How Much Would It Cost to Develop an AI-Powered App Like Perplexity?

This is the age of artificial intelligence, and tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity are changing the ways we search for information and interact with technology. Perplexity, here, has stood out as a smarter conversational AI tool that mixes the search engine power with an easy chat interface. There are a lot of business owners and startups who are wondering about the cost of developing something similar before partnering with ai software development company.

So, let’s break down the features, tech stack, requirements of the team and actual development costs of an AI-powered app like Perplexity. This guide will be helpful for founders, investors, and even managers associated with managing a project like this.

What is Perplexity AI?

Think Perplexity AI as a search engine that works in a chat interface using the power of artificial intelligence. When we compare this new tool with older search engines, the major difference is that this does not give a list of links. In place of that, it gives well-structured answers, even with citations, to the user’s queries.

Underlying the platform are advanced natural language processing and real-time search data to answer complex questions in a simple and user-friendly way. For example, if you ask a question like ‘What are the side effects of a new medicine?” it does not just show 10 blue links like the search engines. It will rather give you a summary answer after reading all those 10 links, just like a human researcher would.

Key features that your app like Perplexity should pack

If you are willing to know about the key features that an app like Perplexity must have, then here are the ones you should not miss at any cost.

Conversational Interface

Users interact with the app through natural language, where they ask questions like they would to a human. For this, it is important to achieve an actual chat based interface because it is a core for smooth user experience.

Real-time web search integration

The app is capable of fetching the latest information from the internet using third-party search APIs, which allows it to provide up-to-date and relevant answers.

AI/LLM Integration

At the heart of the app lies an advanced language model (like OpenAI’s GPT or Claude). Such models help understand user questions and give smart, humanlike answers.

Cross-platform availability

Try to create an app that works on web, iOS, and Android devices so that you leave no market untapped and reach the widest possible audience.

Multimodal Capabilities

This is an optional feature but has been quite common in modern apps. It gives support for images, documents, and voice input that makes an app really advanced in use cases.

Tech Stack Required in Making Your Idea a Reality

Creating something like Perplexity requires you to consider the mix of technologies and nearly all of them whether it is AI, cloud, front and backend, and more. Let us break it down for you so that you can have an idea what tech goes into it when you look for ai/ml development services:

Frontend (user interface)

• React.js for web apps
• Swift for iOS app
• Kotlin for Android apps

Backend

• Node.js or Python as AI backend languages
• Express, Flask, and Django are some frameworks.

AI/ML

• GPT 4, Mistral and Claude are some commonly used language models.
• PyTorch and TensorFlow are quite popular when it comes to custom AI development. 

APIs and Search Tools

• Bing Search APIs or Google Programmable Search Engine
• Wikipedia, Wolfram Alpha, etc.

Databases

• PostgreSQL for structured data
• Redis for solid caching
• MongoDB for the user data.

Hosting & DevOps

• AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure
• Docker, Kubernetes for deployment
• CI/CD pipelines for updates and testing

Security

• User authentication (OAuth 2.0)
• Data encryption and role-based access control

With this tech stack, you can stay equipped to create a high-performing, scalable, and secure app.

Development Team & Roles

To build such a complex and smart application, you will surely require a skilled team and that too with various roles. Still on an average and in the most of the cases, a team setup looks like the below:

• Product manager who defines features, priorities, and roadmap
• UI/UX designer who designs the layout, flow, and appearance of the app
• Frontend developers who build the web and mobile interfaces
• Backend developers who develop APIs, handle user data, and connect with AI
• AI/ML Engineer who applies language models for tuning the whole AI behaviour
• QA Engineer who tests the app for bugs, security, and performance
• DevOps Engineer who manages cloud deployment and scaling

Depending on your location and hiring model (in-house, freelance, agency), the salaries or costs for these roles can vary a lot. A mobile app development services India company can be your best bet here, as they have everyone in house and that too with effective prices.

Cost Breakdown by Development Phase (in %)

Now that you know everything that goes into development, it will be easier for us to make the estimation of cost and also easily understandable for anyone looking to create an app like Perplexity.

Discovery & Planning phase costs 3-5%

• Requirement analysis
• Market research
• Project roadmap
• Technical specifications

UI/UX Design phase costs 20-25%

• Wireframes, prototypes
• Web/mobile UI designs
• User testing

Frontend & Backend Development phase costs 35-40%

• Building the core application
• Integrating with APIs and databases
• Ensuring responsiveness and performance

AI/ML Integration phase costs 20-25%

• Integrating GPT or Claude APIs
• Setting up RAG pipelines
• Fine-tuning outputs
• Testing for accuracy

Testing & QA phase costs 20-30%

• Manual and automated testing
• Security checks
• Bug fixing

Deployment & Maintenance costs 15-20%

• Cloud hosting (AWS, GCP)
• App store publishing
• Regular updates and improvements

Further Ongoing Costs

• API Costs: OpenAI GPT-4 API or Claude API usage can cost $500–$10,000/month depending on volume.
• Search APIs: Bing or Google Custom Search may charge based on request volume.
• Cloud Services: AWS/GCP bills based on compute usage, storage, and traffic.

Other factors that affect the cost

While the breakdown will give you a good understanding and estimate of the final budget, there are some more factors that affect it:

• Team location because hiring in North America or Europe will always be 2 to 3x more than hiring a team in India or any other part of Southeast Asia.
• Project scope because a simple MVP may require fewer features and cost less, while an enterprise version with advanced AI and scalability will cost more.
• Use of OpenAI vs. custom LLMs because building and training your own AI model needs much more time and money than using an existing API.
• Compliance requirements: apps that deal with personal or medical data need HIPAA, GDPR, or other data privacy compliances, increasing the cost.
• Timeframe, because a faster build will demand more team resources, asking for more costs.

Final total development cost idea (approx.)

Based on all of the above, here is a simple estimate:

• If you build an MVP version of your app then it will cost you somewhere around $3000 to $5,000+.
• After that, if your app contains all the necessary features, just like Perplexity, then the total costing will be from $20,000 to $50,000+.

Again, these numbers may vary on the basis of features, location of team and other custom requirements.

How can NetSet help create a smart app like Perplexity?

The NetSet Software team is a globally recognized AI app development partner who has worked on a range of products coming from different industries. We can help you polish your AI app idea, design it with end users in mind and deliver you a fantastic product that is capable of even outsmarting apps like Perplexity.

Our experts will sit with you to explain open-source models so that you pick the best model that fits your goals. After your product is ready, we offer maintenance and support services to keep your app as smooth as possible for the coming future.

So, why wait and start building your app right away? Just contact us, discuss your idea, get a cost estimation, and kickstart your project.

Final Thoughts and Suggestions

Keeping everything aside, creating an app like Perplexity is a great investment you can go for in the modern digital economy. The key here is to start with a clear plan, define your core features, pick the right AI model and build your first MVP. You do not need to match every feature that Perplexity has at the very first.

Next, the cost will depend mostly on your approach, whether you hire in-house or outsource, use APIs or train your own models and launch a basic app or a full-scale app. It might sound very complex but with careful planning and a right top mobile app development company in India, you can create a competitive and innovative AI product that gives real value to users like Perplexity does.