Is Perplexity GDPR compliant? What universities should check
Perplexity is an AI answer engine that searches the web and cites its sources. Staff and students use it daily, often on personal accounts, and universities increasingly ask whether to buy Enterprise seats instead. This page sets out what Perplexity publishes about data protection and how the plans differ.
Short answer
Perplexity is run by Perplexity AI, Inc. in San Francisco, with VeraSafe appointed as its EU and UK representative and DPO. It offers Free, Pro and Max consumer plans, an Education Pro discount for verified students and faculty, and Enterprise Pro and Enterprise Max for organisations. For Enterprise, Perplexity publishes a DPA with SCCs, contractually excludes customer content from model training, holds active Data Privacy Framework certification and lists SOC 2 and ISO 27001 in its trust centre. On consumer plans, including Education Pro, data may be used for training unless the user switches it off. Whether you can use it depends mainly on whether people use Enterprise seats under your contract or their own consumer accounts.
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What Perplexity documents publicly
All sources were read on 7 October 2026. Perplexity's main website blocks automated access, so for its legal pages we read the most recent Internet Archive copies (captured 29 September to 1 October 2026); the help centre, trust centre and DPF list were read live. "Not found publicly" means we did not find it in the sources listed; it does not mean the safeguard does not exist.
| Topic | What the vendor states | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Company and establishment | Documented Perplexity AI, Inc., San Francisco, United States, is controller for consumer data; for Enterprise and API data it acts as service provider or processor. VeraSafe is appointed as representative in the EU and UK under Article 27 and as DPO. | [1], [8] |
| Where data is stored and processed | Partly documented The privacy notice says data may be processed in countries "including, but not limited to, the United States". All trust centre subprocessors are listed as US-based. Not found publicly An EU data residency option for Enterprise. | [1], [5] |
| Data processing agreement | Plan-dependent A public Data Processing Addendum (last updated 13 August 2026) for business customers; the Enterprise Terms (last updated 3 August 2026) incorporate it. It names the Irish Data Protection Commission as supervisory authority for the SCCs. Not offered for consumer accounts. | [2], [3] |
| Subprocessors | Documented A public list in the trust centre: 23 entries, all US-based, including AWS and Amazon Bedrock, Anthropic, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, OpenAI and xAI as model or cloud providers. Under the DPA, ordinary new subprocessors get 10 business days' notice with a right to object; new model providers are notified without a stated objection window. | [5], [2] |
| International transfers | Documented Active participant in the EU-US DPF and the UK Extension on the official DPF list (no Swiss-US entry). The DPA also uses the 2021 SCCs (Modules 2 and 3) and the UK Addendum. | [10], [1], [2] |
| AI model training on customer content | Plan-dependent Free, Pro and Max: "AI Data Retention is enabled by default"; users can opt out in settings, but opt-outs apply only to data collected afterwards. Enterprise: the Enterprise Terms say Perplexity "shall not use (or authorize third parties to use) Customer Content to train" models, and the DPA excludes personal data from LLM training. Agreements with OpenAI and Anthropic prohibit training on Perplexity data. | [6], [3], [2], [7] |
| Retention and deletion | Plan-dependent Enterprise: files attached to threads are deleted after seven days; files in the organisation repository, My Files and Spaces are kept until deleted; custom thread retention needs 50 or more seats or at least one Enterprise Max seat. Consumer: account deletion becomes permanent after 30 days. The DPA provides for deletion or return within 30 days after the service ends. | [9], [11], [2] |
| Security certifications | Documented The trust centre lists SOC 2 and ISO 27001:2022, among others. The SOC 2 report and ISO certificate are available on request, so their scope is not public. | [4] |
| Institution and enterprise controls | Plan-dependent Enterprise supports SSO and an admin console. SCIM is limited to organisations with 50 or more seats or at least one Enterprise Max seat. Enterprise Pro is listed at $40 per seat per month; discounts may be available for schools and universities. Education Pro is an individual $10 per month subscription for students or faculty verified through SheerID. | [12], [13], [14], [15] |
What this means for a university
Validemic's analysis
Two different regimes. Perplexity's documentation draws a clear line between consumer accounts and Enterprise. Under Enterprise, Perplexity is a processor bound by a DPA, training is contractually excluded, and the organisation controls membership, SSO and (at larger sizes) retention. Under Free, Pro, Max and Education Pro, Perplexity is the controller, training is on by default, and the university has no contract at all. For institutional approval, Enterprise seats are the realistic route; Education Pro is a discount for individuals, not an institutional agreement.
What personal data is involved. Most queries are about public information, but users routinely paste emails, drafts, student work or meeting notes into answer engines, and file upload makes this easy. In a research context, interview excerpts or participant data should only go into an Enterprise workspace covered by the DPA, if at all.
Transfers. Perplexity's active DPF certification and the SCCs in its DPA give a recognised transfer basis for the US. The model providers it uses (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, xAI and others) are onward recipients, so the subprocessor notice terms matter. Note that new model providers are notified without the objection window that applies to other subprocessors.
DPIA. For an Enterprise rollout to staff, a DPIA is a sensible step given the scale, the number of model providers and the variety of data people enter. For students, consider whether they will be on Enterprise seats or encouraged to use their own accounts.
