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Perplexity vs Brave Search
Perplexity scores higher overall (8.8 vs 8.3), but the right pick depends on what you need.
Choose Perplexity if…
Getting a quick, sourced answer you can check claim by claim
8.8/10★★★★★Full review →Choose Brave Search if…
Privacy-minded people who want free AI answers without a Google account
8.3/10★★★★★Full review →Side by side
| Perplexity | Brave Search | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 8.8/10 | 8.3/10 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 7 | #4 of 7 |
| Price | Freemium · from $20/month | Freemium · from $3/month |
| Free version | Unlimited basic searches and about 5 Pro searches a day | Search, AI answers and Ask Brave free with no account |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android |
| Made by | Perplexity AI | Brave Software |
| Answer quality | 8.5 | 7 |
| Ease of use | 9.5 | 9 |
| Features | 8.5 | 8 |
| Value for money | 8.5 | 9.5 |
| Platforms | 9 | 9 |
Perplexity: what the AI does
- Cited answers from live web results
- Pro Search for harder questions
- Research mode for multi-step reports
- Choice of GPT, Claude and Gemini models on Pro
- Search with uploaded photos and files
- Numbered inline citations are the easiest to audit
- Basic search works without signing in
- One Pro plan covers several frontier models
- Highly rated iPhone and Android apps
- Free tier's Auto mode doesn't say which model answered
- Citations can sound confident without fully backing the claim
- Signed-out searches disappear after 14 days
Brave Search: what the AI does
- Cited AI answers at the top of results
- Ask Brave chat with follow-up questions
- Deep research mode with visible steps
- Type ?? after a query to open Ask Brave
- Independent index rather than Google or Bing results
- No account needed; chats expire after 24 hours and aren't used for training
- Ad-free search for just $3 a month
- Works in any browser, plus Brave's apps
- Smaller index leaves gaps on long-tail queries
- AI answers are less sharp than Perplexity's or Google's
- No photo search or model choice