How to Get a Perplexity API Key for Free

In short: Perplexity gives some new API accounts a one-time $10 signup credit, with no credit card. It lasts 60 days and works on Perplexity's Agent API, which reaches 53 models from Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT-6), xAI (Grok), Google (Gemini), Moonshot (Kimi), DeepSeek, Z.ai and NVIDIA, plus Perplexity's own Sonar, with web search built in. A Perplexity subscription is not needed.

What you need

• A Perplexity API account at console.perplexity.ai. It is separate from the Perplexity app; sign in there once.
• A computer. Windows, Mac or Linux all work.
• Nothing to pay. Perplexity's billing help says some new accounts receive the $10 credit, so not every account gets it.

Step 1: Check the free credit

The first time you open the API console, account setup shows "You've received $10 of free credits" (box 1) when the account gets the signup credit. Click Create API key (box 2).

If you skipped that screen, the console's Home page shows Credits $10.00 (box 1) and a Create API key button (box 2).

Step 2: Copy the key

Open API keys in the left menu. The new key is listed as default (box 1). Copy it when it is created and keep it private; the list shows only its first and last characters. Generate API Key at the top right makes another one.

Keep the key private:

• Anyone who has your key can spend your credit.
• Never paste it into a website, a public code repository or a screenshot.
• If it leaks, click the red bin icon next to it and create a new one.

Step 3: Know what the free credit covers

On 27 October 2026, one short question with web search cost $0.0015, so $10 covers a few thousand small requests. Bigger models cost more per request.

Step 4: Send your first request (no programming)

Open a command window. On Windows, press the Start key, type PowerShell and open it. On a Mac, open Terminal. Put your key in place of YOUR_API_KEY. effort picks a ready-made setup: fast is the cheapest.

Windows (PowerShell):

$env:PERPLEXITY_API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"
$body = '{"effort":"fast","input":"In one sentence: what is an API key?"}'
$r = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post -Uri "https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/responses" -Headers @{ Authorization = "Bearer $env:PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" } -ContentType "application/json" -Body $body
$r.output_text

Mac or Linux (Terminal):

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
curl https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/responses \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"effort": "fast", "input": "In one sentence: what is an API key?"}'

The answer comes back with its sources. On 27 October 2026, fast answered with OpenAI's GPT-6 Luna and one web search.

Step 5: Pick a model, such as Claude or Grok

Instead of effort, send model with a model name. All of these answered on the free credit on 27 October 2026:

The full list of 53 models also has Claude Sonnet 5.5, Opus 5.5 and Fable 5.1, GPT-6 Astra and Sol, Gemini 3.8 Flash and Gemini 4 Argon, DeepSeek V4 Pro, GLM-5.3 and Nemotron 3.5 Super. Request it at https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/models with your key.

curl https://api.perplexity.ai/v1/responses \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "anthropic/claude-haiku-5-5", "input": "Explain how AI works in a few words"}'

When something goes wrong

Words to know

• API key: the password an app uses to call a model. See what is an API key.
• Signup credit: the one-time $10 some new Perplexity API accounts get, for 60 days.
• Agent API: Perplexity's API for many companies' models, with web search built in, at /v1/responses.
• Effort: a ready-made setting (fast, low, medium, high, xhigh) that picks the model and search depth.
• Token: a piece of a word; the unit models read and write. See tokens and context windows.

More free AI API keys

Perplexity's signup credit is one-time. For free API keys that refill, see how to get AI API keys for free, which lists each one with its daily limit and source.