Fetchium vs Perplexity API: Retrieval vs Inference-Bundled Search
Perplexity is a $20B company (2025) with an excellent consumer AI search product. Their API bundles LLM inference into every call — great if you want AI answers, not suitable if you want raw evidence to feed your own LLM. Fetchium is pure retrieval: you get the evidence, you pick the model, you control the cost.
Different product categories
Perplexity API is an AI answer engine — you ask a question, it searches + reasons + answers. Fetchium is a retrieval API — you ask for evidence, it searches + extracts + cites. They solve different problems. This comparison is most useful if you're deciding whether to use Perplexity as your search layer in an AI application, or to use a retrieval API + your own LLM.
| Feature | Fetchium | Perplexity API |
|---|---|---|
Raw search results (no LLM) Perplexity always runs LLM inference; you can't get raw results without it | ||
Choose your own LLM Fetchium returns evidence; you use any LLM. Perplexity bundles their Sonar models. | ||
Predictable cost per query Perplexity cost = request fee + tokens (unpredictable). Fetchium: flat $0.90/1K. | ||
Full content extraction Perplexity extracts content for its LLM; you get the answer, not the source content | ||
Token budget control Perplexity controls what goes into its context; you control Fetchium's token budget | ||
Evidence graphs + source citations Perplexity includes citations; Fetchium adds structured evidence graphs | ||
Multi-source federation Perplexity searches the web; exact backends and federation depth are opaque | ||
MCP protocol support | ||
Free tier Perplexity API has no free tier; requires paid account. Fetchium: 1K/mo free. | ||
Response includes reasoning Perplexity Sonar Reasoning models include chain-of-thought; Fetchium is retrieval-only | ||
Search P50 latency Perplexity latency includes LLM inference. Fetchium is retrieval-only (no LLM). | ~500ms | 3–5s |
Price per 1K queries Perplexity: $5–14/1K request fee + token costs. Total varies widely. | $0.90 | $6–22+ |
Verified Perplexity API Pricing
Perplexity API pricing has two components: a per-request search fee + token costs. Both vary by model and search depth. There is no free tier.
Request fees (per 1K):
Plus token costs:
Source: perplexity.ai/api, March 2026. A typical Sonar query with 2K input + 500 output tokens costs: $5/1K request + $0.002 + $0.0075 = ~$5.01/1K total minimum.
Try Fetchium free — 1,000 requests/month, no credit card