Perplexity Teammates: How to Use Always-On AI Agents (Price, Setup, Slack, Limits)

Perplexity just gave its agent a permanent job. Teammates, launched on 6 November 2026, are always-on AI agents that own an ongoing area of work, like support, sales or on-call engineering, instead of finishing one task and stopping.

They sit on top of Perplexity Computer, run in their own cloud desktop and browser, and can talk to your colleagues in Slack. The catch is the price: you need the $200-a-month Max plan.

This guide covers what Teammates are, how they differ from Computer, who can get them, a step-by-step setup, what they cost in credits, good first jobs, safety controls, and how they compare with OpenAI Dots, Claude Duet and Grok Bot.

What Are Perplexity Teammates?

A Teammate is a personal agent built for long-running work. Perplexity’s announcement says they plan and coordinate projects, change priorities as things move, and bring results back for you to review.

Each Teammate has four things you define:

• A role: for example On-call Engineer, Storefront Manager or Legal Research Assistant.
• A standing brief: where the work comes from, what it should deliver and when it should act.
• Tools: the connectors and plugins it may use, such as Slack, GitHub or Gmail.
• Escalation rules: when it must stop and ask a human.

Every Teammate gets one persistent thread in the Perplexity sidebar. That thread holds its activity, decisions and past context, so you can scroll back and see why it did something.

Memory that carries between runs

Teammates remember project goals, task history and shared files across runs. Perplexity’s example is an agency’s required lead time: tell the Teammate once, and later scheduling takes it into account.

Teammates can work together

One Teammate can coordinate Computer sessions and hand work to other Teammates. In Perplexity’s demo, an engineering Teammate fixed a password-reset crash, then passed the pull request to a QA Teammate for desktop and mobile testing.

Teammates vs Perplexity Computer

If you already use Computer, Teammates will feel familiar, because they reuse its engine. The difference is how long the agent lives and who starts the work.

New to Computer itself? My Perplexity Computer guide explains plans, credits and what typical tasks cost.

Price, Plans and Availability

At launch, Teammates are only for Perplexity Max subscribers, on the web. Here is what each plan gets, based on Perplexity’s announcement and its published plan list.

• Platforms: web now. Perplexity says iOS comes next for Max subscribers; Android and desktop apps are “coming soon”.
• Launch promo: Max users get extra Teammates usage before standard credits are drawn. Size and end date were not disclosed.
• Upgrade path: Free and Pro users can upgrade in Settings > Account > Subscription.
• Regions: Perplexity did not list any country limits in the launch post.

Note: Enterprise plans were not mentioned for Teammates. If you are on a company plan, ask your admin before assuming you have access.

How to Set Up Your First Teammate

Setup follows the steps in Perplexity’s launch post. Do it in a desktop browser, since the mobile apps do not have Teammates yet.

1. Get Max. Check your plan under Settings > Account > Subscription. Teammates do not show for Free or Pro accounts.
2. Open Teammates. Sign in on perplexity.ai and pick Teammates in the left navigation.
3. Name it after its job. A name like “Support Inbox” or “On-call API” keeps several Teammates easy to tell apart.
4. Connect only the tools it needs. Add Slack, GitHub, Gmail or other connectors. For GitHub, choose the exact repositories it may see.
5. Write the standing brief. Describe where work comes from, what to deliver, when to act and when to ask you.
6. Attach a Project. Assign it to a Computer Project so it can use your files, skills and earlier context.
7. Give it a first task. Start small, for example “summarise yesterday’s support complaints by theme”.
8. Watch the first run. Open its thread, check the output and the credit cost, and give feedback it can remember.

A brief that works

Vague briefs make agents wander, and wandering costs credits. Here is a pattern you can copy:

Role: Support triage for our Shopify store.
Source: support@ inbox (Gmail) and #support in Slack.
Every morning: summarise yesterday's complaints by theme,
draft replies for the top 5, flag anything about refunds
over $200 for me. Never send email without my approval.
Escalate in #support if a complaint mentions legal action.
Budget: stop and ask if a single run passes 300 credits.

Tip: If you already wrote Computer skills (for example an outreach style guide), mention them in the brief. Perplexity says Teammates can follow existing skills.

Using Teammates in Slack

Slack is the main way colleagues reach a Teammate. Once Slack is connected, add the Teammate to a channel. People in that channel can then assign it work or ask for a status update.

It works the other way too. A Teammate can message coworkers in Slack when it needs an approval, a clarification or a decision.

• Use a dedicated channel per Teammate, so its updates do not drown a busy team channel.
• Decide who may assign work: anyone in the channel can, so keep the channel small at first.
• Check its Slack permissions: it inherits what the connector allows, including posting rights.

Good First Jobs for a Teammate

Perplexity’s launch examples fall into five groups. These are the vendor’s own examples, not results I have tested.

A sensible first job is read-heavy and low-risk: a daily summary or a monitoring task. Give it write or send rights only once you trust its judgement.

What Teammates Cost in Credits

Teammates run on the same credit system as Computer: 100 credits = $1, and Max includes 10,000 credits a month. Perplexity has not published a separate rate for Teammates.

Computer’s published ranges give a rough feel for what each run might use:

A worked example: a daily light summary at about 200 credits is roughly 6,000 credits a month. That alone uses most of the Max allowance, so a second busy Teammate would likely need bought credits.

Warning: Always-on means always billing. A Teammate that wakes up on every new email or alert can burn credits fast. Check the cost shown in each thread after the first few runs, and put a per-run budget in the brief.

Safety, Permissions and Control

Giving an agent its own browser and your logins is a real risk, so it helps to know the controls Perplexity describes.

