supermarket

Search the web

Perplexity Search API

Web search API that returns ranked results as JSON with query-relevant page text, without a generated answer.

At a glance

Provider
Perplexity AI
Category
Search the web
Type
Hosted API
Pricing model
Prepaid credits; 5.00 USD per 1,000 successful requests (1.00 USD with fast)1
Free tier
Not published1
Authentication
API key as bearer token; OAuth for the remote MCP server4
Connect via
REST API, SDKs (Python, TypeScript), MCP server, CLI2
Read from the provider's pages
2026-11-04
Pricing
  • Pricing model: Prepaid credits, charged per successful request
  • Free tier: Not published
  • Card required for free tier: Not published
Pricing in full →Tools
  • Official MCP server: Yes, remote and local
  • Address or package: https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp (remote); @perplexity-ai/mcp-server (local, npm)
Tools in full →Authentication
  • Who creates the account: A person signs up (Google, Apple, SSO or email code) and creates a project; the Stripe Projects CLI can also create the account, project and key from a terminal or coding agent
  • Where to get a key: API Console, https://console.perplexity.ai/project/keys
  • Other requirements: A project must exist before a key can be generated; admin permissions and a credit card for payment setup; Stripe Projects needs a Stripe payment method
Authentication in full →Setup
  • REST API: https://api.perplexity.ai/search
  • MCP server: https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp
  • OpenAPI spec: https://docs.perplexity.ai/openapi.json
Setup in full →Limits
  • Search API: 50 query units per second, 50 burst, same for every usage tier; each query in a multi-query request is one unit
  • Usage tiers: Tier 0 (0 USD) to Tier 5 (5,000 USD all-time credit purchases); tiers do not change Search API limits
Limits in full →Privacy
  • Data location: Not published
  • Retention: Varies by API, model and account configuration; no fixed period stated
  • Used for training: No, under the API Terms of Service
Privacy in full →

Read from Perplexity AI’s own pages on 2026-11-04. Every number links to the page a value came from. For agents, the same facts as markdown: /tools/search-the-web/perplexity.md