Perplexity vs ChatGPT: privacy, research, ads, and price, with Morse as a third column

The Morse teamPublished November 7, 2026Facts checked November 7, 202610 min read

Perplexity vs ChatGPT is a choice between a search engine that answers in cited paragraphs and a general assistant that can also search, and on privacy, the two start from the same place. As of November 7, 2026, both use what you type to train their models by default on their consumer plans, both keep your history on their servers until you delete it or close your account, and both let you switch training off. They differ in ads, in how long their private modes keep a copy, and in who may train on your question when you pick a GPT model. Choose Perplexity if you mostly look things up and check sources, ChatGPT if you want one assistant for writing, planning, and search, and Morse if you want GPT and other models with web search, without your questions tied to you.

We read Perplexity's privacy notice (last updated October 23, 2026), its Pro and Max pages, and eleven of its help center articles, and OpenAI's pricing page, its US privacy policy, and its help articles on data controls, chat retention, Temporary Chat, ads, and search, all on November 7, 2026. Every Perplexity and ChatGPT fact links to the company's own page. Both deserve credit for plain help pages: Perplexity says outright that turning training off can't pull back what it already collected, and OpenAI says how long a Temporary Chat lingers.

Perplexity vs ChatGPT at a glance

As of November 7, 2026.

Is Perplexity more private than ChatGPT?

Not by default. Perplexity's help center says that "for Free, Perplexity Pro and Perplexity Max users, AI Data Retention is enabled by default," and that the setting decides whether "your data is being collected for AI training" (Perplexity). OpenAI says that on personal workspaces with ChatGPT Free, Plus, or Pro, "data sharing is enabled by default" (OpenAI), and its pricing page lists "Content is used to train our models," with "Opt-out available," on Go as well (OpenAI). Paying for either app doesn't change the default. Only their business plans start with training off. Beyond that default, they differ in four places.

• Opting out. Perplexity says opt-outs "only apply to data collected after the opt-out date" and that "previously collected training data cannot be deleted or removed" (Perplexity). Turn it off before your first search, not after.
• Ads. ChatGPT's ads can draw on more than the chat in front of you. With ad personalization on, OpenAI says ChatGPT "may save and use memories and reference recent chats when selecting an ad" (OpenAI).
• Advertising partners. Perplexity's privacy notice has a California table with a column headed "Sharing for Targeted Advertising," and in it, the row for activity that "may include browsing history, search history" lists "Advertising Partners" (Perplexity). The same notice says "We do not 'sell' your personal data for money."
• The law. Perplexity "may share data to cooperate with law enforcement, participate in a legal process, or for legal compliance" (Perplexity), and OpenAI may share data "with government authorities" where the law requires it (OpenAI). Both keep your history, so both can be asked for it.

The full list of each company's settings is in is Perplexity private and is ChatGPT private.

What happens when you ask a GPT model in each app?

Perplexity sells access to GPT too, so the same model can sit behind both apps. The table below is built from each company's own pages, read on November 7, 2026, not from a test. It shows what those pages say happens to a question sent to an OpenAI model while signed in on a paid plan with default settings.

Perplexity says its agreements keep OpenAI from training on a GPT question asked there, which is more than ChatGPT offers by default. Perplexity keeps the question itself and may train on it instead. On the training default the two apps tie, but in both a company you've given your email to holds the history.

Which keeps your questions longer, Perplexity or ChatGPT?

Neither sets an end date while your account is open. Perplexity says "we retain your personal information as long as your account is active," and removes it from its servers within 30 days of account deletion (Perplexity). ChatGPT keeps regular and archived chats "until you delete them," then "schedules it for permanent deletion from its systems within 30 days," unless the chat "was already de-identified and disassociated from your account" or must be kept for security or legal reasons (OpenAI).

Their private modes differ more. Perplexity calls Incognito sessions "private conversations that expire after 24 hours," and its memory page says questions asked in Incognito "are not retained or used in memory ever" (Perplexity). ChatGPT's Temporary Chat stays out of your history and out of training, but "OpenAI may keep a copy of a temporary chat for up to 30 days for safety purposes" (OpenAI). In ChatGPT you now choose Personalized or Unpersonalized before a Temporary Chat's first message, and saving it turns it into a regular chat under your normal settings (OpenAI). Perplexity's help center is less clear about where Incognito sessions show up, which we cover in is Perplexity private.

