AI Vendor Intelligence · 2026

Perplexity vs DeepSeek Pricing (2026)

Compare pricing, plans, credits, enterprise features and value for money. Updated automatically from the AIFinOps Vendor Database.

8 min readLast updated Oct 3, 2026
PX
Perplexity
Enterprise
Search · Perplexity Pro

Answer engine combining web search with frontier LLMs; Pro tier unlocks model choice and unlimited Pro searches.

Free
Yes
From
$20/mo
API
Yes
DS
DeepSeek
LLM · DeepSeek

AI research company offering high-efficiency reasoning, coding and multimodal models through its web product and usage-based API.

Free
Yes
From
—
API
Yes

Quick winner

Summary badges based on structured data only — no invented claims.

Best free plan
Tie

Both vendors offer a free plan

Best for enterprise
Perplexity

Perplexity publishes an enterprise tier

Best for developers
Tie

Both vendors expose a public API

Best overall value
Perplexity

Wider plan coverage across free, team and enterprise tiers

Pricing comparison

How Perplexity and DeepSeek price their plans side by side.

FeaturePerplexityDeepSeek
Free plan Yes Yes
Entry monthly price$20/mo—
Entry annual price$200/yr—
Team / Business plan——
Enterprise plan$40/mo—
Credits (entry paid tier)Unlimited Pro searches—
Public API Yes Yes
SSO / SAML Yes No
Admin Console Yes No
Priority / dedicated support No No
Billing modelFlat / month, Per seat / monthUsage-based
Annual billing discount17% off—
Last pricing update2026-06-202026-10-03

Pricing history

Monthly price of the entry paid tier over time.

No pricing history recorded yet for these vendors.

Feature comparison

Capability strengths derived from vendor category and published features.

General AI
Perplexity
DeepSeek
Coding
Perplexity
DeepSeek
Reasoning
Perplexity
DeepSeek
Writing
Perplexity
DeepSeek
Enterprise
Perplexity
DeepSeek
API
Perplexity
DeepSeek
Integrations
Perplexity
DeepSeek
Administration
Perplexity
DeepSeek

Pros & cons

Derived from published plan structure and billing model.

PX
Perplexity
Pros
  • 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
Cons
  • Enterprise pricing requires a sales conversation
DS
DeepSeek
Pros
  • Free plan available — pay per 1m tokens
  • Public API for developers and automation
  • Category strengths: general ai, writing, reasoning
Cons
  • No published enterprise tier

Best for

Recommendations based on structured capabilities.

Best for startups
Perplexity

Free tier plus low-cost entry paid plan

Best for developers
Either vendor works

Public API and coding-oriented capabilities

Best for enterprise
Perplexity

Published enterprise plan with SSO and admin controls

Best for marketing
DeepSeek

Strong writing, image or productivity features

Best for finance teams
Perplexity

Annual billing plus predictable per-seat model

Pricing calculator

Estimate monthly and annual cost for your team.

Company cost comparison

What would these tools cost your company?

PX
Perplexity
€1,852
per month
€22,222 per year
Annual billing saves €3,704
DS
DeepSeek
€0
per month
€0 per year
Difference / month
€1,852
Difference / year
€22,222
Lower-cost option
DeepSeek

Financial comparison only, based on the plans selected and current verified list pricing. Last verified: 2026-06-20 · 2026-10-03. Pricing may have changed.

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Frequently asked

Answers drawn from the AIFinOps Vendor Database.

Which is cheaper, Perplexity or DeepSeek?

Perplexity and DeepSeek start at the same entry price of $20/seat/mo.

Which has a better free plan?

Both Perplexity and DeepSeek offer a free plan. Perplexity free: 5 Pro searches / day. DeepSeek free: Pay per 1M tokens.

Which is better for teams?

Perplexity team option: not published at custom pricing. DeepSeek team option: not published at custom pricing.

Which has enterprise pricing?

Perplexity publishes an enterprise tier. DeepSeek does not currently list one.

Can I switch from Perplexity to DeepSeek later?

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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