If you only read one line: pick by workload, not by benchmark charts.
For All-round daily office work and drafting; People who depend on third-party plugins, ChatGPT is the more direct fit. For Research where sources must be checkable; Fact-checking a claim quickly, Perplexity gets there with less fighting.
Both have free tiers, so cost only separates them once you hit the limits. Context limits aren't published for both, so treat this as untested until you hit the ceiling yourself.
| Dimension | ChatGPT | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing | Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100 / $200 / $500/mo; Business $20/seat/mo billed annually ($25 monthly, 2 seats minimum) (checked 2026-10-29) | Free $0; Pro $20/mo ($200/yr); Max $200/mo ($2,000/yr); Education Pro $10/mo for verified students; Enterprise Pro $40/seat/mo; Enterprise Max $325/seat/mo (checked 2026-10-29) |
| Context window | 1,050,000 tokens on GPT-6 Astra (922K max input, 128K max output); GPT-6.1 Sol inside ChatGPT Work defaults to 500K (checked 2026-10-29) | not published |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux | Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows |
| Best for | All-round daily office work and drafting; People who depend on third-party plugins; Cross-border teams already working inside its interface | Research where sources must be checkable; Fact-checking a claim quickly; Students who need citations |
| Availability | Not officially available in mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau, and there is no China edition, so a proxy or VPN is needed (checked 2026-10-29). | Unreachable from mainland China without a proxy, confirmed by a blocked connection from this host on 2026-10-29, and there is no China edition. |
All-round daily office work and drafting; People who depend on third-party plugins; Cross-border teams already working inside its interface. Its strongest point: Largest plugin and integration ecosystem of any chat assistant. Watch out for: Blocked in mainland China without a proxy or VPN.
Research where sources must be checkable; Fact-checking a claim quickly; Students who need citations. Its strongest point: Every answer carries clickable source links you can audit. Watch out for: Free tier caps you at 3 Pro Searches a day.
Most people I know keep both tabs open — one for finding things, one for producing the final draft — and stop paying for whichever they touch last.
ChatGPT if you want All-round daily office work and drafting. Perplexity if Research where sources must be checkable. Neither has a learning curve worth worrying about past the first day.
Yes — both have free tiers, and the pair covers more ground than either alone.
Context limits aren't published for both, so treat this as untested until you hit the ceiling yourself.