Perplexity Computer Pricing

Perplexity Computer has no standalone subscription tier. Access is bundled into Perplexity Pro, Perplexity Max, Enterprise Pro, and Enterprise Max subscriptions, with active jobs metered through a unified credit system where 100 credits equal $1.

Perplexity structures Computer as an autonomous digital worker capable of executing multi-step workflows, writing code, and orchestrating external applications. While standard Perplexity searches consume no credits, Computer tasks draw down credits based on workload complexity, ranging from roughly 15 credits for simple lookups to more than 15,000 credits for custom software builds.

Subscription pricing, monthly allocations, and one-time bonus pools differ significantly between personal and institutional tiers. Buyers evaluating Perplexity Computer must weigh included weekly allowances on Pro against fixed monthly credit banks on Max to budget their expected task volumes.

What Perplexity Computer Costs on Each Plan

Perplexity Computer has no separate subscription: it comes with Pro ($20 per month, with weekly included usage and a one-time 4,000-credit bonus) or Max ($200 per month, 10,000 credits a month), and every task is billed in credits at 100 credits = $1, from about 15 credits for a quick fact to 15,000+ for an app build.

Perplexity sells consumer access through Pro at $20 per month and Max at $200 per month, with annual Max billing listed at $2,000 per year on the Perplexity pricing guide. Enterprise organizations purchase access through Enterprise Pro at $40 per seat per month or Enterprise Max at $325 per seat per month. Each subscription includes a combination of recurring monthly credits, a temporary new-subscriber bonus, or weekly included usage allowances.

Because subscription policies, regional availability, and promotional packages vary over time, verify current rates directly on the Perplexity Pro signup page or the official Perplexity help center.

Typical Task Costs in Credits and Dollars

A Perplexity Computer task costs between $0.15 and upwards of $150 based on Perplexity's conversion rate of 100 credits per dollar.

Perplexity measures Computer usage in credits. Perplexity publishes representative consumption bands in its guide to how credits work, and says actual usage may differ. Simple factual inquiries draw minimal resources.

For complex automation, such as assembling complete applications or running multi-day builds, tasks can require 15,000 or more credits. Knowing these expenditure ranges helps users estimate whether included plan allowances can sustain their daily operational needs.

What Uses Credits and What Runs Free

Perplexity Ask searches do not use credits, whereas Work mode, which runs Computer, consumes credits.

Perplexity maintains a clear technical boundary between search retrieval and agentic execution. In its documentation, Perplexity summarizes this separation directly: Perplexity answers your questions, while Computer does your work. Standard Perplexity search queries across the web desktop interface, iOS app, and Android app never touch your credit balance.

Comet Assistant applies this same distinction depending on the operating mode selected. When Comet Assistant runs in Search mode, queries remain free of credit charges. When Comet Assistant switches to Work mode, it engages Perplexity Computer to orchestrate tools, modify external files, and draft presentations, thereby drawing against your credit balance.

• Free of credit charges: Perplexity Ask queries across web desktop, iOS, and Android interfaces
• Free of credit charges: Comet Assistant running in Search mode
• Consumes credits: Perplexity Computer background workflows, document creation, and tool integrations
• Consumes credits: Comet Assistant operating in Work mode

How Pro Weekly Included Usage Works

Perplexity Pro includes a recurring weekly allocation of Computer usage that resets weekly and does not roll over to the following week.

Perplexity gives consumer Pro subscribers weekly Computer access without requiring immediate credit purchases. This weekly usage pool is rolling out gradually to paid Consumer Pro accounts. Once an account receives the feature, the allocation resets weekly.

When a Pro subscriber uses Computer with included weekly usage but holds zero credits in their balance, Perplexity restricts Computer execution to the Light effort setting. Running tasks on higher effort levels or initiating deep analytical jobs requires supplementary credits, which subscribers can draw from their initial new-subscriber bonus or separate credit purchases.

