Perplexity Pro is now available at no cost to all Airtel subscribers. You’ve likely already come across this update, and perhaps even activated your access. If not, there's no better time than now to do so. This collaboration offers mutual advantages: Perplexity gains entry to a vast user base through Airtel, while Airtel enhances its service offerings by providing customers with one of today’s most sought-after AI tools. But what about users who are already paying for platforms like ChatGPT Plus or Gemini? Should they consider ending their current subscriptions? Can the free Perplexity Pro plan truly stand up to these well-established AI services?

That’s exactly what we’ll explore in this article. Instead of diving into technical benchmarks or dry feature comparisons, we’re evaluating Perplexity Pro and ChatGPT Plus based on real-life use cases and genuine user experiences. This is a hands-on comparison designed to help you decide which AI assistant works best as your everyday companion: Perplexity Pro or ChatGPT Plus.

Table of contents

• Perplexity and ChatGPT: What are these?
• Perplexity Pro vs ChatGPT Plus: Feature Comparison
• Perplexity Pro vs ChatGPT Plus: Model Selection
• Perplexity Pro vs ChatGPT Plus: Task Comparison
  • Task 1: Research
  • Task 2: Content Creation
  • Task 3: Image Generation
  • Task 4: Coding
  • Task 5: Document Analysis
• Final Verdict
• Conclusion

Before we dive into the details, check out this guide to activate Perplexity Pro via Airtel.

Perplexity functions as an AI-driven search engine that pulls from live web data to answer queries, while ChatGPT acts as a conversational AI assistant powered by advanced language models from OpenAI. Both platforms offer free versions with access to core functionalities.

However, running large language models (LLMs) demands significant computational power, especially GPUs, making it a costly endeavor. To maintain operations and unlock advanced features, most providers offer premium subscription tiers.

Perplexity provides two paid options: the Pro plan at $20/month and the Premium plan at $200/month. Similarly, ChatGPT offers its Plus and Pro plans, priced at $20 and $200 per month, respectively.

Perplexity Pro vs ChatGPT Plus: Feature Comparison

Both Perplexity Pro and ChatGPT Plus come packed with useful tools and capabilities. Here’s a breakdown of how they differ:

Perplexity Pro vs ChatGPT Plus: Model Selection

Both platforms offer access to multiple large language models (LLMs) under their premium plans. ChatGPT exclusively uses models developed by OpenAI, whereas Perplexity integrates models from various sources including OpenAI, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and its own proprietary “Sonar” models.

With ChatGPT, once you select a model, it remains active throughout your session. In contrast, Perplexity doesn’t guarantee consistent availability of your chosen model—if a model is overloaded or down, you may be prompted to switch.

By default, ChatGPT runs on GPT-4o, while Perplexity uses a “Best” mode that automatically picks what it deems the optimal model for your query.

Also Read: All ChatGPT Models Explained: Which to Use and When?

Perplexity Pro vs ChatGPT Plus: Task Comparison

Now that we’ve outlined the key differences, let’s put both tools to the test across practical tasks that matter to real users. We’ll evaluate them on:

1. Research
2. Content Creation
3. Image Generation
4. Coding
5. Document Analysis

For each task, I used natural, straightforward prompts to see how each platform performs out of the box. Let the showdown begin – Perplexity vs ChatGPT.

Task 1: Research

Prompt: “Make a comprehensive list of benchmarks that have been released in 2025 for LLM evaluation and find relevant research papers associated with those benchmarks.”

Output:

Perplexity

• Model Selection: Best (automatically chooses the best model based on query); Tool: search

ChatGPT

• Model Selection: ChatGPT-4o, Tool: Web Search

Results:

Both delivered clear responses. Perplexity opened with a summary table, while ChatGPT explained each benchmark first and summarized at the end. While Perplexity’s layout looked appealing initially, it missed direct links to research papers. ChatGPT included all relevant references, making verification easier and the information more actionable.

Winner for this task: ChatGPT

Task 2: Content Creation

Prompt: “Create a LinkedIn post discussing the two latest models by Kimi and Qwen.”

Output:

Perplexity (GPT 4.1)

ChatGPT (GPT 4.1)

Results:

The choice here was clear. ChatGPT produced a dense, paragraph-heavy response, while Perplexity offered a clean, structured post with a concise summary table at the end. Its format is more professional and

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