# Perplexity AI API

**Provider:** Perplexity AI
**Category:** ai
**Base URL:** `https://api.perplexity.ai`
**Auth:** bearer — `Authorization: Bearer pplx-...`
**Rate Limit:** 50 requests/min
**Free Tier:** No
**Pricing:** from $0.20/mo (pay-as-you-go)
**Docs:** https://docs.perplexity.ai

## Description

Perplexity AI's API provides access to its search-augmented language models. Unlike standard LLMs, Perplexity models fetch current web data to ground responses with citations, making them ideal for research, news summarization, and fact-checking workflows. Supports both online models (with live search) and offline models (standard generation). OpenAI-compatible API format.

## Endpoints

| Method | Endpoint | Description |
|--------|----------|-------------|
| POST | `https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions` | Chat completions with optional web search grounding |

## Authentication

Generate an API key in Perplexity Settings → API. Pass it as a Bearer token in the Authorization header.

```
Authorization: Bearer pplx-...
```

## Sample Request

```bash
curl "https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"sonar","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"What are the latest AI model releases in 2026?"}]}'
```

## Sample Response

```json
{
  "id": "gen-abc123",
  "model": "sonar",
  "choices": [{
    "message": {
      "role": "assistant",
      "content": "In 2026, notable AI releases include... [1][2]"
    }
  }],
  "citations": ["https://techcrunch.com/...", "https://theverge.com/..."]
}
```

## Pricing Details

Sonar (online): $1 per 1M input tokens + $5 per 1,000 search queries. Sonar Pro: $3/M input + $5/1k searches. Offline models from $0.20/M tokens.

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*Source: [API Map](https://apimap.dev/apis/perplexity/) — CC BY 4.0*