New Consumer Pro subscribers receive a one-time bonus of 4,000 credits upon sign-up, which expires approximately 30 days after activation. At the standard 100-credit conversion rate, this bonus represents $40 in task execution, allowing users to run four to eleven multi-step research reports before relying entirely on weekly allowances or paid top-ups.

Credit Depletion, Expiry, and Refill Order

Perplexity spends credits in a strict priority order: included weekly usage on Pro runs first, followed by bonus credits, monthly subscription credits, and finally purchased credits.

Monthly credit allocations on Max, Enterprise Pro, and Enterprise Max expire at the end of each billing cycle and do not roll over. Purchased credits expire only if you do not use Computer for one year.

When a user exhausts all available credits, active Computer tasks pause. Tasks resume processing automatically once new credits enter the account through scheduled monthly renewals or manual purchases. Auto-refill is off by default.

• First deducted: Included weekly usage on qualifying Pro subscriptions
• Second deducted: One-time promotional or sign-up bonus credits
• Third deducted: Recurring monthly plan allowances on Max and Enterprise tiers
• Fourth deducted: Separately purchased credits, which expire after one year of inactivity
• Zero-balance state: Active operations pause and resume when credits return

Running Perplexity Computer Locally on Mac

Perplexity Computer can run tasks locally on Apple silicon hardware through the Perplexity Mac application, but Perplexity has not published whether local execution consumes credits.

Perplexity introduced Hybrid Compute on September 1, 2026, pairing frontier cloud models with local file processing on macOS. On October 20, 2026, Perplexity announced on the Perplexity Mac local launch blog that Computer can execute fully on device. The local setup runs Qwen 3.6 or PPLX Pro (a post-trained version of Qwen), keeping planning, reasoning, and file management on the Mac while permitting optional escalation to cloud models for live browsing.

Hardware requirements call for an Apple silicon Mac, such as models running M5 Pro or M6 processors, with 36 GB or more of unified memory recommended.

For dedicated local hardware outside Apple silicon, Perplexity offers Perplexity Portable Computer, announced on August 25, 2026, for NVIDIA systems including the DGX Spark and 24GB RTX GPUs. Perplexity explicitly states that Portable Computer tasks on supported NVIDIA hardware do not consume credits, separating that architecture from cloud-metered workflows.

Choosing Between Pro and Max for Computer Workloads

Choosing between Perplexity Pro and Max comes down to whether your workload requires high-effort reasoning and recurring credit allowances beyond the Light effort tier.

At $20 per month, Consumer Pro fits users who need search intelligence alongside periodic, light-effort automations covered by included weekly usage. The initial 4,000-credit bonus supports initial experimentation, but Pro provides zero recurring monthly credits once that bonus expires. If your workflow requires recurring high-effort document drafting or multi-step analysis, you must purchase supplementary credits on top of the base subscription.

At $200 per month, Consumer Max delivers 10,000 recurring monthly credits, equivalent to $100 in credit value every billing cycle. Based on Perplexity's published ranges, 10,000 monthly credits cover roughly one to four data dashboards (costing 2,400 to 9,800 credits each) or roughly ten to twenty-eight multi-step research reports (costing 350 to 950 credits each). Max also includes an initial bonus pool of 35,000 credits, giving heavy operators substantial upfront capacity.

Who this is not for: Teams seeking fixed software pricing without credit fluctuations should avoid heavy Computer deployments, continuing instead with standard query subscriptions. Organizations requiring unattended execution without credit constraints can evaluate self-hosted AI agents for business or compare multi-agent tooling against ChatGPT dots and Grok Bot.

What would change this verdict: If Perplexity confirms zero-credit local execution on Apple silicon, raises Pro monthly credit baselines, or introduces automated credit rollover across billing cycles, Pro will become the superior choice for mid-tier business automations.

• Select Consumer Pro ($20/month): Best for search-first operators running occasional Light effort tasks within weekly allowances
• Select Consumer Max ($200/month): Best for operators needing 10,000 monthly credits to handle regular dashboards and deep research
• Select Enterprise tiers ($40 to $325/seat/month): Best for organizations needing monthly per-seat allocations and higher bonus reserves