AnythingLLM vs Perplexity

AnythingLLM is a private AI assistant for desktop, mobile, cloud, and self-hosted use. Its desktop product runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, and the free Desktop plan requires no account or API key and has no token limits. It can turn documents into an agent knowledge base while keeping the data on the device. Desktop tools include file-system capabilities, web search and scraping, model selection, background jobs, custom agent skills, and a Meeting Assistant that records, transcribes, summarizes, and indexes meetings on the computer without a bot joining or cloud processing. The mobile app runs small models on-device and includes web search, document chat, file generation, scheduled jobs, and memory. Supported providers range from Ollama and LM Studio to OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Gemini Pro. Cloud instances support multiple users, tenant isolation, admin controls, and white-labeling. Self-hosted data remains on the user's infrastructure, according to the maker. The free plan is available; Basic costs $50 a month and Pro costs $99 a month.

Perplexity is an answer engine that searches the open web and returns answers with inline citations. It can search files and connected apps alongside the web, and can select among more than 20 leading models, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Nemotron. Deep Research conducts searches across many sources and produces a report. Access is available on Android, iOS, macOS, web, and Windows, with an API also listed. The free plan has limited weekly use for simple questions. Pro costs $20 a month and adds Computer, premium data sources, web search, files, apps, model council, and model selection. Max costs $200 a month and offers higher limits for Deep Research, resource generation, file uploads, and monthly video creation. Enterprise Pro is $40 a month per seat; Enterprise Max is $325 a month per seat. Enterprise plans bill by seat, and API use requires separate credits. Perplexity lists more than 400 app connectors.