A Reddit post has gone viral this week after a user claimed that Airtel subscribers receiving Perplexity Pro access through their data bundles are not getting the same version as paying subscribers of the AI-powered search tool.
The Reddit user detailed an experiment comparing responses to the same prompt across three different Perplexity accounts — Paid Pro, Free (3 queries/day), and the Airtel-bundled “Pro” version. The user alleged that the Airtel version underperformed in several areas, including response speed, formatting, source citations, and depth of insights. The post claimed that even the Free version offered a better experience than the one bundled with Airtel’s data pack.
The user concluded that the Airtel-bundled offering felt like a “stripped-down version” of Perplexity Pro, with no clear communication or disclaimers to indicate any difference.
In response to these claims, Jesse Dwyer from Perplexity.ai refuted the allegations. Speaking to Financial Express, Dwyer said, “Having worked personally with the Airtel team throughout this partnership, and also being familiar with the specific terms of this deal, I can assure you that it is absolutely false that Airtel customers get a different version of Perplexity Pro than our Pro subscribers. We are accustomed to misinformation about Perplexity online, and how some people on Reddit and X use misinformation about Perplexity in order to boost their follower counts, but India is very dear to us as a company and we would hope to be able to correct this misunderstanding for Indian readers.”