Students. The consumer terms require users to be at least 13. If the university promotes Education Pro, students sign up on consumer terms with the training default switched on; tell them where the opt-out is.
Credit where due. A named EU representative and DPO, an active DPF certification, a public DPA with SCCs, a public subprocessor list and a clear contractual no-training clause for Enterprise are more than many AI tools publish.
Reviewing a vendor right now? Validemic checks the vendor's documents against GDPR and the EU AI Act and cites every finding. Try the demo workspace
Questions to ask Perplexity before approving it
- Can you offer EU data residency or EU-only processing for Enterprise customers?
- Will you give the same objection right for new model providers as for other subprocessors?
- What retention and zero-data-retention terms apply with each model provider for Enterprise traffic?
- What is the scope of your SOC 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate: do they cover the Enterprise product and the model routing layer?
- Can custom retention and SCIM be made available to an education customer below 50 seats without Enterprise Max?
- What discount and contract terms apply to universities, and can student seats be covered by the same DPA?
- How do you prevent staff using personal Pro accounts with institutional email addresses outside the Enterprise organisation?
- Which connectors (for example Google Drive or SharePoint) can admins switch off, and what data do they pull in?
The EU AI Act angle
Using Perplexity to search and summarise information is normally not a high-risk use under the AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689. Annex III, point 3 lists the education uses that are high-risk: AI used to decide admission or access, to evaluate learning outcomes, to assess the level of education a person will receive, or to monitor students for prohibited behaviour during tests. Using any tool for those purposes would change the assessment.
A university that uses an AI system under its authority is a deployer (Article 3(4)). Article 4 on AI literacy has applied since 2 February 2025. Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (the Digital Omnibus on AI), in force since 27 July 2026, replaced that article: deployers must now "take measures to support the development of AI literacy" of their staff and others using AI on their behalf, without having to guarantee a specific level for each person. The same regulation moved the application date for Annex III high-risk obligations to 2 December 2027.
Obligations for general-purpose AI models (Article 53, applying since 2 August 2025) fall on the providers of those models, not on the university.
Sources
- Perplexity, Privacy Notice (last updated 8 July 2026; Internet Archive capture of 29 September 2026), retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity, Data Processing Addendum (last updated 13 August 2026; Internet Archive capture of 1 October 2026), retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity, Enterprise Terms of Service (last updated 3 August 2026; Internet Archive capture of 1 October 2026), retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity Trust Center, retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity Trust Center, Subprocessors, retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity Help Center, "Data Collection at Perplexity", retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity Help Center, "Are third-party model providers training on my data?", retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity Help Center, "GDPR Compliance at Perplexity", retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity Help Center, "Data Retention for Enterprise", retrieved 7 October 2026
- Data Privacy Framework List, entry "Perplexity AI" (San Francisco), retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity Help Center, "Account Deletion", retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity Help Center, "User Management for Enterprise Organizations", retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity Help Center, "SCIM-based user account management", retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity Help Center, "Enterprise Pricing and Billing FAQ", retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity Help Center, "What is Education Pro?", retrieved 7 October 2026
- Perplexity, Terms of Service (Internet Archive capture of 30 September 2026), retrieved 7 October 2026
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Artificial Intelligence Act), Articles 3(4), 4, 53, 113 and Annex III, Official Journal text read via the Publications Office, retrieved 7 October 2026
- Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (Digital Omnibus on AI), Official Journal text read via the Publications Office, retrieved 7 October 2026
About this page
We read Perplexity's privacy notice, DPA, Enterprise and consumer terms, trust centre and help centre, and searched the official Data Privacy Framework list, on 7 October 2026. Because perplexity.ai blocks automated access, the legal documents were read from Internet Archive copies made in the week before; the dates are given above. This page describes public documentation only. It is not legal advice and not a verdict on whether Perplexity complies with the GDPR; that depends on your contract, your plan and your use.
If you work at Perplexity and something here is out of date or incomplete, please contact us and we will review it promptly.
Frequently asked questions
Does Perplexity train AI models on my data?
It depends on the plan. Perplexity's help centre says AI data retention, which allows use for training, is on by default for Free, Pro and Max users, who can switch it off in settings. Enterprise data is never used for training, according to the help centre and the Enterprise Terms.
Is Perplexity covered by the EU-US Data Privacy Framework?
Yes. Perplexity AI is listed as an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the UK Extension on the official DPF list (checked 7 October 2026). Its DPA also includes the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
Does Perplexity sign a DPA?
Perplexity publishes a Data Processing Addendum (last updated 13 August 2026) for business customers. Its Enterprise Terms incorporate it. It is not offered for consumer Free, Pro or Education Pro accounts.
Is Perplexity Education Pro covered by a university agreement?
Education Pro is an individual subscription for verified students and faculty. It gives Pro features at a discount but is not an institutional contract, so the consumer terms, privacy notice and training default apply. An institution wanting a DPA would look at Enterprise Pro or Enterprise Max.
Where does Perplexity store data?
The privacy notice says data may be processed in countries including the United States, and all subprocessors on Perplexity's trust centre are listed as US-based. We found no EU data residency option in its public documentation (checked 7 October 2026).