FEBRUARY 19, 2026 // UPDATED FEB 19, 2026

Perplexity AI February 2026 Updates: Shopping, No More Ads, and New Features

The latest Perplexity AI updates from February 2026. Major pivot away from advertising, new AI models, enhanced shopping features, and what brands need to know.

AUTHOR

AT

AdsX Team

AI SEARCH SPECIALISTS

READ TIME

13 MIN

The Big News: Perplexity Abandons Advertising

In the most significant announcement this month, Perplexity AI completely abandoned its advertising strategy.

What Happened

Perplexity removed all sponsored answers from its platform and confirmed it has no plans to bring advertising back. This reverses the ad testing program that began in 2024, where brands could purchase sponsored placements in AI-generated responses.

Why They Did It

The decision came down to trust. As a Perplexity executive explained to the Financial Times: "The challenge with ads is that a user would just start doubting everything."

The company believes sponsored placements, even clearly labeled ones, risk undermining the trust on which its AI answer engine depends. Users need to believe they're getting the best possible answer, not one influenced by advertising dollars.

What This Means for Brands

The good news: Perplexity remains committed to organic visibility. Your brand can still appear in answers through high-quality content, proper structured data, and strategic source optimization.

The challenge: Without advertising, you can't pay for guaranteed placement. You need to earn visibility through:

Being cited as a credible source
Creating content that answers questions comprehensively
Building brand authority in your category
Optimizing for AI-friendly content formats

The competitive shift: While ChatGPT introduced advertising in February 2026 for Free and Go tier users, Perplexity is moving in the opposite direction. This creates distinct positioning: ChatGPT as the ad-supported consumer platform, Perplexity as the subscription-based trusted research tool.

New AI Models and Features

Perplexity rolled out substantial model upgrades this month that dramatically improve answer quality.

Opus 4.6 Powers Deep Research

On February 13, 2026, Perplexity upgraded its Deep Research feature to run on Anthropic's Opus 4.6 model. This significantly improves performance on research-intensive tasks requiring high accuracy.

Deep Research generates comprehensive reports by:

Conducting multi-step research across sources
Synthesizing information from 100+ citations
Creating structured analysis with proper attribution
Maintaining context across complex topics

The Opus 4.6 upgrade is available now for Max users and gradually rolling out to Pro users.

GPT-5.2 and Seedream 4.5 Added

Perplexity added two major new models for Pro and Max subscribers:

GPT-5.2 excels at:

Coding tasks (top performance on SWE-Bench Pro)
Multi-step reasoning problems
Technical documentation generation
Complex problem decomposition

Seedream 4.5 from Bytedance delivers:

Cinematic-quality image generation
Better photorealism than previous models
Improved prompt adherence
Faster generation times

Kimi K2.5 Reasoning Model

Perplexity also added Kimi K2.5, a state-of-the-art open source reasoning model from Moonshot AI. Notably, Perplexity hosts this on its own inference stack in the US, demonstrating its commitment to infrastructure independence.

Model Council Gets Memory Integration

Model Council, available on web only for Perplexity Max subscribers, now integrates personal memories for each model. This feature runs three frontier models simultaneously, compares outputs, and synthesizes more accurate, higher-confidence answers.

The memory integration means Model Council now:

Recalls your preferences across all three models
Tailors responses based on your history
Provides personalized analysis from multiple AI perspectives
Delivers sharper, more contextual multi-model insights

Enhanced Memory System

Perplexity dramatically improved how it remembers and recalls user context.

95% Recall Accuracy

The new memory system recalls relevant information in 95% of cases, up from 77%. This means Perplexity is far more likely to remember:

Your product preferences
Industry context about your business
Previous research topics
Stated constraints and requirements

Reduced Memory Clutter

While recall improved, Perplexity also makes half as many memories. The system is more selective about what to remember, reducing clutter and focusing on genuinely useful context.

This creates a better experience where Perplexity remembers what matters without getting bogged down in irrelevant details.

Available for Pro and Max Users

The enhanced memory system has rolled out to both Pro ($20/month) and Max ($200/month) subscribers.

Perplexity Shopping Enhancements

Perplexity continues expanding its shopping capabilities, creating a new channel for product discovery.

How Perplexity Shopping Works

Unlike traditional product search that returns generic results, Perplexity Shopping uses AI to understand natural language questions and provide curated, context-rich recommendations.

Example queries:

"Best standing desk for small apartment under $500"
"Sustainable running shoes for overpronation"
"Laptop for video editing with good battery life"

Perplexity maintains context throughout the conversation, so you can ask follow-ups like "What about in black?" or "Show me cheaper options" without repeating the original query.

