Perplexity has revolutionized the AI market with its launch of Deep Research, a tool that generates comprehensive research reports in minutes and provides advanced AI capabilities at a fraction of typical enterprise costs.
CEO Aravind Srinivas stated that “Knowledge should be universally accessible and useful,” emphasizing the importance of affordable access to knowledge. Perplexity offers five free queries daily to all users, while pro subscribers pay $20 monthly for 500 daily queries and faster processing.
This new development exposes a painful truth in AI pricing: expensive enterprise subscriptions may not be necessary. Companies like Anthropic and OpenAI charge thousands of dollars monthly for their services, whereas Perplexity’s Deep Research offers similar capabilities at consumer prices.
Deep Research has already outperformed leading models such as Google’s Gemini Thinking, scoring 93.9% accuracy on the SimpleQA benchmark. The tool can perform dozens of searches and analyze hundreds of sources simultaneously, combining web search, coding capabilities, and reasoning functions to refine research iteratively.
Perplexity’s affordable AI is breaking down barriers to advanced technology, making complex tasks such as financial analysis, market research, technical documentation, and healthcare insights accessible to users. The tool can export findings as PDFs or share them through Perplexity’s platform, potentially replacing expensive research subscriptions and specialized tools.
The company plans to expand Deep Research to iOS, Android, and Mac platforms, which could accelerate adoption among users who previously viewed AI tools as out of reach. For technical decision makers, this shift demands attention, and companies paying premium prices for AI services should examine whether those investments deliver value beyond what Perplexity now offers at a fraction of the cost.
As thousands of users test Deep Research’s capabilities, their verdict might matter more than any benchmark. In AI’s new reality, the best technology isn’t the one that costs the most – it’s the one people can actually use.
Source: https://venturebeat.com/ai/perplexity-just-made-ai-research-crazy-cheap-what-that-means-for-the-industry