AI apps for Mac and iPhoneHead to head
ChatGPT vs Perplexity
ChatGPT ranks #1 and Perplexity ranks #4 in our guide to the best AI apps for Mac and iPhone. ChatGPT is our pick for most people.
ChatGPTPick ChatGPT if you want 1 assistant you can type to, talk to or show photos on every device.Free to start#4 in the guide
PerplexityPick Perplexity if you want answers with a link to every source, and you ask from an iPhone or iPad.Free to startWhat decides it
- On price: ChatGPT is free. Go is $8 a month and Plus is $19.99 a month in the App Store. Perplexity is free. Pro is $20 a month or $200 a year, and Max is $200 a month.
- Both run on iPhone and iPad. Only ChatGPT runs on Mac.
Side by side
Prices are checked every day.
| At a glance | ChatGPT | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. Go is $8 a month and Plus is $19.99 a month in the App Store | Free. Pro is $20 a month or $200 a year, and Max is $200 a month |
| How you pay | Free, with paid upgrades | Free, with paid upgrades |
| 3 years of use | Depends on the plan | $600 Yearly plan |
| Free trial | Free to start | Free to start |
| Runs on | Mac, iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Where to buy | App Store, Developer | App Store |
| Rating | 4.8 11.8M ratings | 4.8 521K ratings |
| Made by | OpenAI OpCo, LLC | Perplexity AI, Inc. |
| Last updated | 2 Nov 2026 | 31 Oct 2026 |
Who should get which
Get ChatGPT if
You want 1 AI assistant on your phone and Mac that you can type to, talk to or show a photo.
Get Perplexity if
You want quick answers to factual questions and like to click through to the source before you believe them.
Skip ChatGPT if
You ask an AI something a few times a week, and the free plan answers that without a subscription.
Skip Perplexity if
You mostly want help drafting and rewriting text, where ChatGPT or Claude do a better job.
Our verdicts
ChatGPT
Some questions are too messy for a Google search, like how to word a hard email or what a handwritten recipe says. ChatGPT takes them by text, live voice or a photo, makes images from a description and syncs your chats across iPhone, iPad and Mac. Plus costs $19.99 a month in the App Store, the same as Gemini Pro, and OpenAI says the cheaper $8 Go plan may include ads.
Perplexity
Where ChatGPT and Claude are built for chatting and writing, Perplexity is built for looking things up, and every answer lists the web sources it came from so you can check them. Follow-up questions stay in one thread, you can ask by voice, and anything useful saves to a library. The free plan covers everyday questions; Pro at $20 a month adds Deep Research and newer models that most casual users never need.
What each one helps you do
ChatGPT
- Draft and rewrite emails in seconds
- Talk through a problem out loud
- Turn a photo of handwriting into text
- Generate an image from a description
Perplexity
- Get a straight answer with links to check
- Research a topic with follow-up questions
- Ask questions out loud while you cook
- Save research threads to come back to
Where to get them
ChatGPT
Free. Go is $8 a month and Plus is $19.99 a month in the App Store
Perplexity
Free. Pro is $20 a month or $200 a year, and Max is $200 a month
-
App Store, iPhone and iPadWith in-app purchasesFree downloadApp Store
Neither one quite right?
The other picks in our guide to the best AI apps for Mac and iPhone.
ClaudePick this if you write or code for a living and want an AI that reasons through problems with you.Free to start
GeminiPick it if your email, files and calendar already sit in Gmail, Google Drive and Google Calendar.Free to start
LM StudioPick it if you have an Apple silicon Mac with more than 8 GB of RAM and want AI that stays offline.Free
LittlebirdPick it if you want AI that already knows what you worked on today without you explaining it.Free to start
Read the full guideAll ChatGPT alternativesAll Perplexity alternatives