Buy with Pro

Pro users in the US can complete purchases directly through Perplexity with "Buy with Pro," which offers:

Seamless checkout without leaving the platform
Free shipping on all Buy with Pro orders
Integration with select merchants
PayPal-powered payment processing

This transforms Perplexity from a research tool into a complete shopping destination.

Snap to Shop

"Snap to Shop" is a visual search feature that lets you photograph items and instantly find relevant products. You don't need to know product names or descriptions - just take a photo.

This is particularly powerful for:

Finding alternatives to out-of-stock items
Identifying products from photos or videos
Discovering similar styles across brands
Price comparison for visual items

Personalization and Memory

Perplexity Shopping remembers your preferences and patterns. Ask about a desk lamp, and it finds options matching your aesthetic preferences rather than what advertisers want to push.

This personalization improves over time as Perplexity learns:

Your style preferences
Budget ranges you typically consider
Features you prioritize
Brands you prefer or avoid

Merchant Integration

Perplexity partners with Shopify to provide access to recent and relevant product information across Shopify-powered businesses globally that sell and ship to the US.

For merchants, Perplexity offers:

Free API access to build Perplexity-powered search experiences
Custom index refinement to include only your products
Dashboard insights into search and shopping trends
Visibility into which queries surface your products

Without advertising, merchant visibility depends entirely on product data quality, content optimization, and genuine relevance to user queries.

Enterprise and Business Tools

Perplexity significantly expanded its enterprise offerings this month, targeting professional and organizational users.

Enterprise Max Announced

Perplexity announced Enterprise Max, combining all Max capabilities with enterprise-grade security and controls.

Two enterprise tiers:

Enterprise Pro - $40/user/month ($400/year)

Increased data privacy (user data never trains LLMs)
SOC2 certification
Single Sign-On (SSO)
User management for adding/removing team members
Identity-provider login
Shared organizational "Spaces"
Admin and audit controls
Centralized billing
Team collaboration tools

Enterprise Max - $325/user/month ($3,250/year)

Everything in Enterprise Pro, plus:

Research mode with up to 100+ citations
Labs for advanced data analysis and visualization
Web app creation capabilities
10,000 file workspace storage
5,000 files in Spaces
15 high-quality videos per month (improved resolution and audio with Veo 3)
Early access to premium data sources
Exclusive releases like upcoming Email Assistant

Notable Enterprise Clients

Perplexity's enterprise roster includes Stripe, Zoom, Databricks, Snowflake, Cleveland Cavaliers, HP, Vercel, and Replit.

These partnerships demonstrate Perplexity's positioning as a serious business intelligence and research tool, not just a consumer search engine.

Spaces for Team Collaboration

Perplexity Spaces enables teams to:

Share research projects
Collaborate on queries
Build institutional knowledge
Maintain team-specific contexts and memories

This transforms Perplexity from an individual tool into a collaborative research platform.

Developer and API Access

Perplexity offers API access for developers and businesses to:

Build custom search experiences
Integrate AI research into products
Create specialized knowledge bases
Power internal tools with Perplexity's models

Subscription-Focused Revenue Strategy

With advertising abandoned, Perplexity is aggressively pursuing subscription revenue.

Revenue Target

Perplexity is targeting $500 million in annualized revenue by 2026, entirely from subscriptions. The company currently has:

100+ million users
About $200 million in annualized revenue
Subscription plans from $20 to $200 per month for individuals
Enterprise plans up to $3,250 per user per year

Three-Tier Consumer Strategy

Free Tier:

Basic Perplexity search
Limited model access
Standard search capabilities
Entry point for new users

Pro Tier - $20/month:

Unlimited searches with advanced models
GPT-5.2, Opus 4.6, and other frontier models
Enhanced memory (95% recall)
Buy with Pro shopping features
Image generation with Seedream 4.5

Max Tier - $200/month:

Everything in Pro
Model Council (three models simultaneously)
Deep Research with Opus 4.6
Priority access to new features
Maximum file upload limits

Why This Matters for Brands

Perplexity's subscription focus means:

Quality over quantity: Perplexity optimizes for user satisfaction, not advertiser revenue
Trust-first answers: No concern about ad influence on results
Organic visibility only: You must earn placement through content quality
Research-oriented users: Subscribers are typically more engaged, researching purchases thoroughly
Professional audience: High-priced subscriptions attract business users and decision-makers

Stock Charts and Finance Features

Perplexity enhanced its finance capabilities with improved stock charts.

Searching for stocks (like "nvidia stock") in the Perplexity Android app now displays:

Inline stock charts
Expanded financial information
Revamped controls for timeframe selection
Real-time price data
Historical performance visualization

These features position Perplexity as a research tool for investors and financial professionals.

Additional February Updates

Finance Heatmap

Perplexity added a finance heatmap showing market sector performance at a glance, helping users quickly identify trends across industries.

