Perplexity 正在逆转其于 2024 年进军广告的策略，并将自身重新定位为付费、高信任度的 AI 服务，而非面向大众市场的广告平台。根据 2026 年 2 月 19 日 WIRED 的报导，匿名高层表示，公司如今认为 Google 正以比 Perplexity 赢下 Google 广告规模竞赛更快的速度，朝向 Perplexity 风格的 AI 搜寻调整，因此策略正转向订阅、准确性与更深层的装置合作，而不是最大化免费用户触及。
这一转向与执行长 Aravind Srinivas 在 2024 年认为广告可能成为核心获利引擎的看法形成对比，而管理层如今主张广告可能降低对答案的信任。规模数据有助于解释这项变化：Similarweb 估计到 2026 年 1 月，网页与行动端合计每月活跃使用者略高于 6000 万，年增幅略高于 2x；同时有消息人士称，Comet 的代理在 2025 年 12 月的每周活跃使用者为 280 万，低于 2025 年稍早 780 万的峰值。不计 Comet，Perplexity 受追踪的网页/行动端用户基础低于 OpenAI ChatGPT 的 8 亿每周活跃使用者与 Google Gemini 的 7.5 亿每月活跃使用者的 10%。
其商业意涵在于，若没有数亿免费用户，广告变现能力就较弱，因此 Perplexity 正在倚重据称达数亿美元的订阅营收，并更强调企业销售与 2026 年开发者平台布局，作为跨 OpenAI、Google 与 Anthropic 模型的编排层。该公司表示免费层仍会保留，部分由 OEM 通路支撑，例如 Motorola 预载，且预期还会有更多装置合作；同时，在传出 2025 年涉及 Apple 与 Meta 的收购讨论后，市场兴趣仍然很高。需要注意的但书包括：对第三方与基于来源的使用数据有所依赖、Comet 在 Similarweb 数据中的涵盖不足，以及在 2026 年 2 月 19 日美东时间下午 6:00 的同日更新新增了每周用户细节。
Perplexity is reversing its 2024 push into advertising and reframing itself as a paid, high-trust AI service rather than a mass-market ad platform. In a February 19, 2026 WIRED report, anonymous executives said the company now sees Google adapting toward Perplexity-style AI search faster than Perplexity can win Google’s ad-scale game, so strategy is shifting toward subscriptions, accuracy, and deeper device partnerships instead of maximizing free-user reach.
The pivot contrasts with CEO Aravind Srinivas’s 2024 view that ads could become the core profit engine, and leadership now argues ads risk reducing trust in answers. Scale data helps explain the change: Similarweb estimates just over 60 million monthly active users across web and mobile in January 2026, a bit more than 2x year over year, while a source says Comet’s agent had 2.8 million weekly active users in December 2025, down from a 7.8 million peak earlier in 2025. Excluding Comet, Perplexity’s tracked web/mobile base is under 10% of OpenAI ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly active users and Google Gemini’s 750 million monthly active users.
The business implication is that ad monetization is weaker without hundreds of millions of free users, so Perplexity is leaning on a reported hundreds of millions of dollars in subscription revenue, with greater emphasis on enterprise sales and a 2026 developer-platform play as an orchestration layer across OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic models. The company says the free tier remains, supported partly by OEM distribution such as Motorola preinstalls and expected additional device deals, while market interest remains high after reported 2025 acquisition discussions involving Apple and Meta. Caveats include reliance on third-party and source-based usage figures, Comet undercoverage in Similarweb data, and a same-day update at 6:00 pm ET on February 19, 2026 adding weekly-user details.