Perplexity Teammates: always-on AI agents for ongoing work

perplexity teammates arrived on November 5, 2026, as Perplexity's bid for always-on work agents—closer to a coworker with an ongoing job than a chat you restart every morning. The Verge and Digital Trends both covered the launch the same day. Our X counts for "Perplexity Teammates" totaled about 490 posts over seven days, almost all after 18:00 UTC on November 5 (about 69 posts that hour), then a steady 11–38 posts per hour overnight into November 6. Here is what those outlets say the product does, what it costs, how it compares to rivals, and how a small business should decide whether Max is worth it.

What Perplexity announced

Persistent agents for ongoing work

Digital Trends reports that Teammates are personal AI agents that take on ongoing work from a high-level goal, available first to Max subscribers on the web. CEO Aravind Srinivas framed the shift as moving from writing prompts in a session to giving high-level goals, with native apps (mobile, desktop) coming soon (Digital Trends).

The Verge describes always-on Teammates that can take on multiple roles in a workspace while pulling projects, skills, and memory from Perplexity tools you already use. You can assign each Teammate different jobs that they perform simultaneously—much like OpenAI's Dots and Claude Duet—and keep tabs through individual threads in the Perplexity app as well as Slack (The Verge).

Built on Perplexity Computer

Digital Trends contrasts Teammates with Perplexity Computer (launched earlier for the Max tier): Computer ran temporary sandbox sessions or workspaces that vanished after each job; Teammates stick around as persistent coworkers with access to Projects, Memory, Skills, connectors, files, and past sessions (Digital Trends). The Verge says Teammates "build on top" of Computer for collaborating on ongoing, large-scale work (The Verge).

Perplexity's product page (we opened the public hub page; interactive sections may require a signed-in browser) describes Teammates as a team of AI agents that own ongoing work—managing a growth campaign, triaging bugs, tracking metrics, or researching a market—planning tasks, bringing in more agents when work grows, and following through until results are ready for review. It lists multi-agent orchestration, full desktop and browser use, and proactive monitoring as additions beyond Computer.

Slack, review, and takeover

Digital Trends says that if you add a teammate to a Slack channel, coworkers can hand it work while it watches the channel and acts when something changes; each teammate runs in its own environment, and you can review its work, take over its desktop, or redirect it (Digital Trends). Example workflows in that coverage include marketing, sales, support, and operations—triaging bugs, QA loops, security monitoring, data analysis, and A/B tests—including a demo where an ads teammate spots creator ads beating a customer-acquisition-cost target and prepares a larger campaign for legal review.

Price, availability, and competition

Max at $200 per month

Both The Verge and Digital Trends report that Teammates require Perplexity's Max plan at $200 per month, and that Free and Pro users must upgrade. The Verge calls that "much more expensive" than the comparison set of OpenAI Dots and Claude Duet for this class of always-on agent. Initial access is on the web; Digital Trends says Teammates are also coming to iOS, with native mobile and desktop apps promised (The Verge, Digital Trends).

Where Perplexity sits in the field

The Verge places Teammates next to OpenAI's Dots and Anthropic's Claude Duet as work-focused, always-on agents. Digital Trends also names OpenAI workspace agents, Microsoft Copilot Cowork, Grok Bot, and Anthropic's Claude Cowork as chasing the same idea, with some of those targeting organizations rather than individual Max subscribers (The Verge, Digital Trends).

The Verge quotes Srinivas on X: "Over time, we envision every org having hundreds of teammates working for each person." An X trending summary for the launch also cites internal usage claims (thousands of agents relative to headcount); treat those internal figures as X-summary claims unless Perplexity publishes them in a blog you can open—our fetcher hit a bot wall on Perplexity's hub blog (The Verge, X trending).

What we did not verify

We did not create a Max subscription, run a Teammate, or test Slack/GitHub connectors. Perplexity's own blog and help-center pages returned bot/challenge pages to our fetcher, so product claims above lean on The Verge, Digital Trends, and the public product hub text we could read. We did not verify Max regional availability, enterprise entitlements, or seat pricing for teams. Our X counts are our measurement.

What this means for small businesses

At $200 per month per Max seat, Teammates are a deliberate bet—not a free trial of chat. Real-estate teams and small shops should map one recurring workflow (lead follow-ups, listing QA, inbox triage) before buying a seat farm.

1. Pick one boring, recurring job first. Use find your best first agent so the first Teammate owns a narrow outcome you can measure in a week.
2. Write a task brief before you connect Slack. Spell inputs, allowed tools, approval gates, and done criteria with the agent task brief prompt.
3. Compare stacks on paper. Run compare software tools across Perplexity Max, Claude Duet, OpenAI dots, and a cheaper custom agent setup so $200/mo is a choice, not a default.
4. Design a small crew, not a swarm. If you need marketing + ops + research roles, sketch them with mini executive team of AI agents and keep humans on anything that emails clients or moves money.
5. Watch apps; do not drown in noise. For "message me only when something matters" monitoring, use the watch work apps prompt whether or not you buy Max.
6. Price the seat against hours saved. Plug expected hours and Max cost into the AI ROI calculator, and grade written teammate instructions with the prompt grader before you hand over connectors.

Frequently asked questions

Who can use Perplexity Teammates today?

The Verge and Digital Trends say Teammates launch for individual Perplexity Max subscribers on the web, with mobile/desktop apps coming. Free and Pro users need to upgrade to Max at the reported $200 per month (The Verge, Digital Trends).

How are Teammates different from Perplexity Computer?

Per reporting, Computer ran shorter, disposable agent sessions; Teammates are persistent roles with ongoing memory, projects, and connectors for larger work (Digital Trends, The Verge).

How do Teammates compare to Claude Duet or OpenAI Dots?

The Verge groups all three as always-on work agents that can run multiple jobs; it flags Perplexity's Max price as higher for this launch class (The Verge). We did not run a head-to-head feature test.

Can teammates work in Slack?

Digital Trends reports you can add a teammate to a Slack channel so coworkers can assign work and the agent can watch for changes; The Verge also notes Slack interaction alongside in-app threads (Digital Trends, The Verge).

Should a small business buy Max just for Teammates?

Only if one high-value ongoing workflow clearly pays for $200/month after you write a brief, set approval gates, and compare alternatives with the prompts and ROI calculator above. Otherwise start with a cheaper agent stack and revisit Max when the workflow is proven.

Sources

• The Verge: Perplexity launches its own take on AI agents for work
• Digital Trends: Perplexity's new AI coworkers
• Perplexity product page: Teammates
• X trending story: Perplexity Launches Teammates

How we report: every fact, number and quote above comes from the linked sources, which we read before publishing. Product details can change quickly during previews, so check the vendor page before you buy. Spotted an error? Tell us via the link on our home page.