Task Scheduling in Spaces

Teams can now schedule recurring research tasks in Spaces, automating regular information gathering and monitoring.

Improved Finance Pages

Finance pages now feature:

Live price updates
Refreshed timeline visualization
Better historical data presentation
Enhanced company information

Image Generation Upgrade

Perplexity upgraded image generation capabilities with Nano Banana Pro, delivering better quality and faster generation for Pro and Max users.

Step-by-Step Learning

A simplified input bar and step-by-step learning features make Perplexity more accessible to new users while maintaining power-user capabilities.

New Enterprise Security Controls

Enterprise Max includes enhanced security features:

Advanced audit logging
Data residency controls
Custom retention policies
Enhanced access management

What Brands Should Do Now

The February 2026 updates fundamentally change how brands should approach Perplexity.

1. Abandon Paid Advertising Plans

If you were waiting for Perplexity advertising to become generally available, stop waiting. It's not coming back. Focus entirely on organic visibility.

2. Optimize Content for Citations

With no advertising option, getting cited as a source is your only path to visibility. Optimize for:

Comprehensive answer content
Proper structured data
Clear, authoritative information
Up-to-date product details
Well-formatted technical specs

3. Integrate with Perplexity Shopping

If you're an e-commerce brand:

Ensure Shopify product data is complete and accurate
Use Perplexity's merchant API if available
Optimize product descriptions for natural language queries
Provide detailed specifications and attributes
Create visual content for Snap to Shop

4. Build Topical Authority

Perplexity rewards genuine expertise. Create content that:

Answers questions comprehensively
Cites credible sources
Provides unique insights
Demonstrates subject matter expertise
Updates regularly with new information

5. Monitor Your Perplexity Presence

Track how often Perplexity cites your brand:

Run regular queries in your category
Monitor which sources Perplexity prefers
Analyze competitor citations
Identify content gaps
Measure citation frequency over time

6. Consider Enterprise Partnerships

If you're a B2B company, explore:

Becoming a data partner
Integration opportunities
API-based product experiences
Custom Perplexity deployments for clients

7. Target Perplexity Users Differently

Perplexity's subscription model means its users are:

More research-oriented
Willing to pay for quality
Often business professionals
Making informed purchase decisions
Less impulse-driven

Adjust your content strategy accordingly. Provide depth, not flashy marketing.

The Competitive Landscape

Perplexity's February moves create clear market positioning.

Perplexity vs. ChatGPT

Perplexity:

No advertising
Subscription-focused
Source-cited answers
Research-oriented
Professional/business users

ChatGPT:

Launched advertising in February 2026
Conversational format
Larger user base (200M+ weekly active users)
Consumer-focused
Mixed free and paid model

Perplexity vs. Google

Perplexity:

Direct answers
AI-native experience
No advertising influence
Curated sources

Google:

Traditional search results
Ad-supported model
Massive scale
Comprehensive web index

Market Opportunity

Perplexity's advertising abandonment creates an opening for brands that:

Can compete on content quality
Provide genuine expertise
Don't rely on paid placement
Serve research-oriented audiences

But it closes the door for brands that:

Depend on paid visibility
Lack strong organic content
Need guaranteed placement
Compete primarily on advertising spend

Looking Ahead

Perplexity's February 2026 updates signal a clear strategic direction: become the trusted research platform for professionals, powered entirely by subscriptions.

Expected Future Developments

Based on current trajectory, expect:

More enterprise features and security controls
Additional AI model integrations
Enhanced shopping and commerce capabilities
Deeper merchant partnerships
API expansion for developers
International market expansion

The Trust Bet

Perplexity is making a fundamental bet that users will pay for trustworthy AI search untainted by advertising. If successful, this could reshape how AI platforms monetize.

Implications for AI Search

Other AI platforms will watch closely. If Perplexity's subscription model succeeds, we may see:

More ad-free AI search options
Premium tiers across platforms
Emphasis on trust and transparency
Organic-only visibility becoming standard

How AdsX Can Help

The shift away from Perplexity advertising doesn't mean brands can ignore the platform. If anything, organic optimization becomes more critical.

At AdsX, we help brands maximize Perplexity visibility through:

Source optimization strategies to increase citation frequency
Content audits identifying what Perplexity rewards
Shopping integration for e-commerce brands
Competitive analysis showing how rivals earn visibility
Tracking and measurement of Perplexity presence over time
Cross-platform AI visibility across Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini

The brands winning in AI search aren't the ones spending the most on ads. They're the ones creating genuinely valuable content that AI platforms trust.

See how Perplexity currently cites your brand with our free audit, then talk to our team about building an organic AI visibility strategy that drives results.

Perplexity's February 2026 pivot away from advertising represents a defining moment in AI search evolution. Brands that adapt to this trust-first, organic-only model will establish lasting competitive advantages.

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