Home / Compare / Grok vs Perplexity

Grok vs Perplexity

In short: Perplexity is not on LMArena, so no independent quality comparison is possible; on our editorial score Perplexity comes out ahead, they differ little on privacy, and Grok is cheaper to get started with.

GrokxAI
1471EloGDPR: Caution

3 of 5 criteria with a clear difference

vs
PerplexityPerplexity AI
–EloGDPR: Unknown

2 of 5 criteria with a clear difference

GrokThe head-to-headPerplexity
7.8Editorial 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
$6Price 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.

CriterionGrokPerplexity
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 measure1471–
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 measure7,8 / 108,0 / 10
Code EloThe same blind duels on LMArena, but only with programming tasks. How we measure1640–
API price in, per 1M$2$3
API price out, per 1M$6$15
Entry price (subscription)$10 / month$20 / month
Businesson request$40 / seat / month (Enterprise Pro)
Context window500K tokens (Grok 4.7)200K tokens
ModalitiesText, Image, CodeText, Image
EU hostingNoNo
Self-hostableNoNo
No training (business)NoNo
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 Grok if…

  • real-time X/Twitter and web data matters to you
  • a DeepSearch research agent matters to you
  • 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: Grok or Perplexity?

On combined quality (LMArena Elo plus our editorial score), Grok 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: Grok or Perplexity?

They differ little (EU hosting, on-premise and no training on your data). Grok: no EU data residency; data goes to the US under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. X/Grok uses public posts and conversations for training by default, with an opt-out. Subject of a GDPR investigation by the Irish DPC.

Which is cheaper: Grok or Perplexity?

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

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