Perplexity has unveiled its new Search API, designed to enhance AI applications with advanced indexing, structured responses, and flexible pricing options.
AI startup Perplexity has officially launched its “Perplexity Search API,” providing developers with a robust infrastructure that supports the company’s services and offers an index encompassing “hundreds of billions” of webpages.
In a recent blog post, Perplexity emphasized the importance of context in AI applications, stating, “When it comes to AI, context is king. It is insufficient to operate simply at the document level. Our indexing and retrieval infrastructure divides documents up into fine-grained units.”
The new API is tailored to meet the specific needs of AI applications. Unlike other API offerings that limit access to a narrow range of information, Perplexity’s API delivers rich structured responses that are readily applicable in both AI and traditional applications.
Perplexity claims that its Search API minimizes the need for preprocessing, accelerates integration, and yields more valuable downstream results. The pricing structure for the API includes the Sonar API, priced at $1 per million input and output tokens, and the Sonar Pro, which costs $3 and $15 per million input and output tokens, respectively. Additionally, specialized options such as Sonar Reasoning, Sonar Reasoning Pro, and Sonar Deep Research are available, with varying costs based on the complexity of reasoning, citations, and search queries.
The company asserts that it holds a competitive advantage over its rivals in terms of quality and latency. Furthermore, Perplexity has introduced a Search SDK, which engineers can utilize alongside AI coding tools to create impressive product prototypes in under an hour. “We anticipate even more impressive feats from startups and solo developers, mature enterprises, and everyone in between,” the company added.
Recently, Perplexity achieved a valuation of $20 billion following a $200 million funding round. The company, led by Indian American Aravind Srinivas, has garnered attention for its ambitious $34.5 billion bid for Google’s Chrome.
In addition to its new API, Perplexity is reportedly working on integrations with educational platforms and enterprise knowledge systems, positioning itself as a leading search solution for both professional and personal use. However, the company has also faced challenges, including allegations of copyright violations. Notably, copyright holders such as Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster have accused Perplexity of improperly using their content in its “answer engine” for online searches.
As Perplexity continues to innovate and expand its offerings, it remains to be seen how it will navigate these legal challenges while maintaining its rapid growth trajectory.
Source: Original article