AI assistants
Perplexity privacy rating
AI answer engine that searches the web and summarizes results with cited sources, available on the web and as desktop and mobile apps.
Summary
Perplexity scores 27 out of 100 (grade F) on the AI assistants criteria. It meets 1 of 12 criteria: TLS configuration. It partly meets no ads or data sales, security headers, no training on your data, limited chat retention and no account needed. It does not meet open source, no trackers or telemetry, independent audit, transparency report, tells users about requests and runs locally. It is based in the United States: Five Eyes member; subject to the US CLOUD Act. Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+ and Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade B+.
Score 27 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
- No
-
No
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
The Android app includes Google Firebase Analytics, Crashlytics and Singular.
-
Partial
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Sponsored follow-up questions and ads can appear next to answers. Perplexity states queries are not sent to advertisers.
-
No
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
No independent audit of the consumer service is published.
-
No
Transparency report Weight 2 of 3
Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?
No transparency report or government request policy is published.
-
No
Tells users about requests Weight 1 of 3
Does the provider promise to tell users about requests for their data, unless a court forbids it?
No published policy on notifying users about data requests.
-
Partial
No training on your data Weight 3 of 3
Are prompts, chats and files kept out of model training by default?
Searches are used to improve the service by default. The AI Data Usage setting turns this off.
-
No
Runs locally Weight 2 of 3
Can the assistant run on your own device or server, so prompts never leave it?
Hosted only.
-
Partial
Limited chat retention Weight 2 of 3
Are chats deleted by default or on request, with no long-term server copy?
Search history is kept while the account is active and can be deleted. Account data is removed within 30 days of account deletion.
-
Partial
No account needed Weight 1 of 3
Can it be used without an account or personal details?
Search works without an account, with fewer features.
Automated tests
-
Yes
TLS configuration Weight 2 of 3
Does the website pass the Qualys SSL Labs test with a grade of A or better?
Grade A+
-
Partial
Security headers Weight 1 of 3
Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better?
Grade B+ (80/100+)
-
Not tested yet
Modern web standards Weight 1 of 3
Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test?
Not tested yet.