DeepSeek vs Perplexity
A side-by-side look at pricing, free plans, platforms and features, for tools that both cover chatbots, research.
vs
| Feature |  DeepSeek |  Perplexity |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| Free to start | Yes | Yes |
| Best for | Chatbots, Coding, Research | AI search, Chatbots, Research |
| Who uses it | Developers, Students, Researchers | Consultants, Marketers, Students, Researchers |
| Works on | Web | Web |
| About | DeepSeek offers free chat access to its large language models, including a reasoning mode that works through maths, logic and coding problems step by step. The models are also available through a low-cost API and as open weights for developers. | Perplexity searches the web and replies with a written answer that cites its sources, so you can check every claim. It suits quick research, market questions and follow-up digging, and offers a free tier plus a Pro plan with more advanced models and file analysis. |
DeepSeek vs Perplexity: privacy and safety
From each vendor’s public policies, as scored by SafeScore.
| DeepSeek | Perplexity | |
|---|---|---|
| SafeScore | 38 | 80 |
| Trains on your data | Yes | No (by default) |
| GDPR / DPA | No | Yes |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | No | Yes |
| HIPAA BAA | Not found | Not found |
| Data deletion | Partly | Yes |
| SSO & admin controls | No | Yes |
| Full report | Is DeepSeek safe? | Is Perplexity safe? |
Which one should you pick?
Both are described from their official websites; try each with a real task from your own work before you commit, since quality depends heavily on the job.
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