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Character.AI vs Perplexity
Compare Character.AI vs Perplexity: pricing, context window, benchmarks (coding, math, reasoning), capabilities. Updated April 2026.
Open in compare tool — pick different models →Character.AI
character.ai ↗ Perplexity
perplexity.ai ↗ Pricing
Free tier
Most features free; unlimited messages
5 Pro searches/day
Standard plan
c.ai+ — $9.99/mo
Pro — $20/mo
Top plan
c.ai+ — $9.99/mo
Enterprise — $200/mo
API input / 1M tokens
—
$3.00 Best
API output / 1M tokens
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$15.00 Best
Capability
Context window
8K
200K Best
Max output tokens
2K
4K Best
Knowledge cutoff
2024-06
Live (web)
Benchmarks
Coding (LiveCodeBench)
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—
Math (AIME 2025)
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—
Reasoning (GPQA Diamond)
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65% Best
Human pref. (LMArena Elo)
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1280 Best
Features
Image input
Partial
✓
Voice mode
✓
—
Web search
—
✓
File upload
—
✓
Image generation
—
—
Code execution
—
—
Agent / tool use
—
—
Persistent memory
✓
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Character.AI
Roleplay and companion focus, not a general assistant. Massive Gen-Z user base. Voice calls with characters. Different intent than chat-AI competitors.
Perplexity
Search-grounded, not a general assistant. Best when you need cited, real-time answers.
Or skip the choice
Get all 2 of them — plus 30+ more — for $14.99/month.
Perspective AI bundles ChatGPT-class, Claude, Gemini, and Grok in one app. Switch mid-conversation. No per-vendor logins, no separate bills.