Is Perplexity safe with your data?

Perplexity

Perplexity AI

49/100

Partial disclosure · high confidence

Perplexity earns a C (49/100) because it discloses its data practices only in part.

#83

of 216 apps ranked

score · Assistant avg 46

vs category average

Grade scaleA · 70–100B · 60–69C · 48–59D · 35–47F · 0–34

Perplexity lists improving its AI models as a use of collected data without offering a way to decline, and its terms take a sublicensable, irrevocable licence over everything users upload.

What Perplexity's privacy policy and terms of service say about your data

Training

Data is used to "improve or create services and products, including our AI models," and the policy describes no way to decline. The only carve-out is narrow: email content handled by the Email Assistant is excluded from model training.

Content licence

Uploading content grants Perplexity a licence that is "royalty free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide and irrevocable," and the company may pass those rights to contractual partners.

Retention

Data is kept "for only as long as necessary" to fulfil the stated purposes. The policy names no retention period, no deletion timeline after account closure, and no shorter clock for AI logs.

Advertising

Perplexity says it does not sell personal data for money, but its own disclosure table lists Advertising Partners as recipients of identifiers, browsing history, geolocation and commercial information. Opt-outs run through the cookie banner, Global Privacy Control and mobile device settings.

What the policy is silent or vague on

Not stated: keeping user inputs out of model training
Not stated: a way to opt out of training
Not stated: whether training use differs by plan
Not stated: your ownership of generated outputs

Perplexity privacy rating

Training-data use0 of 4 disclosed

Keeps user inputs out of model training, or makes training opt-inSilent

Names a way to opt out of or into trainingSilent

Says whether training use differs by plan or tierSilent

Lets the user keep ownership of generated outputsSilent

Data-subject rights3 of 5 disclosed

Grants a right to access your dataDisclosed

Grants a right to delete your dataPartial

Offers data portability in a usable formatDisclosed

Grants a right to correct your dataDisclosed

Grants a way to object to or opt out of processingPartial

Retention and deletion0 of 4 disclosed

States a retention period for your dataPartial

States a deletion timeline after closure or requestSilent

Sets a shorter retention for AI conversation logsSilent

Commits to collecting only the data it needsSilent

Third-party sharing2 of 5 disclosed

Lists the categories of third parties it shares withDisclosed

References a sub-processor list or data processing agreementPartial

Does not sell or share data for advertising, or offers opt-outPartial

Names a safeguard for international data transfersDisclosed

States a standard for government and law-enforcement accessPartial

Transparency4 of 4 disclosed

Discloses that you are interacting with AIDisclosed

Marks AI-generated or synthetic outputNot applicable

Enumerates the categories of data it collectsDisclosed

Maps processing purposes to legal basesDisclosed

Is versioned and dated, with change noticeDisclosed

Sensitive data and children2 of 2 disclosed

Discloses automated decisions and a human-review pathNot applicable

Limits the use of special-category dataDisclosed

Governs biometric data specificallyNot applicable

States protections for children's dataDisclosed

Security and accountability1 of 3 disclosed

Describes its security safeguardsPartial

Commits to breach notificationPartial

Names a certification or a privacy contactDisclosed

DisclosedPartialSilentAdverseNot applicable

Details

Category: Assistant
Modalities: text
Processes biometrics: No
Policy last updated: 2026-07-08
Region scored: Global / US-default
Last assessed: 2026-10-13

Documents examined

Other assistant apps

Each grade reflects our analysis of what an app states in its public privacy policy and terms as of the assessment date. It measures the transparency of those documents, not the company's actual data practices, security, or compliance. Grades are our opinion, offered for general information. Full disclaimer.