# Perplexity vs Grok (November 2026): plans, prices and agents

> Perplexity sells cited search answers with a $200 Max tier. Grok sells models, X and Cursor agents from $8 to $200 a month.

URL: https://claudegpt.si/news/perplexity-vs-grok-plans  
Published: 2026-11-08T14:55:33.308Z  
Author: ClaudeGPT Si Newsroom  
Section: Reviews  
Topics: Perplexity, Grok, xAI, Comparison, AI assistants  
Publisher: ClaudeGPT Si

## Key takeaways

- Both companies top out at $200 a month: Perplexity Max and Grok Ultra.
- Perplexity's free plan gives 3 Pro Searches a day; xAI does not publish Grok's daily free limit in numbers.
- Perplexity Pro can use Grok 4 as one of its models, so the two products overlap.

Perplexity and Grok do different jobs. Perplexity is built around search with cited answers, and Grok is xAI's chatbot, now sold inside The X Subscription with coding and agent tools attached. This comparison of Perplexity vs Grok uses the companies' own help pages and announcements as of November 8, 2026, and it is based on docs and published terms, not hands-on testing.

## Perplexity vs Grok at a glance

| | Perplexity | Grok |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | 3 Pro Searches a day, 1 Research query a month | Daily Grok access, a starter Cursor coding-agent allowance |
| Mid tier | Pro (price not stated on the help pages we read) | Plus, $8 a month; Premium, $30 a month |
| Top individual tier | Max, $200 a month or $2,000 a year | Ultra, $200 a month |
| Built around | Cited web answers, Research, files and apps | Grok models, X, Cursor coding agents, Grok Bot |
| Agent product | Computer, with credits | Grok Bot, in Premium and above |
| Developer API | Billed separately | grok-4.7: $2 per million input tokens, $6 per million output |

Sources: [Perplexity's plan guide](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/11187416-which-perplexity-subscription-plan-is-right-for-you), [Perplexity Max](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/11680686-perplexity-max), [xAI's X Subscription post](https://x.ai/news/x-subscription) and [xAI's model list](https://docs.x.ai/developers/models).

## What you get for free

Perplexity's free plan gives 3 Pro Searches a day and 1 Research query a month, with basic file uploads. It has no advanced models, image generation, Comet Assistant or file and app creation.

Grok's free tier, per xAI, gives daily Grok access and a starter allowance for Cursor's coding agent, and it adds standard X features. xAI does not publish the daily limit in numbers.

## What the paid plans cost

Perplexity's help pages name two clear prices for individuals and teams: Education Pro at $10 a month with student or educator verification, and Max at $200 a month or $2,000 a year, with annual billing only on the web. Enterprise Pro is $40 per seat per month or $400 a year. The page for Pro itself does not state a price, so confirm it at checkout.

xAI lists four paid steps. Plus is $8 a month. Premium is $30 and, xAI says, bundles SuperGrok, Cursor Pro and X Premium+, which cost $90 a month together before. Super is $100 and Ultra is $200. xAI describes their usage as 4x, 15x and 50x Plus. Both companies have a $200 top tier.

## Which has better answers with sources

Perplexity is designed so that each answer carries citations. Its Pro page says Pro gives 10 times as many citations per answer, and lists models from several labs on the plan: Sonar, GPT-5.2, Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 3.1 Pro, plus Grok 4 for complex analytical questions. Grok 4 appears on that list, so a Pro subscriber can use xAI's model inside Perplexity.

Grok answers from its own models. xAI's API docs say Grok has no knowledge of current events beyond its training data unless you turn on web search or X search. Grok 4.7 has a May 2026 knowledge cutoff.

We did not run a head-to-head test, and neither company publishes a benchmark that compares the two products. Independent comparisons of models are on sites such as [Artificial Analysis](https://artificialanalysis.ai/), but they rate models, not these apps.

## Agents: Computer or Grok Bot

Perplexity Computer is a paid-plan feature that, per Perplexity's help center, takes actions for you and can run scheduled jobs. Max gets 10,000 credits a month. Pro gets no monthly credits, only a weekly Computer allowance and a one-time bonus of 4,000 credits. We cover the details in [our Perplexity Computer guide](https://claudegpt.si/news/perplexity-computer-what-it-is-cost).

Grok Bot gives persistent AI teammates that work on a cloud computer, and it comes with Premium and above. See [Grok Bot pricing](https://claudegpt.si/news/grok-bot-pricing-plans) for how its shared weekly pool works.

## Which to pick

Pick Perplexity if most of your use is research with links you can check. Pick Grok if you want one subscription that also covers X and Cursor's coding agents. If you are choosing between Grok and ChatGPT instead, read [ChatGPT vs Grok](https://claudegpt.si/news/chatgpt-vs-grok).

## What to check before you pay

Both companies change plans often. Perplexity says credit allowances can vary by promotion, region or plan, and xAI says its pricing page has the latest included usage, which we could not open. Check both pricing pages on the day you subscribe, and look at what each plan's weekly or monthly limits are rather than the plan names alone.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Perplexity better than Grok?

It depends on the job. Perplexity is built for cited web answers and Research. Grok is a chatbot bundled with X and Cursor tools. We did not test them head to head and neither company publishes a direct benchmark.

### Does Perplexity use Grok?

Perplexity's Pro help page lists Grok 4 among the models for complex analytical questions, alongside models from other labs.

### How much is Perplexity Max?

$200 a month or $2,000 a year, with annual billing available only on the web, per Perplexity's help center.

### How much is Grok Ultra?

xAI lists Ultra at $200 a month, with usage it describes as 50x Plus.

## Sources

- [Which Perplexity subscription plan is right for you?](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/11187416-which-perplexity-subscription-plan-is-right-for-you), Perplexity
- [Perplexity Max](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/11680686-perplexity-max), Perplexity
- [What is Perplexity Pro?](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10352901-what-is-perplexity-pro), Perplexity
- [How credits work on Perplexity](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/13838041-how-credits-work-on-perplexity), Perplexity
- [The X Subscription](https://x.ai/news/x-subscription), xAI
- [xAI models and pricing](https://docs.x.ai/developers/models), xAI