Morse vs Perplexity: who handles your question, training, and price

The Morse teamPublished November 8, 2026Facts checked November 8, 20267 min read

As of November 2026, the main difference in Morse vs Perplexity is who knows a question came from you. Perplexity files your searches under your Perplexity account, uses them for AI training by default on its Free, Pro, and Max plans, and lists 23 companies that process data for it, while Morse keeps your chat history encrypted in your browser, sends questions to GPT, Claude, and Gemini without your identity, and doesn't train on anything you write. Choose Perplexity if you want a search engine that answers with sources, plus phone apps and the Comet browser; choose Morse if you want those same labs' models, web search included, without your account behind each question.

We read Perplexity's trust center, its subprocessor list and FAQ, its API privacy page, and its App Store and Google Play listings on November 8, 2026. Its help-center settings, such as the training switch and Incognito, are quoted and linked in our guide to whether Perplexity is private. Perplexity deserves credit for publishing that subprocessor list in the open, with no login or request form, which not every AI company does.

At a glance

As of November 8, 2026. Perplexity facts link to its own pages and store listings, or to our guide that quotes its help center.

Does Perplexity train on your searches, and does Morse?

Perplexity does by default on Free, Pro, and Max, and Morse doesn't on any plan. Perplexity's trust center rules out training only for business accounts: "Enterprise customer data is never used to train, fine-tune or otherwise improve any of our AI models" (Perplexity). Where the consumer switch sits, and what opting out leaves behind, is in is Perplexity private.

Which companies handle a question you ask Perplexity?

Perplexity names 23 subprocessors in its trust center, all located in the US, with no date and no line saying which plans the list covers (Perplexity). Seven are filed as "Cloud provider," and four of those are AI labs: OpenAI, Anthropic ("including AI models like Claude"), Google Cloud ("including AI models like Gemini"), and xAI ("including AI models like Grok"). The other sixteen run analytics, data pipelines, monitoring, payments, text to speech, and email marketing. Perplexity's API privacy page adds that "Some providers require limited retention as a condition of offering their models" (Perplexity). We set this list beside seven other companies' in AI chatbot subprocessors.

Is Perplexity's Incognito mode private?

For about a day. Perplexity says Incognito sessions expire within 24 hours, which we cover with its other retention rules in is Perplexity private. Morse's temporary chats are kept in your browser's memory only and never saved, and an E2EE chat is sealed on your device for one verified enclave, so Morse's servers relay ciphertext they can't read.

What do Perplexity's apps say they collect?

Your location, among other things. Perplexity's App Store label lists Purchases, Location (precise and coarse), Identifiers, Usage Data, and Diagnostics as "linked to you" (App Store), and Comet's iPhone label files email address, name, precise location, and browsing history under "Data Not Linked to You" (App Store). We read those labels against Perplexity's policy in what AI app privacy labels leave out, and Comet's assistant in is Perplexity Comet safe. Morse's account holds sign-in details, your plan, your balance, and a usage ledger with no content in it.

How much do Perplexity and Morse cost?

Morse's Pro costs the same as Perplexity Pro billed yearly, $17 a month, and $1 less than Perplexity's $20 App Store price. Morse's Max is about a quarter of Perplexity Max either way.

The App Store listing gives in-app prices without naming the billing period, and it also lists a $200 "Perplexity Pro" purchase.

Where Perplexity is better

• Search you can check. Perplexity is built to answer from a live search with "Cited sources for every answer" (App Store), and its layout is made for reading those sources.
• Apps. Perplexity runs on iPhone, iPad, and Android, and Comet is a whole browser built around its assistant. Morse is a web app.
• Doing things for you. Perplexity's listing says its Assistant can "Draft emails, schedule appointments, book reservations," and its Labs build reports and projects (App Store).
• Business paperwork. Its trust center lists SOC 2, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS, and FedRAMP 20x (Perplexity), which a company buying for a team may need.

How Morse keeps a question from being traced to you

Perplexity knows a question came from you because it arrives on your account and stays there as a thread. Morse keeps the thread on your side instead: your history is stored in your browser, encrypted, and Morse's servers don't keep messages or log what you write.

The question itself travels three ways, and you choose per chat. Ask GPT, Claude, or Gemini, the labs on Perplexity's list, and Morse's proxy sends it under Morse's own account, without your email or IP address; the lab still reads the words, and may keep them for a limited time to check for abuse under its own policy, so leave your name out of them. Ask an open-weight model or Grok, and it goes to providers that, under Morse's zero data retention agreements with its inference, search, and other providers, keep nothing. Start an E2EE chat on Pro, and your browser checks the enclave's attestation and encrypts the question for that enclave alone; it answers with open-weight models, without web search, and rests on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed.

Morse doesn't train on your chats, sell your data, or show ads, and because we don't store chats, we usually have very little to give authorities. Clearing your browser deletes your history for good, so save any answer you'll need. The other search-first apps we compared on who sees your questions are in Perplexity alternatives.

Choose Perplexity or Morse

• Choose Perplexity if you want a search engine first, with sources under every answer; you use it on your phone or in the Comet browser; or your company needs its compliance reports and an Enterprise contract that rules out training.
• Choose Morse if you want GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and DeepSeek without your account behind each question; no training or ads on any plan; history that stays encrypted on your device; and E2EE chats for $19 a month instead of a $200 top tier.

Ask your first question from the Morse home page without an account, or start free with no card.

Morse publishes this comparison. We've tried to keep it fair; if something's wrong or out of date, email hello@trymorse.ai.

Perplexity is a trademark of Perplexity AI, Inc. Morse is not affiliated with or endorsed by Perplexity AI, Inc.