Perplexity API today
Starts at
$0.0005/invocation
- Contract
- Not found
- Free plan
- Not found
Free plan, which Perplexity API doesn't show (9)
A free plan you can keep, in the vendor's own words.
| Alternative | Starts at | Against Perplexity API | States that Perplexity API doesn't | Contract | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hugging FacePRO, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$9/moPRO plan, starting price | Not comparable | Fine-tuning support, SSO | Enterprise plan has annual commitments | Free account with unlimited public models, datasets and applications; paid... |
 Mistral AIPro, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$14.99/moPro plan, starting price | Not comparable | Fine-tuning support, VPC or on-prem deployment, SSO | Not found | Free plan with limited access to Vibe (chat, search, creation, coding) and... |
 Anthropic ClaudePro, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$20/moPro plan, starting price | Not comparable | Long context window, SSO, HIPAA BAA | Enterprise is annual only; Pro and Team can be monthly or annual | Free plan with chat on web, desktop and mobile, web search, file creation... |
| OpenAIBusiness Standard seat, read Oct 29, 2026 | $25/userBusiness Standard seat plan, starting price | Not comparable | Long context window, SOC 2 compliance, SOC 2, SSO and 1 more | Not found | A free version of ChatGPT is available to everyone (consumer plan); details... |
 UpstageCommitment tier Explore, read Oct 29, 2026 |
$100/moCommitment tier Explore plan, starting price | Not comparable | VPC or on-prem deployment | Not found | Studio agents include 10 free runs with no credit card; File Search beta is... |
 Gemini Enterprise Agent Platformread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.085/vCPU-hourUsage price | Not comparable | Fine-tuning support | Not found | A free usage tier renews monthly per account for each Agent resource (50... |
 Google Geminiread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.25/1M tokensUsage price | Not comparable | Long context window | Not found | Free tier gives limited access to certain models with free input and output... |
 OpenRouterread Oct 29, 2026 |
$5.50/unitUsage price | Not comparable | SOC 2 compliance, Zero data retention option, SOC 2, SSO | No minimums or lock-in on Standard and Business | Free plan with 25+ free models and 4 free providers; free models capped at... |
 xAI Grokread Oct 29, 2026 |
$2/1M input tokensUsage price | Not comparable | Long context window, SOC 2 compliance, Zero data retention option, SOC 2 and 2 more | Not found | Free Console account with a Playground to test Grok models; API usage itself... |
Other options (8)
No computed reason to switch, listed for completeness.
| Alternative | Starts at | Against Perplexity API | States that Perplexity API doesn't | Contract | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 AI21 Labsread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.20/1M input tokensUsage price | Not comparable | Long context window, Fine-tuning support, Zero data retention option, VPC or on-prem deployment | Not found | Trial: $10 credits for 7 days, no credit card needed |
 Amazon Bedrockread Oct 29, 2026 |
$2/1,000 queriesUsage price | Not comparable | Fine-tuning support, SOC 2 compliance, Zero data retention option, VPC or on-prem deployment and 2 more | Not found | Not found |
 Anyscaleread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.0135/hourUsage price | Not comparable | Fine-tuning support, VPC or on-prem deployment, SSO | Pay-as-you-go is month-to-month; prepaid committed services are... | Trial: $100 in Anyscale credits on signup (one-time credit, not time-limited as stated) |
 Cohereread Oct 29, 2026 |
$3/hour per instanceUsage price | Not comparable | Fine-tuning support, VPC or on-prem deployment | Model Vault supports monthly or annual commitments | Time-limited: Free Trial API key, rate limited, not for production or commercial use |
 Fireworks AIread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.008/1M input tokensUsage price | Not comparable | Long context window, Fine-tuning support, SOC 2 compliance, Zero data retention option and 4 more | Not found | Trial: Muse Glimmer 30B SFT free via UI and Serverless Training API until 11/30, no... |
 Nebiusread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.74/GPU-hourUsage price | Not comparable | SOC 2 compliance, SOC 2, HIPAA BAA | Usage commitments available for long-term workloads | Not found |
 Replicateread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.000025/secondUsage price | Not comparable | Fine-tuning support | Not found | Not found |
 Together AIread Oct 29, 2026 |
$0.15/1M input tokensUsage price | Not comparable | Fine-tuning support, Zero data retention option, VPC or on-prem deployment | Term continues until use stops or Company terminates; you may not... | Not found |
No price found, or contact sales (7)
- Alibaba Qwenself serve
- Databricks Mosaic AIhybrid
- DeepSeekcontact the vendor
- Meta Llamahybrid
- Microsoft Azure OpenAI Servicehybrid
- SiliconFlowhybrid
- Snowflake Cortex AIhybrid
Questions
Is there a free alternative to Perplexity API?
Yes. 9 large language models have a free plan, including Hugging Face, Mistral AI, Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Upstage.
How this page is made
Alternatives come from Perplexity API's own category, Large language models. Prices come from each vendor's pricing page and are compared at the same volume where both can be computed, and by starting price where neither can. "States that Perplexity API doesn't" lists what we found on the other vendor's site and didn't find on Perplexity API's, which doesn't prove Perplexity API lacks it. How prices are read.