PDF, Word, PowerPoint, text). Free plan allows 2 documents a day; Plus price is not shown on official pages, so confirm on the site.
Consensus
AI search engine that answers questions from scholarly papers, with a citation on each sentence. Free plan; Pro is $144 a year (about $12 a month) or $20 monthly.
Elicit
AI research assistant that searches 138M+ papers, summarizes them, extracts data and writes cited reports and systematic reviews. Free Basic plan; Pro reported at $49 a month billed annually.
Felo AI
AI search with cited sources, plus slides and a research agent on one credit balance. Free plan; Pro is $12.50 a month billed annually (Reported), $14.99 monthly.
Gemini Notebook
Google's AI research notebook (formerly NotebookLM). Answers questions from your own sources with citations. Free plan; higher limits come with Google AI plans, with Plus reported at $4.99 a month.
Humata
Answers questions about uploaded documents with citations. Free has 60 pages a month; Expert is $9.99 a month (monthly billing, annual not listed).
Kagi
Paid, ad-free search engine with an AI assistant. Plans from $5 a month; a free trial of 100 searches. Annual billing is 10% off.
Liner
AI search and research tool with cited answers, paper search and writing. Free plan has ads; Pro is $14.99 a month billed annually ($17.99 monthly).
Otio
AI research workspace for chatting with PDFs, videos and web pages with page-level citations. Lite is $7 a month billed annually ($84 a year).
Paperguide
AI research workspace for paper search, chat with PDFs, literature and systematic reviews, and writing; free plan, paid from $12 per seat a month billed annually.
Paperpile
Reference manager with Google Docs and Word plugins, a browser extension and mobile apps. No free plan after a 30 day trial; Regular is $4.15 a month billed annually.
Recall
AI knowledge base that saves articles, videos, podcasts and PDFs, then summarizes them and lets you chat with them. Free plan; Plus is $10 a month billed annually.
ResearchRabbit
Literature discovery tool that maps papers related to your seed articles; Free allows 50 seeds. ResearchRabbit+ starts at $10 a month (annual plan label; $12.5 monthly label).
Scholarcy
Turns research papers into summary flashcards with highlights and references; web app and browser extensions. Free plan available; paid plan prices not readable on the vendor page.
SciSpace
AI research assistant for literature search, paper chat and cited writing on web, Chrome and mobile. Free plan; paid plans start at $12 a month billed annually (Reported).
Scite.ai
AI research platform with an Assistant, full-text citation search and Smart Citations. Basic is $12 a month billed annually ($20 monthly); no free plan, 7-day trial.
Undermind
AI research assistant for scientific literature with deep search and cited answers, also usable inside Claude and ChatGPT. Free plan; Pro is $16 a month billed annually.
You.com
Web search, content, answer and research APIs for AI apps, with a free tier of 100 queries a day and pay-as-you-go pricing from $5 per 1,000 Web Search calls.
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