Perplexity launches $200 monthly AI email assistant for Gmail and Outlook

Perplexity has launched Email Assistant, an AI-powered tool that integrates with Gmail and Outlook to manage emails, draft responses, and schedule meetings. However, the service comes with a steep price tag of $200 monthly, as it’s exclusively available to Perplexity Max subscribers, making it one of the more expensive AI email solutions on the market.

What you should know: Email Assistant offers comprehensive inbox management capabilities but requires users to interact through a specific email address.

• Users must either email [email protected] or CC the address in email threads to activate the AI assistant.
• The tool can draft replies in the user’s tone and style, handle scheduling back-and-forth, add meetings to calendars, and provide email and meeting summaries.
• It organizes emails with smart labels and allows users to ask questions about their inbox contents.

The competitive landscape: Perplexity is positioning itself in the crowded AI email assistant market against established tech giants, but with a premium pricing strategy.

• Google’s Gemini already integrates with Gmail to summarize threads, find inbox information, and craft responses.
• Microsoft’s Copilot offers similar functionality within Outlook for scheduling, summarizing, and taking action on emails.
• Perplexity claims users could see productivity boosts of “3-18x per day,” though this represents a notably wide range that raises questions about measurable benefits.

Why this matters: The high cost may limit adoption primarily to enterprise customers who value the enhanced security and privacy features.

• The service includes SOC 2 and GDPR compliance for maximum data privacy.
• Perplexity promises never to train on user data thanks to enterprise-grade encryption.
• For existing Perplexity Max subscribers, Email Assistant adds value to a plan that already includes unlimited Labs access, early feature access, and advanced model options.

The bottom line: While Email Assistant may provide meaningful productivity gains for heavy email users, the $200 monthly cost makes it a premium option that companies rather than individual users are most likely to adopt.