Perplexity Computer Launches as an AI Agent That Uses 19 Models — But at $200/Month, Who's It Really For?

Perplexity has just unveiled Perplexity Computer, billing it as "a general-purpose digital worker that operates the same interfaces you do." It's live today at perplexity.ai/computer — but before you get too excited, there are some significant caveats worth examining.

What Is Perplexity Computer?

At its core, Perplexity Computer is an AI agent platform that coordinates multiple AI models to execute complex, multi-step workflows. Think of it as an orchestrator: you describe what you want done, and it breaks the work into sub-tasks, assigns each to the most suitable AI model, and manages the entire process end-to-end.

The system draws from 19 models across all the leading AI labs. At launch, it uses Claude Opus 4.6 for orchestration and coding, Gemini for deep research, Nano Banana for images, Veo 3.1 for video, Grok for lightweight speed tasks, and ChatGPT 5.2 for long-context recall. Everything runs in a secure development sandbox.

The Price Tag Problem

Here's where it gets interesting — or alarming, depending on your perspective. Perplexity Computer is currently only available to Max subscribers at $200 per month. That's ten times the Pro plan ($20/month), and Pro subscribers will have to wait weeks for access. Enterprise users are also in the queue.

To make matters more complex, Perplexity has introduced per-token billing for consumers for the first time. Max users get 10,000 tokens included (plus a 20,000-token launch bonus), but after that, you're paying per token. For an agent that Perplexity says can "run for hours or even months," those token costs could add up fast.

What Can It Actually Do?

Perplexity claims its team has been using Computer internally since January. The use cases they highlight include: rapidly publishing engineering documentation, building a 4,000-row spreadsheet overnight that would normally take a week, and creating websites, dashboards, applications, analysis, and visualizations.

These are impressive demos, but they're also the kind of cherry-picked examples every AI company trots out at launch. The real test will be how it performs for average users with messy, real-world tasks that don't fit neatly into a demo script.

The Bigger Question

Perplexity Computer enters a space already occupied by Claude Code and OpenClaw, both of which have gained significant traction in 2026. The multi-model orchestration angle is genuinely interesting — rather than betting on a single model, Perplexity is routing tasks to whichever model does them best. That's a smart architectural choice.

But the $200/month price point, combined with per-token billing, creates a significant barrier. It positions Perplexity Computer as a tool for well-funded teams and power users, not the average developer or knowledge worker. Whether the value justifies the cost remains an open question — one that won't be answered by launch-day demos alone.

The Bottom Line

Perplexity Computer is an ambitious play in the AI agent space, with a genuinely novel multi-model orchestration approach. But at $200/month with additional token costs, it's a premium bet that most users will watch from the sidelines. The technology is compelling; the business model is the real experiment here.