Perplexity throttles PRO subscribers without prior notice

2026-02-11T21:29:04Z

2A07:7E81:5584:0:16D2:A2BC:65AC:F817: typos

{{Stub}}
{{IncidentCargo
|Company=Perplexity AI
|StartDate=2026-02-05
|Status=Active
|ProductLine=Perplexity Pro
|Product=Perplexity Deep Research, Perplexity Labs
|ArticleType=Service
|Type=Post-purchase terms change
|Description=Without prior notice, Research queries for Pro users have been reduced from 600/day to 20/month, and Labs queries from 50/month to 25/month.
}}

==Background==
Up to the event, Perplexity had offered 600 daily Deep Research queries, which is the mode that most distinguishes the AI platform. It takes 3-5 minutes for the answer, acting like an agent, and 50 Labs queries, which takes around 10 minutes to complete the iterations, and this is a mode to generate outputs that are entire webpages/apps,

Deep Research is one of the main reasons why customers subscribes to the PRO plan.

There is no published limit, the values are only shown on the phone app when creating queries, and were available on the webapp before the change, but the new UI after the change has hidden these values from the browser version.

The limit has coincided with the announcement<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-02-06 |title=Upgraded Deep Research |url=https://www.perplexity.ai/changelog/what-we-shipped---february-6th-2026 |url-status=live |access-date=2026-02-10 |website=Perlexity.ai}}</ref> of a new Deep Search, more powerful, based on Opus 4.5.

==Incident==
Perplexity has deliberately reduced monthly queries for Pro users without prior notice for all their Pro user base.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-02-05 |title=Reddit reports |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/perplexity_ai/comments/1qwhej3/9989_reduction_in_research_quota_over_night/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260208223836/https://www.reddit.com/r/perplexity_ai/comments/1qwhej3/9989_reduction_in_research_quota_over_night/ |archive-date=2026-02-08 |access-date=2026-02-08 |website=Reddit}}</ref> The new limits are the followings:

*Deep Research: '''600/day -> 20/month'''
*Labs: '''50/month -> 25/month'''
Since the new web UI didn't show the new limits and no announcement has been made, users have exhausted their monthly allowance in less than a day, having now to wait 1.5 days before they could make another query. This is notably important for users that renew monthly, and a break of trust for annual subscribers, which mid-term have found themselves with a service notably different from the one they've subscribed to. [[File:2026-02-08-perplexity-new-limits-comparison.webp|alt=Screenshot of queries limits before and after.|thumb|Comparison between queries limits before and after the 2026-02-05 incident.]]

==Consumers response==
Users have started opening formal complaints<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-02-08 |title=Formal Complaints |url=https://discord.com/channels/1047197230748151888/1469840248686121081 |url-status=live |access-date=2026-02-09 |website=Discord}}</ref> on Perplexity's Discord server, and on others of their social media.

Some users<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-02-06 |title=Subscribed to Pro for Deep Research – they nerfed it the same week, no refund |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/perplexity_ai/comments/1qxrqs9/subscribed_to_pro_for_deep_research_they_nerfed/ |url-status=live |access-date=2026-02-10 |website=Reddit}}</ref> have asked for a refund a couple of days after the annual subscription, saying that this is not the service promoted at the time of subscription, but Perplexity has denied the refund.

Some users<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-02-07 |title=Cancelled my pro subscription after the recent Deep Research limits |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/perplexity_ai/comments/1qy9pc4/cancelled_my_pro_subscription_after_the_recent/ |url-status=live |access-date=2026-02-10 |website=Reddit}}</ref> have cancelled their subscription.

One user has started a petition<ref>{{Cite web |last=Desm |first=Mark |date=2026-02-09 |title=Hold Perplexity accountable for unlimited claims |url=https://www.change.org/p/hold-perplexity-accountable-for-unlimited-claims |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260210234656/https://www.change.org/p/hold-perplexity-accountable-for-unlimited-claims |archive-date=2026-02-11 |access-date=2026-02-11 |website=change.org}}</ref> on change.org, over 80 people have signed on the first day. Perplexity is actively removing the petition link whenever gets posted on the server.

==Perplexity response==
There has been no official communication, but one of the moderators of the Discord server has expressed their opinion<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-02-08 |title=Moderator mares opinion |url=https://discord.com/channels/1047197230748151888/1111786888626438245/1470033172573192242 |url-status=live |access-date=2026-02-11 |website=Discord}}</ref> on why this has happened:

"''Bottom line: Less wasteful querying, More intentional AI use, Healthier infrastructure, Lower environmental load.''

''That’s not regression. That’s responsible evolution.''"

There are reports of bans on Perplexity's Discord server under the pretext of violating Terms of Service<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-01-27 |title=Thread about ToS changes and impact on users. |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/perplexity_ai/comments/1qnyrme/heres_what_i_found_out_on_pro/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260211093005/https://old.reddit.com/r/perplexity_ai/comments/1qnyrme/heres_what_i_found_out_on_pro/ |archive-date=2026-02-11 |access-date=2026-02-11 |website=Reddit}}</ref> and post deletion on Reddit<ref>{{Cite web |title=User complaining that Reddit moderation deleted his comment. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/perplexity_ai/comments/1r0bpdy/perplexity_has_been_scamming_their_users/o4jdkl6/}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Perplexity]]
[[Category:2026 incidents]]

Consumer Rights Wiki - User contributions [en]

Perplexity throttles PRO subscribers without prior notice