• Isolation: each Teammate runs in a separate environment, and its browser sessions are kept apart from other Teammates.
• Credentials: saved logins are encrypted and entered securely, per Perplexity.
• Inherited permissions: Teammates get your existing Computer tool and Project permissions. Review those before you create one.
• Live control: you can review finished work, take over its desktop, or redirect it mid-task.
• Escalation: you set when it must ask a person, and it can ask in Slack.

Independent coverage (AlphaSignal) points out the open questions: audit logs, how reliable handoffs between agents are, and whether broad inherited permissions give an agent more reach than you meant.

Tip: Make a separate, limited account for the Teammate where a service allows it (for example a Gmail delegate or a GitHub bot user). That way a bad run cannot touch everything you can.

Teammates vs OpenAI Dots vs Claude Duet vs Grok Bot

Always-on agents are this autumn’s big race. Here is how the main options compare on what each company has published.

Sources: Perplexity launch post and The Decoder (Teammates); FindSkill and Free Press Journal summaries of OpenAI’s docs (Dots); eesel AI summary of Anthropic’s help pages (Duet); TechRepublic and our Grok Bot guide (Grok Bot).

Which one should you pick?

• A team on Slack that wants several agents with roles: Teammates, if $200 a month is fine.
• Already on ChatGPT Pro: Dots are included and reach 4,000+ apps.
• A solo professional in the US on a budget: Claude Duet’s daily brief is the cheapest way in, if you get an invite.
• Phone calls to businesses: Grok Bot can call US numbers for you. See my Grok Bot phone calls guide.
• Developers who want an agent to build and host apps: a coding agent fits better. See my Cursor Live Apps guide.

Limits and What Is Still Unknown

Perplexity’s launch post is light on hard limits. These are the gaps worth knowing before you pay:

• Number of Teammates: no cap was published.
• Credit rate: no Teammate-specific pricing, and no size or end date for the launch promo.
• Connectors: only Slack, GitHub and Gmail were named; the full list comes from Computer.
• Enterprise: no word on Enterprise Pro or Enterprise Max access, admin controls or audit logs.
• Mobile: web only for now.
• Data use: Max is a consumer plan, so check the training opt-out in your account settings.

Troubleshooting

I cannot see Teammates in the left menu

Teammates need Max and the web app. Check your plan in Settings > Account > Subscription, then reload perplexity.ai in a desktop browser. The iOS and Android apps do not have it yet.

The Teammate ignores messages in Slack

Make sure the Slack connector is linked and the Teammate has been added to that specific channel. Assigning work only works from channels it is in.

It cannot see my GitHub repository

GitHub access is per repository. Open the Teammate’s tools and add the missing repo to its allowed list.

It keeps asking me to log in to a site

Each Teammate has its own cookie store, so a login in your browser or in another Teammate does not carry over. Sign in once inside that Teammate’s desktop.

My credits vanished in a few days

Look at the cost on each run in its thread. Narrow the triggers (for example “check twice a day” instead of “on every email”) and add a per-run credit cap to the brief.

My Take

Teammates are the most “work-shaped” of the always-on agents so far. Multiple named agents, handoffs between them, Slack presence and a desktop you can take over are exactly what a small team would want.

The price is the problem. At $200 a month, with a credit pool that one busy agent could largely use up, this is for teams that can measure the hours saved. Solo users will find Claude Duet or a ChatGPT Dot cheaper to try.

My advice: if you are already on Max, start with one read-only Teammate, track its credit cost for a week, then widen its rights. I will update this guide when Perplexity publishes Teammate limits, credit rates or mobile apps.

FAQ

What are Perplexity Teammates?

Teammates are always-on AI agents from Perplexity, launched on 6 November 2026. Each has a role, a standing brief and tools, and works on ongoing jobs in its own cloud desktop and browser.

How much do Perplexity Teammates cost?

They need Perplexity Max at $200 a month. Usage comes from Max’s 10,000 monthly credits, after a launch promotion whose size Perplexity has not disclosed.

Can Perplexity Pro users get Teammates?

Not at launch. Pro users would need to upgrade to Max in Settings > Account > Subscription.

Are Teammates available on iPhone or Android?

Not yet. They launched on the web first; Perplexity says iOS comes next, with Android and desktop apps to follow.

What is the difference between Teammates and Perplexity Computer?

Computer completes one task you give it. A Teammate owns an ongoing area of work, keeps its memory and environment, and acts on its own when conditions change.

Do Teammates work with Slack?

Yes. Add a Teammate to a Slack channel and colleagues can assign it work or ask for updates, and it can ask them for approvals.

Is it safe to give a Teammate my logins?

Perplexity says each Teammate is isolated and credentials are encrypted, and you can take over its desktop at any time. Still, give it the narrowest access you can and keep approvals on for sending or paying.

How are Teammates different from OpenAI Dots and Claude Duet?

Teammates support several role-based agents with handoffs and need $200 Max. Dots start on the $100 ChatGPT Pro plan with one agent, and Claude Duet is a US-only preview from $20.

Sources

• Perplexity blog: “Teammates are agents for complex, ongoing work” (6 Nov 2026)
• The Decoder: “Perplexity now has its own always-on AI agent” (6 Nov 2026)
• The Verge: “Perplexity Teammates AI agents for work” (6 Nov 2026)
• AlphaSignal: “Perplexity’s Teammates gives AI agents persistent roles and memory”
• Free Press Journal: Teammates vs OpenAI Dots and Claude Duet
• FindSkill: “OpenAI Dots explained” (plans and limits)
• eesel AI: “Claude Duet explained” (plans and limits)
• TechRepublic: Grok Bot usage limits tighten (Nov 2026)
• Freakyjolly: Perplexity Computer guide (credit ranges and plans)