Side-by-side comparison · AI Assistants & LLMs
Claude vs Perplexity vs Poe
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Anyone who writes, researches or makes decisions for a living, plus anyone curious about Claude Code.
Pick it if: Anyone who researches as part of their job and is sick of having ten tabs open.
Pick it if: People who want to try lots of models without paying for several subscriptions.
Overview
| Attribute | Claude | Perplexity | Poe |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Anthropic's chat assistant, at its best on careful writing and long documents. | Ask a question and get a short answer from the web, with links to every source. | Quora's app for using hundreds of AI models and bots under one subscription. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $20/mo | $17/mo | $4.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Claude | Perplexity | Poe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.6Winner | 4.2 | 3.6 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 5.0 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 2.5 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Claude | Perplexity | Poe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Browser extension | Yes | Yes | No |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | No |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | No |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Understands images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Makes images | No | Yes | Yes |
| Makes video | No | Yes | Yes |
| Writes code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | No |
| Learns your brand or style | Yes | No | Yes |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 14/ 17 | 15/ 17 | 12/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Claude | Perplexity | Poe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Trying it out and light daily use. | Free Free Everyday questions and quick fact-checks. | Free Free A quick look at the app. |
ProOur pick $20/mo, or $17/mo billed yearly Anyone who uses it most days. | ProOur pick $17/mo billed yearly Anyone who researches as part of their job. | Starter $4.99/mo Light daily use of cheaper models. | |
Max From $100/mo Heavy users and people living in Claude Code. | Max $167/mo billed yearly Power users running the Computer agent all day. | PremiumOur pick $19.99/mo, or $199.99/yr Regular users switching between top models. | |
Team From $20/seat/mo billed yearly Businesses with 2 to 150 people. | Enterprise Pro $34/seat/mo billed yearly Teams that need admin controls and data protection. | Higher tiers $49.99 to $249.99/mo Heavy users of expensive models and video. | |
Enterprise Max $271/seat/mo billed yearly Research teams working with large datasets and files. | |||
| Which plan to pick | Start on Free to see if the writing suits you. Most people who stick with it move to Pro within a month; only go to Max if you hit the Pro limits every day or you're running Claude Code for hours at a time. | Start free and see how often you hit the Pro search limit. If you research most days, Pro pays for itself in saved tabs. Its 4,000 bonus Computer credits are a one-off and run out after about 30 days, so don't count them as a monthly allowance. Max only makes sense if you're using the Computer agent heavily enough to burn through the credits. | Premium at $19.99 is the plan to start on. Watch your points use for a fortnight; if you spend most of them on one model, switch to that company's own subscription instead. |
Key features
| Attribute | Claude | Perplexity | Poe |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Claude | Perplexity | Poe |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Claude | Perplexity | Poe |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude, Perplexity or Poe?
Claude scores highest overall in our ratings (Claude 4.6/5, Perplexity 4.2/5 and Poe 3.6/5). Claude is best for long-form writing and editing and reading and summarising long documents. Perplexity is best for fact-checking and quick research and competitor and market research. Poe is best for trying many models in one place and comparing answers from different models.
Which is cheaper, Claude, Perplexity or Poe?
Claude: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. Perplexity: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $17/mo. Poe: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $4.99/mo.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
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