All comparisons

Which should you pick?

Perplexity is the strongest general choice and the best at citing sources you can actually check, which is the whole point of the category. Komo is the one to try if you would rather not be profiled while you search, and it is free to use. Two names you will still see recommended elsewhere are worth avoiding: Phind shut down on 16 January 2026, and You.com has become a search API business with no consumer plan on public sale. For anything where being wrong matters, favour the tool that shows its sources most clearly.

What it costs

Pricing
Freemium
Pricing details
Free to use
Price range
$0 - $200/moChecked 2026-09-18
Free option
Free tier
Plans
  • Free$0/mo
  • Komo Pro$20/mo
  • Komo Max$200/mo

What it is

What it does
Komo AI is an AI-powered search engine emphasizing private, personalized search experiences without data collection or tracking.

The details

Tags
search-engineprivacyai-search

What it costs

Pricing
Freemium
Pricing details
Free tier available. Pro: $20/month
Price range
$0 - $167/moBilled annually, no monthly price publishedChecked 2026-09-20
Free option
Free tier
Plans
  • Free$0/mo
  • Pro$17/mo
  • Max$167/mo
  • EnterpriseContact sales

What it is

What it does
Perplexity is an AI search engine that provides direct answers to questions through conversational AI. Free tier, then $20.

The details

Tags
searchresearchcitationsai-search
Komo AI logo
Perplexity logo

Read the full reviews

What each one is actually like to use, tested by hand rather than summarised from the vendor’s own page.

What we wrote about these