Does Perplexity or ChatGPT show ads?

ChatGPT does, on its cheaper plans. OpenAI's ads page says "Ads may appear for users on the Free and Go plans," that Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu accounts "will not have ads," and that testing "started in the United States on February 9, 2026" (OpenAI). OpenAI says "Ads do not influence ChatGPT's answers" and advertisers get only "aggregated, non-identifying information," such as views and clicks. Free users can switch to an Ads-Free option with fewer messages and no image generation or deep research. Every setting is in how to turn off ChatGPT ads.

We found no page of Perplexity's, as of November 7, 2026, that describes ads inside its answers. Its privacy notice describes Perplexity advertising itself on other sites, sharing data "to measure the performance of our advertising," and adds that "third parties may use this data to serve ads tailored to your interests" (Perplexity). For shopping, Perplexity says "Advertisers cannot pay to list their products in our 'related products' section" (Perplexity).

Is Perplexity better than ChatGPT for research?

For research where you need to check every source, yes. Perplexity is built around citations. Pro promises "10x as many citations per answer" (Perplexity), Deep Research writes reports from "more sources," and Max adds Model Council, which asks several models at once "for research, complex decisions, or verification" (Perplexity). Pro also lets you pick from GPT-6.1 Sol, Claude Sonnet 5.5, Gemini 3.8 Flash, Grok 4.7, Kimi K3, GLM 5.3, and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL, per a model table dated October 27, 2026. On Free, Perplexity picks the model.

ChatGPT is better as an everyday assistant that searches when it needs to. Search comes on Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu, and answers "may include citations" (OpenAI). OpenAI says ChatGPT sends rewritten queries to partner search engines (OpenAI). ChatGPT Free and Go get limited deep research (OpenAI).

How much do Perplexity and ChatGPT cost?

Perplexity's Enterprise Pro, from $40 a month a seat, is the plan where "data never used for training" is the starting point (Perplexity).

How Morse gives you GPT and web search without your name on it

Perplexity and ChatGPT both file your questions under your account on their servers, which is why a training default, a retention period, an ad profile, and a legal request can all reach it. Morse is built so there's no such file. Your chat history is stored only in your browser, encrypted, and Morse's servers don't keep messages or log what you write. Morse doesn't train AI on your content, sell your data, or show ads, so there's no AI data retention toggle or "Improve the model for everyone" switch to find, and no ad profile built from past chats. Because we don't store chats, we usually have very little to give authorities.

You get GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and open-weight models in one account, and web search comes with the Free plan. Pick the privacy mode per chat:

• Anonymous, to ask GPT what you'd ask ChatGPT, without OpenAI knowing it's you. Our proxy strips your account, email, and IP address and sends the question under Morse's own account. OpenAI may keep it for a limited time to check for abuse, under its own policy, so leave names out of anything sensitive. Deep research runs here, on Pro.
• Private, for everyday questions no AI host keeps. Private is the default for a new chat. Morse has zero data retention agreements with its inference, search, and other providers, so they keep nothing, and where a provider confirms zero retention on each reply, Morse checks it and refuses a reply that doesn't. What zero data retention means covers the promise.
• E2EE, for the questions no one should read. Your browser checks the secure enclave's hardware attestation, then encrypts the message so only that enclave can read it, and Morse's servers relay ciphertext they can't read. E2EE runs open-weight models like GLM, Kimi, and DeepSeek without web search, comes with Pro, and rests on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed.

Your history unlocks with two keys, one of which never leaves your device. Clearing your browser or deleting your account removes it for good, and Morse can't recover it, so copy out any answer you'll need later.

Choose Perplexity, ChatGPT, or Morse

• Choose Perplexity if you mostly look things up, want every claim linked to its source, and will turn off "AI data retention" under Account > Preferences before your first search.
• Choose ChatGPT if you want one assistant for writing, planning, and search across OpenAI's models, and you'll pay for Plus to skip ads and turn off Improve the model for everyone under Settings > Data controls.
• Choose Morse if you want GPT, Claude, Gemini, and open-weight models in one account, with web search, history that stays encrypted in your browser, and end-to-end encrypted chats for anything no one should read.

Ask your next question on the Morse home page without an account, or start free with no card. Pro is $19 a month and adds E2EE chats and deep research. More options are in Perplexity alternatives.

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.

ChatGPT is a trademark of OpenAI. Morse is not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenAI.