Perplexity Leads ChatGPT on Apple App Store in India Post Airtel Offer

Just one day after Airtel announced its offer of a complimentary Perplexity Pro subscription, the Perplexity app has seen an unprecedented surge in downloads, particularly on iOS. 

Thanks to the Airtel promotion, the AI search engine has climbed to the top spot on the App Store in India, overtaking OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This milestone was announced by Perplexity AI’s CEO, Aravind Srinivas, in a post on LinkedIn.

As reported by Mint News, Google’s Gemini ranks fifth among the top free apps on the App Store, following Perplexity and ChatGPT. 

On the other hand, ChatGPT remains at the top of the charts on the Google Play Store, while Perplexity has not yet tried to compete for a position among the leading free apps.

Perplexity Pro offers users access to advanced AI models, including GPT-4.1, Claude, Grok 4, and others, as well as image generation capabilities across compatible models. Subscribers also gain access to the company’s newly introduced Comet browser, which is currently available only to free users through an invitation.

Following Airtel’s announcement of its major partnership with an AI startup based in the US to offer a complimentary year-long subscription to Perplexity AI Pro, numerous Airtel subscribers took advantage of the promotion. 

The Perplexity AI Pro subscription is highly advantageous for students, researchers, professionals, and educators. In India, the annual subscription to the Pro tier costs Rs 17,000 when purchased directly from Perplexity.

With the Airtel promotion, a full year’s subscription is now available for free, encouraging more individuals to sign up and try it out. This initiative has led to a significant number of subscribers downloading the app via App Stores, as using the app is the simplest method to access the AI model.