Perplexity vs Claude: the same $20, but only Claude Pro includes Opus

Which Claude models does Perplexity Pro include?

Perplexity Pro includes one Claude model, Claude Sonnet 5.5. Perplexity Max, at $200 a month, adds Claude Opus 5.5 and Claude Fable 5.1. Claude Pro costs the same $20 as Perplexity Pro and includes Opus, Sonnet and Haiku, and Anthropic's chat lists the 5.5 versions of all three. So on the plan most people buy, Claude gets you the stronger Claude.

The scores are the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v4.3.2 at max effort, read on 26 October 2026. That's the ceiling for each model, and Perplexity doesn't say what effort it runs. Opus 5.5 came out on 22 September 2026 and Sonnet 5.5 on 28 September. Perplexity's model list added both in its 17 October snapshot, Sonnet 5.5 on Pro and Opus 5.5 on Max only. Perplexity says its in-app selector is the source of truth, so check it before you pay.

One Claude neither $20 plan includes outright. Anthropic's top reasoning model, Claude Fable 5.1, isn't part of the Claude Pro allowance: Pro users pay for it from usage credits at API rates, and Perplexity keeps it for Max. It scores 53 on the same index, so Opus 5.5 stays the strongest Claude you get for the flat $20.

There's a second reason the same name can give a different answer. Perplexity's help center says it wraps every outside model in its own search, citations, prompts and usage limits, so "a model in Perplexity can behave differently from the same model in the provider's standalone product." You're buying Perplexity's search layer with Claude underneath. You aren't buying Claude.

Is Perplexity or Claude better for research?

Perplexity is better for research on the open web, and Claude is better for research inside documents you bring. Perplexity searches before it answers on every query, and its pricing page promises "Citations in every answer" even on the free plan. Its help center says Pro gets "10x as many citations per answer". It also tags some cited sites with a Government, Academic or Trusted label, which helps when you have to defend a claim to someone else.

Claude searches too, on every plan including Free. Anthropic's help page on web search says "Every response includes citations" when it does. The catch is timing. In the newer Claude app there's no switch, and "Claude searches the web when it helps", so a question Claude thinks it can answer from memory gets no search. If the answer has to be from this week, Perplexity is the safer default.

For long reports, both sell a research mode. Perplexity gives Free users 1 Research query a month and Pro users a monthly pool it labels only "average use". Claude's Research mode starts on Pro. Where Claude pulls ahead is the reading itself: Opus 5.5 holds up to 1M tokens in one chat, so a stack of PDFs fits in the same conversation as your questions. Perplexity Pro limits breaks down every Perplexity pool and when each one resets.

How do Perplexity and Claude compare on price and limits?

Both charge $20 a month for the plan most people buy, and both drop to $17 a month if you pay for a year. They split on the shape of the limit. Perplexity meters searches by the week and research by the month. Claude meters usage by the session, which resets every five hours, with a weekly cap on top for every paid plan.

The Perplexity numbers come from its plan comparison and pricing page. The Claude numbers come from Anthropic's pricing page, which says Pro gives "at least 5x more usage per 5-hour session than Free" and that "paid plans add weekly limits on top." Its help page on Max adds that "Your session-based usage limit will reset every five hours." Neither company prints a message count for its $20 plan. If you mostly search in short bursts, Perplexity's weekly pool is easier to live with. If you code or write for hours, Claude Pro gives you Claude Code at no extra cost, and Claude Pro vs Claude Max covers when the session limit starts to bite.

Which one handles your files better?

Claude handles big files better, and Perplexity handles audio and video. Anthropic's file upload page, updated 23 July 2026, allows 500 MB per file in a chat and up to 20 files per chat. Project files can be 30 MB each, with no count limit as long as the total fits the context window. Perplexity caps every file at 40 MB, and Pro allows up to 50 file uploads per Project.

The bigger gap is what happens to a long file. Perplexity's file upload page says that "If you upload a long file, Perplexity will extract the most important parts." Claude reads the whole file into a context of up to 1M tokens. That's about 555,000 words by Anthropic's count. If you need a clause from page 280, that difference decides it.

Perplexity wins one row outright. It accepts audio and video uploads and turns the speech into searchable text, with speakers labelled. Claude's upload page lists documents and images, with no audio or video at all. Got a recorded meeting to mine? Start in Perplexity.

Does Perplexity or Claude train on your chats by default?

Perplexity does unless you switch it off, and Claude asks you first. Perplexity's data collection page, last modified 3 September 2026, says that for Free, Pro and Max users "AI Data Retention is enabled by default." You turn it off under Account settings, then Preferences. The opt out only covers data collected after that date, and the same page says "Previously collected training data cannot be deleted or removed."

Anthropic changed its consumer terms on 28 August 2025. Since then every Claude Free, Pro and Max user, Claude Code included, picks a setting at signup or in a pop up. If you allow training, Anthropic keeps that data for up to five years. If you don't, the 30 day retention period stays. Its privacy center adds that Incognito chats are never used to improve Claude.

Both companies keep business plans out of training. Perplexity says Enterprise data "is never used for AI training purposes", and Anthropic's consumer terms don't cover Team, Enterprise or API use. On a personal plan, though, the defaults differ. A new Perplexity account is already sharing. A new Claude account has made a choice.

Use Perplexity for fresh sourced answers, Claude for work on your own material

Perplexity wins the jobs where the answer lives on the web and has to be checked. Claude wins the jobs where the answer is something you make. Each row below names the line from the vendor's own docs that decides it.

Most people who weigh these two want both halves: a search that cites and a strong Claude to write with. That's $40 a month for Perplexity Pro plus Claude Pro. Whizi is the same kind of product as Perplexity, a workspace in front of other labs' models, and it turns web search on by default in every new chat. Its Pro plan is $29.99 for 2,500 credits a month and includes Claude Opus, Claude Sonnet and Perplexity's Sonar Pro. A Claude Opus 5.5 message spends 20 credits, so that's 125 a month. Whizi loses to both specialists here. It has no Claude Code and no source labels, and one message can carry 6 files where Claude takes 20 per chat. Whizi vs Perplexity Pro has the full columns.