research Official server available

Perplexity MCP Server

The official Perplexity MCP gives Claude live web search and deep research. Remote URL, Claude Code setup, the four tools, and what the API costs.

Pricing
paid
GitHub stars
2,538
Last commit
2026-08-27
Page updated

The MCP server is free (MIT). Calls bill your Perplexity API account: the Search API is $5 per 1,000 requests, and ask/reason/research are billed by tokens and searches.

View on GitHub
@perplexity-ai/mcp-server
Website

Perplexity maintains its own MCP server and also hosts it at https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp. Point Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code at that URL with your API key and you get four tools: perplexity_search for ranked links, perplexity_ask for quick cited answers, perplexity_reason for step-by-step analysis, and perplexity_research for multi-minute deep dives.

There's no reason to use a community Perplexity server anymore. The official one is MIT-licensed, actively maintained, and moved off the old sonar-pro models onto Perplexity's Agent API presets, so answers keep improving without you touching the config. Use the remote URL if your client supports headers; otherwise run the npx package locally.

How I use it for content: before writing a post, I have Claude run perplexity_research on the topic, then perplexity_search restricted to the last month for fresh stats, and only then draft. You get cited numbers instead of the model's memory. For pulling the full text of the sources it finds, add the Firecrawl MCP.

Watch the bill on perplexity_research. It runs many searches per call and can take minutes, so it's the expensive one. Use perplexity_ask for quick fact checks and save deep research for briefs you'll actually publish.

Official vs community Perplexity MCP

Perplexity API Platform MCP Server

Remote server URL: https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp

Perplexity builds and hosts this one, and it's the only Perplexity MCP worth installing. Use the remote URL in clients that let you set an Authorization header (Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code). Use the local npx package for Claude Desktop or anything that can't send headers.

What you can ask it

  • “Use perplexity_research to build a brief on "AI search visibility for B2B brands": key stats with sources, who's ranking, and open questions nobody has answered”
  • “Search the last 30 days for new data on email open rates after Apple Mail Privacy Protection. Only cite sources from 2026”
  • “Ask Perplexity what pricing [competitor] lists today and when they last changed it”
  • “Use perplexity_reason to compare Klaviyo and Brevo for a 20k-subscriber Shopify store and pick one”
  • “Find 10 recent articles ranking for "vibe marketing" and tell me what angle each one takes”

Features

  • `perplexity_search`: ranked web results with metadata, recency and domain filters
  • `perplexity_ask`: fast, cited answers (Agent API `fast` preset)
  • `perplexity_reason`: step-by-step analysis for comparisons and trade-offs (`medium` preset)
  • `perplexity_research`: multi-minute deep research with progress updates (`high` preset)
  • Hosted remote server at api.perplexity.ai/mcp, or run locally with npx
  • Self-hosted HTTP mode and Docker image for shared team setups
  • Proxy support (`PERPLEXITY_PROXY`) for corporate networks

How to set up the Perplexity MCP Server

Works with: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Codex

1. Create an API key in the Perplexity API console and add credit. 2. Claude Code, remote server (nothing to install): 
claude mcp add --transport http perplexity https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
3. Claude Code, local server: 
claude mcp add perplexity --env PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="your_key_here" -- npx -y @perplexity-ai/mcp-server
4. Claude Desktop, Cursor and other clients: add this to your MCP config: 
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perplexity": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@perplexity-ai/mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}
5. Restart the client. For long research runs, set PERPLEXITY_TIMEOUT_MS=600000. If a strict client fails on startup, use npx -yq instead of npx -y.

Alternatives

Brave Search MCP

Raw search results from Brave's own index, including news, images and local, with free monthly credits; no synthesized answers.

Firecrawl MCP

Search plus full-page scraping and site crawls, better when you need the actual page content instead of an answer.

FAQ

Is there an official Perplexity MCP server?
Yes. Perplexity maintains perplexityai/modelcontextprotocol (npm: @perplexity-ai/mcp-server) and hosts a remote version at https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp.
How do I add Perplexity to Claude Code?
Run claude mcp add --transport http perplexity https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY", or use the local npx package with PERPLEXITY_API_KEY set.
Which Perplexity MCP tool should I use?
Use perplexity_search for links, perplexity_ask for quick cited answers, perplexity_reason for comparisons, and perplexity_research only for deep briefs, since it runs many searches and takes minutes.
How much does the Perplexity MCP cost?
The server is free. Search calls are $5 per 1,000 requests, and ask, reason and research calls are billed by tokens and searches, with deep research being the priciest.

More marketing MCP servers

research

Brave Search MCP Server

The official Brave Search MCP gives Claude web, news, image, video and local search from Brave's own index. Setup, all 8 tools, and the free monthly credit.

@brave/brave-search-mcp-server freemium
research

Firecrawl MCP Server

The Firecrawl MCP lets Claude scrape, search and crawl any site. How marketers use it for competitor and content research, with hosted and local setup.

firecrawl-mcp freemium
content

Figma MCP Server

Official MCP server by Figma. Convert designs into code, extract design tokens, access components and variables — directly from Claude Code or any MCP-compatible editor.

figma (remote MCP) freemium
social

X (Twitter) MCP Server

X has an official MCP server now. How to connect the X (Twitter) MCP to Claude, Cursor or Claude Code, what it can read, and what each API call costs.

npx -y @xdevplatform/xurl mcp https://api.x.com/mcp paid

Added: 2026-02-25 · Last reviewed: 2026-09-22