OpenAIvsPerplexity
Score Comparison
Signals Comparison
OpenAI
- API costs add up fast - bills exceed expectations(9/10)
- ChatGPT Plus at $20/month with usage limits(6/10)
- Enterprise pricing opaque and expensive(6/10)
Perplexity
- Surprise double billing and subscription nightmares(9/10)
- Pro limits cut 97% after promising unlimited(8/10)
- Non-refundable policy with unreasonably short window(6/10)
- Enterprise pricing extremely high(5/10)
OpenAI
- Frequent outages - 99.76% uptime not enough(8/10)
- Rate limiting throttles production apps(8/10)
- Model deprecation breaks production apps(8/10)
- API latency spikes during peak hours(6/10)
Perplexity
- Secretly downgrading models without user knowledge(8/10)
- Citations appear rigorous but often misleading(7/10)
- Fabricates claims and cites sources that don't support them(7/10)
- Model switch caused 'massive intellectual downgrade'(6/10)
OpenAI
- Data privacy concerns - training on user data(7/10)
Perplexity
- Multiple copyright lawsuits from major publishers(8/10)
- Ignores robots.txt and scraping restrictions(6/10)
OpenAI
- Developer support is slow and unhelpful(6/10)
Perplexity
- Customer support is essentially non-existent(8/10)
OpenAI
- Model quality degradation - 'GPT-4 got dumber'(7/10)
- Context window limitations in ChatGPT(5/10)
Perplexity
- Cannot find all sources, links to wrong pages(6/10)
- Spaces lack collaboration features(5/10)
- Not suitable for creative content generation(5/10)
OpenAI
- Plugins/GPTs underdelivered on promise(5/10)
Perplexity
No signals
OpenAI
No signals
Perplexity
- Responses occasionally slow or generic(5/10)
Pricing Comparison
OpenAI
Users: 1 user
Storage: Limited message history
Limits: No API access, message limits, slower responses during peak, no advanced features
Users: 1 user
Storage: Extended message history
Limits: No API access, still rate limited, single user only
Users: 1 user
Storage: Unlimited
Limits: Single user, no team features, no API access
Users: Per user (minimum 2)
Storage: Team workspace
Limits: Minimum 2 seats, annual commitment for best price
Users: Unlimited users
Storage: Unlimited
Limits: Requires sales engagement, enterprise contract
Users: Unlimited
Storage: N/A
Limits: Rate limits by tier, no SLA on free tier
Users: Unlimited
Storage: N/A
Limits: Less capable, smaller context window
Users: Unlimited
Storage: N/A
Limits: High latency, expensive, rate limited
Perplexity
Users: 1 user
Storage: Limited
Limits: Limited daily queries, No Pro Search, No file uploads, No Spaces collaboration
Users: 1 user
Storage: File uploads included
Limits: No team features, No SSO, Limited collaboration in Spaces
Users: 1 student/educator
Storage: Same as Pro
Limits: Only for verified students/educators
Users: Per seat
Storage: Team storage
Limits: No SSO, Limited customization, Support may still be chatbot-based
Users: Per seat
Storage: Enhanced storage
Limits: Extremely expensive, Support promises don't match reality based on reviews
Users: Unlimited
Storage: N/A
Limits: Basic tier only, Enterprise features require higher plans
Feature Comparison
| Feature | OpenAI | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|
| core | ||
| GPT-4o | ||
| GPT-4o-mini | ||
| Canvas (Document Editing) | ||
| Custom GPTs | ||
| ai | ||
| o1 Reasoning Model | ||
| Vision (Image Understanding) | ||
| DALL-E Image Generation | ||
| Advanced Voice Mode | ||
| Fine-Tuning | ||
| Embeddings API | ||
| integration | ||
| Function Calling | ||
| Assistants API | ||
| Core | ||
| Cited sources Every answer includes citations | ||
| Search | ||
| Web search Real-time web search | ||
| Pro Search Multi-step reasoning, Pro plan | ||
| Deep Research Limits cut 97% for some users | ||
| Documents | ||
| File uploads Pro plan and above | ||
| Collaboration | ||
| Spaces Limited - no notes/comments | ||
| Accessibility | ||
| Mobile app iOS and Android | ||
| Development | ||
| API access $5/1000 requests | ||
| Code generation Not primary use case | ||
| Models | ||
| Multiple AI models GPT-4, Claude access in Pro | ||
| Generation | ||
| Creative writing Retrieval-first, not generation | ||
| Enterprise | ||
| Enterprise SSO Enterprise plans only | ||