Home / Compare / Copilot vs Perplexity

Copilot vs Perplexity

In short: Perplexity is not on LMArena, so no independent quality comparison is possible; on our editorial score, Copilot comes out higher, Copilot is stronger on privacy and GDPR, and Copilot is cheaper to get started with.

CopilotMicrosoft
1485EloGDPR: Caution

4 of 7 criteria with a clear difference

vs
PerplexityPerplexity AI
–EloGDPR: Unknown

3 of 7 criteria with a clear difference

CopilotThe showdownPerplexity
8.3Editorial scoreOur own assessment on 10 of suitability for professional work, price and privacy. An assessment, not a measurement; that is why it always sits alongside the Elo. How we measure8.0
$30Price out per 1M (lower is better)$15

A bar fills towards the model's side; yellow is a clear difference, grey falls within the margin of measurement.

CriterionCopilotPerplexity
Quality (Elo)Quality from blind duels on LMArena: users choose between two anonymous answers. A difference of about 20 points is noticeable, a few points is noise. How we measure1485–
Editorial scoreOur own assessment on 10 of suitability for professional work, price and privacy. This is a judgement, not a measurement; that is why it always sits alongside the Elo. How we measure8,3 / 108,0 / 10
Code EloThe same blind duels on LMArena, but only with programming tasks. How we measure1767–
API price in, per 1M$5$3
API price out, per 1M$30$15
Entry price (subscription)from €10 / month$20 / month
Businessfrom €10 / month (Microsoft 365 Personal/Family)$40 / seat / month (Enterprise Pro)
Context windowModel-dependent200K tokens
ModalitiesText, ImageText, Image
EU hostingYesNo
Self-hostableNoNo
No training (business)YesNo
GDPR profileOur summary of what the provider itself publishes about your data. For a professional tool: whether the data is stored in the EU, whether there is a certification or GDPR guarantee, and whether the provider is based in the Netherlands or the EU. For a general model: EU hosting, no training on your data and self-hosting. From Strong to Unknown; Caution only for a model with a documented problem. How we measureCautionUnknown

Source: LMArena, OpenRouter · retrieved 9 November 2026

Choose Copilot if…

  • you consider deep Microsoft 365 integration important
  • you consider grounding on your own data via Microsoft Graph important
  • privacy and GDPR weigh heavily
  • price is a decisive factor

Choose Perplexity if…

  • you value answers with source citations based on live web information
  • you value access to multiple frontier models within one subscription

Frequently asked questions

By field

Which is better: Copilot or Perplexity?

On combined quality (LMArena Elo plus our editorial score), Copilot comes out higher, but the right choice depends on your field and requirements: Perplexity may suit you better on price or privacy. See the table above.

Which is better for privacy and GDPR: Copilot or Perplexity?

Copilot scores stronger here (EU hosting, on-premise and no training on your data). Copilot: Microsoft 365 Copilot (business) falls under the EU Data Boundary and does not train on tenant data. Consumer Copilot does train by default, with an opt-out.

Which is cheaper: Copilot or Perplexity?

Copilot has the lowest entry price. Always check current prices, as they change often.

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