Choose between Claude and Perplexity for source-backed research by separating model access from product workflows, then checking research modes, source steering, citation auditability, file retrieval, report handoff, and personal-account data controls. This guidance is based on company pages linked from the profiles below.
You need to synthesize research alongside substantial documents or written context.
Look elsewhere if: Research must stay fully local and offline.
Related company sources: Use research on Claude (opens in a new tab) · Upload files to Claude (opens in a new tab)Your first need is current web research with visible links back to the original sources.
Look elsewhere if: Research must stay inside a closed, self-hosted environment, or every long uploaded file must be analyzed in full; uploads are capped at 40 MB, and Perplexity extracts what it considers important from long files without publishing the cutoff.
Related company sources: Perplexity overview (opens in a new tab) · File uploads (opens in a new tab)Scroll sideways or focus the table and use the left and right arrow keys to see every tool.
| Detail | ClaudeAnthropic | PerplexityPerplexity AI |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | General assistant | Research assistant |
| US price | Free; Pro $20/mo ($17/mo billed yearly) (opens in a new tab) Pricing page collected . Full Claude plan detailsFree plan. Pro is listed at $20 monthly or $200 yearly. Max 5x is listed at $100 per month and Max 20x at $200 per month. Anthropic's plan guide and pricing FAQ say both Max tiers are monthly only, but its pricing comparison table lists monthly and annual billing; confirm the available billing interval before subscribing. Mobile prices may vary. | Free; Pro $20/mo; Max $200/mo (opens in a new tab) Pricing page collected . Full Perplexity plan detailsCore search is free. Pro is listed at $20 monthly or $200 yearly. Max is $200 monthly or $2,000 yearly; annual Max billing is available only on the web. |
| Ways to use it | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android |
| Access | Cloud service with web, desktop, and mobile apps. | Web, native desktop apps for macOS and Windows, and mobile apps for iOS and Android. |
| Where it runs | Cloud service. Cowork runs in the cloud by default; local execution remains available for existing desktop deployments. | Online service from Perplexity AI. |
| Profile evidence | Capabilities · Access · Limits · oldest source collected | Capabilities · Access · Limits · oldest source collected |
Perplexity's hub lists Claude alongside other models and says it routes queries across multiple frontier models. Perplexity Research separately selects a combination of models automatically and does not let you choose one manually. Seeing Claude named inside Perplexity therefore does not give you Claude's product or make Perplexity Research equivalent to Claude Research. Compare the product surface and research mode you will actually use, not only the model name shown inside it.
Company sources: Use research on Claude (opens in a new tab) · Perplexity overview (opens in a new tab) · Research mode (opens in a new tab)Claude web search is available on all plans and adds direct citations when it uses web information. Claude's separate Research mode requires Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise, requires web search to be turned on, and can use conversation limits faster because it performs multiple searches. Perplexity offers core search for free; its Research mode performs repeated searches and document reading, with limited access for free users and extended access for Pro subscribers. Perplexity Research chooses its model combination automatically. Compare the exact modes and plans rather than treating every searched answer as the same workflow.
Company sources: Claude web search (opens in a new tab) · Use research on Claude (opens in a new tab) · Perplexity overview (opens in a new tab) · Research mode (opens in a new tab)Claude Research requires web search and can also search connected Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs. Anthropic's guide does not document a Research run with the web disabled or a hard site-only restriction. For broad queries, Perplexity Advanced Deep Research can ask clarifying questions before a run, accepts follow-up questions while it runs, and shows source activity and emerging findings. A Perplexity Project can prioritize added links and domains, but the linked guide does not document a hard exclusion of the rest of the web. Treat undocumented controls as unknown. If the source boundary is strict, test it on the exact account before relying on either product.
Company sources: Use research on Claude (opens in a new tab) · Perplexity Advanced Deep Research (opens in a new tab) · Perplexity projects (opens in a new tab)Anthropic says Claude Research produces answers with easy-to-check citations and that web-search responses provide direct citations when they use web information. Perplexity says its answers carry inline citations and describes Research as reading many sources before producing a report. These are company claims about citation features, not proof that every claim is cited or that each citation is correct. Give both products the same representative question and conflicting sources. Require each decision-changing claim to identify an original source, then open it and check that it supports the claim and does not omit important contrary evidence.
Company sources: Claude web search (opens in a new tab) · Use research on Claude (opens in a new tab) · Perplexity overview (opens in a new tab) · Research mode (opens in a new tab)Claude allows up to 20 chat files at 500 MB each and caps project files at 30 MB each. Its upload guide calls the project file count unlimited but says total content must fit the context window; its separate RAG guide says projects nearing that window can expand capacity by up to 10× by retrieving only material judged relevant. The two pages do not reconcile that wording. Claude processes text and visual elements in PDFs of 100 pages or fewer, then text only through 1,000 pages. Perplexity caps session uploads at 40 MB each. It says short files can be analyzed in full, while long files are reduced to the parts it considers most important without a published cutoff. Its current Projects guide does not publish a project file-size or file-count limit, so that limit is unknown from the linked sources. Test known facts near the beginning, middle, and end of a representative long file.
Company sources: Upload files to Claude (opens in a new tab) · RAG for Claude Projects (opens in a new tab) · File uploads (opens in a new tab) · Perplexity projects (opens in a new tab)Perplexity Research can export a final report as a PDF or document or convert it to a Perplexity Page. Advanced Deep Research streams the report into an editable, refinable, shareable file. Claude's Research guide describes a cited answer but does not document an equivalent one-click research-report export, so treat that workflow as unknown rather than absent. Separately, Claude can create downloadable XLSX, PPTX, DOCX, and PDF files and save those four formats directly to Google Drive. For personal Claude Free, Pro, and Max accounts, Anthropic says chats may be used when the user chooses model improvement, when a conversation is flagged for safety review, or through another explicit training opt-in; Incognito chats are excluded. Raw connector content is excluded from model-improvement data unless it is copied directly into a conversation. Perplexity says AI Data Retention is on by default for Free, Pro, and Max; turning it off applies only to data collected afterward, and previously collected training data cannot be removed. Perplexity says Enterprise data is never used or retained for training. Set the relevant control before adding private material, then test the exact export you need.
Company sources: Use research on Claude (opens in a new tab) · Create and edit files with Claude (opens in a new tab) · Claude consumer model training (opens in a new tab) · Research mode (opens in a new tab) · Perplexity Advanced Deep Research (opens in a new tab) · Perplexity data collection (opens in a new tab)
