Quick winner
Summary badges based on structured data only — no invented claims.
xAI $30/mo vs Perplexity $20/mo
Both vendors offer a free plan
Perplexity publishes an enterprise tier
Both vendors expose a public API
Wider plan coverage across free, team and enterprise tiers
Pricing comparison
How xAI and Perplexity price their plans side by side.
| Feature | xAI | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Entry monthly price | $30/mo | $20/mo |
| Entry annual price | $300/yr | $200/yr |
| Team / Business plan | — | — |
| Enterprise plan | — | $40/mo |
| Credits (entry paid tier) | Higher rate limits | Unlimited Pro searches |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| SSO / SAML | No | Yes |
| Admin Console | No | Yes |
| Priority / dedicated support | No | No |
| Billing model | Flat / month, Per seat / month | Flat / month, Per seat / month |
| Annual billing discount | 17% off | 17% off |
| Last pricing update | 2026-06-20 | 2026-06-20 |
Pricing history
Monthly price of the entry paid tier over time.
Feature comparison
Capability strengths derived from vendor category and published features.
Pros & cons
Derived from published plan structure and billing model.
- Free plan available — limited grok
- Annual billing with discount available
- Public API for developers and automation
- Category strengths: general ai, writing, reasoning
- No published enterprise tier
- Higher entry price at $30/seat/mo
- Enterprise pricing requires a sales conversation
- Free plan available — 5 pro searches / day
- Annual billing with discount available
- Public API for developers and automation
- Enterprise tier with sso / saml, data exclusion
- Category strengths: research, citations, web knowledge
- Enterprise pricing requires a sales conversation
Best for
Recommendations based on structured capabilities.
Free tier plus low-cost entry paid plan
Public API and coding-oriented capabilities
Published enterprise plan with SSO and admin controls
Strong writing, image or productivity features
Annual billing plus predictable per-seat model
Pricing calculator
Estimate monthly and annual cost for your team.
Estimates based on published per-seat pricing. Enterprise plans require sales quotes.
Open Full Budget CalculatorFrequently asked
Answers drawn from the AIFinOps Vendor Database.
Perplexity has the lower entry price at $20/seat/mo. xAI starts at $30/seat/mo and Perplexity starts at $20/seat/mo.
Both xAI and Perplexity offer a free plan. xAI free: Limited Grok. Perplexity free: 5 Pro searches / day.
xAI team option: not published at custom pricing. Perplexity team option: not published at custom pricing.
Perplexity publishes an enterprise tier. xAI does not currently list one.
Yes. Both vendors offer month-to-month billing on their entry paid plans, so you can migrate without long-term lock-in. Import your team's spend into AIFinOps to model the switch before committing.
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