Perplexity’s Airtel Giveaway in India: Millions of Users, but Can They Convert?

Perplexity’s decision to give away a year of its premium AI service to Airtel customers in India resulted in a massive surge in downloads and usage, but the real test of the strategy is now unfolding as free subscriptions expire and the company seeks to convert users into paying customers.

How the Airtel Partnership Transformed Perplexity’s Presence in India

In July 2025, Perplexity partnered with Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, to offer a free 12-month Perplexity Pro subscription—normally worth about $200—to the carrier’s 360 million customers. The offer was available for new redemptions until January 16, 2026, and the earliest users began reaching the end of their free access in July 2026, with auto-renewal defaulting to paid unless users opted out.

The impact was immediate. According to data from Sensor Tower shared with Bitcoin World, Perplexity saw 5.9 million app downloads in India in July 2025, a 625% increase from the previous month and more than the 5.4 million downloads it had accumulated in the entire first half of 2025. This momentum continued, with Perplexity recording 56 million downloads during the seven months the offer was available—more than nine times the preceding seven-month period. Monthly active users (MAUs) more than doubled to 8.9 million in July 2025 and peaked at 22 million in October.

What Happened After the Free Access Ended?

Once the window to claim the free Airtel subscription closed in January, downloads fell sharply. Sensor Tower estimates Perplexity was downloaded just 3.3 million times in India between February and July 2026, down more than 90% from the preceding six months. However, the user base did not evaporate. MAUs stood at nearly 14 million in July 2026—down 37% from the peak but still more than five times the average of about 2.6 million monthly users in the first half of 2025.

“While the time-sensitive nature of this promotion would naturally lead to a decline in adoption after the offer period, ongoing usage has remained resilient,” said Abe Yousef, senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower. He noted that Perplexity now has “significantly more users” in India than before the promotion.

Revenue Growth Despite Download Decline

More notably, Perplexity’s in-app purchase and subscription revenue in India rose about 60% between February and mid-August 2026 compared to the period when the Airtel offer was available, even as downloads declined. This trend continued even as the earliest Airtel users started losing free access. From around July 18 through August 12, 2026, Perplexity’s average daily in-app purchase revenue in India was 9% higher than the preceding 30 days and 27% above the average for the first half of 2026.

Appfigures, another app intelligence firm, also observed a dramatic change in Perplexity’s trajectory. “I compared Perplexity’s downloads to ChatGPT and Claude to ensure it wasn’t more appetite for AI, and it wasn’t,” said Ariel Michaeli, co-founder and CEO of Appfigures. Perplexity’s daily downloads in India jumped from about 11,200 before the offer to nearly 223,000 during the first week, peaking at about 305,000 per day between mid-September and mid-October. In contrast, ChatGPT and Claude downloads remained broadly stable.

Appfigures estimates Perplexity’s monthly net mobile revenue in India grew from about $34,000 in January 2025 to $70,000 in December 2025 and reached $156,000 in July 2026. The company generated an estimated $878,000 in India in the first seven months of 2026, up 16% from all of 2025.

Why This Matters for the AI Industry

Perplexity’s experiment is being closely watched because it is one of the first large-scale tests of whether bundling premium AI with telecom services can create lasting paying users. OpenAI followed with a similar offer in August 2025, making its ChatGPT Go plan free for a year in India, and Google partnered with Reliance Jio to offer its AI Pro subscription free for 18 months to eligible users.

India is the world’s largest market for generative AI app downloads, but monetization remains challenging. AI companies have been willing to subsidize access to build scale and habit, hoping to convert users into paying customers. Perplexity’s early data suggests that some users may be willing to pay after experiencing the premium service, but it is not yet clear how many are actively choosing to pay versus being charged by default due to auto-renewal.

Sensor Tower cannot distinguish between users who intentionally subscribed and those who failed to cancel in time. Appfigures also cautions that the increased revenue may partly stem from the promotion’s visibility attracting paying users who were never part of the giveaway.

Conclusion

Perplexity’s Airtel partnership succeeded in dramatically expanding its user base in India, but the long-term value of that growth remains uncertain. As later cohorts of Airtel users reach their renewal dates in the coming months, the data will reveal whether the company can convert free users into sustainable revenue. For now, the experiment offers an early, mixed signal: usage remains high, but the path to monetization in a price-sensitive market is still being tested.

FAQs

Q1: What was the Perplexity-Airtel deal?
In July 2025, Perplexity partnered with Airtel to offer a free 12-month Perplexity Pro subscription to Airtel’s 360 million customers in India. The offer was available for new redemptions until January 16, 2026.

Q2: Did Perplexity retain users after the free period ended?
Yes, monthly active users in India remained at nearly 14 million in July 2026, down from a peak of 22 million but still five times higher than pre-promotion levels. However, downloads fell sharply after the offer closed.

Q3: Is Perplexity making money from these users?
Revenue from in-app purchases and subscriptions in India increased by about 60% after the offer period, but it is unclear how much comes from intentional conversions versus auto-renewal charges. The data cannot yet distinguish between the two.