Perplexity has launched a powerful new AI email assistant exclusively for Max subscribers, aiming to fully automate inbox tasks like drafting replies, scheduling meetings, and organizing emails in Gmail and Outlook.
Quick Summary – TLDR
- Perplexity’s new Email Assistant is an AI agent that automates inbox management for Gmail and Outlook users.
- The assistant handles scheduling, replying in your tone, labeling, and daily prioritization.
- Only available to Max subscribers, which costs $200 per month, positioning it for enterprise users.
- Perplexity ensures SOC 2 and GDPR compliance, with strong privacy promises and no data used for model training.
What Happened?
Perplexity introduced its Email Assistant feature this week, available only to Max plan subscribers. The assistant works within Gmail and Outlook to read availability, propose meeting times, send invites, prioritize emails, and even draft personalized responses that match the user’s writing tone. By simply CC’ing the assistant on an email thread, users can delegate scheduling and inbox triage entirely.
Introducing Perplexity Email Assistant.
— Perplexity (@perplexity_ai) September 22, 2025
Now anyone can have a personal assistant in their email that schedules meetings, drafts replies, and labels priorities.
Perplexity Email Assistant is now available on Gmail and Outlook for all Perplexity Max subscribers. pic.twitter.com/WbUbK4YAf0
Smart Agent for Smarter Workflows
Perplexity’s Email Assistant is built for professionals buried in emails, especially those managing complex scheduling or multiple conversations across teams. The assistant acts like a virtual helper, capable of:
- Reading your calendar and checking availability
- Proposing meeting times and sending out calendar invites
- Auto-labeling emails by importance or urgency
- Summarizing daily priorities and surfacing messages that need replies
- Drafting email responses that sound like the user
Setup is straightforward. Users connect Gmail or Outlook using Perplexity’s native connectors. Once activated, they can simply send or CC assistant@perplexity.com on any email thread to start automating replies or meeting arrangements.
Perplexity Email Assistant automatically organizes your emails, allowing you to focus on what matters most. pic.twitter.com/RAwcrCtVQg
— Perplexity (@perplexity_ai) September 22, 2025
Max-Only Access and Enterprise Focus
The Email Assistant is exclusive to Perplexity’s Max plan, which costs $200 per month or $2,000 annually. This pricing reflects the company’s shift toward enterprise customers, rather than casual users. That price point is 40 times higher than Perplexity’s standard Pro plan.
Perplexity’s CEO previously emphasized that these AI tools are meant to automate time-consuming jobs, specifically citing recruiters and administrative assistants as key user groups. The Email Assistant follows this vision closely by removing the need for back-and-forth scheduling and repetitive email writing.
Privacy Commitments and Security Posture
Perplexity highlights its enterprise-grade security, stating that it is SOC 2 and GDPR compliant. The company is transparent about its handling of sensitive data:
- Emails are never used to train models
- All communications are encrypted during transmission and storage
- Permissions are clearly disclosed, including calendar access and email sending
Still, some users have expressed concerns about granting an AI agent extensive access to their inbox and calendar. These concerns are not uncommon in enterprise environments, especially where regulatory or legal boundaries apply.
Competitive Landscape and Industry Context
The Email Assistant enters a crowded field, going up against Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot features in Gmail and Outlook respectively. However, Perplexity sets itself apart by offering agentic automation, meaning the assistant takes over entire tasks rather than offering passive suggestions.
This launch follows the introduction of Comet, Perplexity’s AI browser released earlier this year, and expands on the startup’s broader goal of building autonomous AI agents to handle complex workflows. The company is clearly betting that AI will not just support productivity tools, but replace many of the manual tasks those tools handle.
Mixed Reception and Real-World Performance
User feedback has been split. Some praised the premium positioning and power of the assistant, with one user on X stating, “Email is still the number one place knowledge workers lose time.” Another applauded the company for not offering the tool at a loss to harvest user data.
However, others voiced frustration at the Max-only model. Many Pro users felt excluded and questioned whether the high price tag would really increase adoption. Some noted that AI assistants, while helpful for simple tasks, still struggle with complex multi-step processes or may hallucinate incorrect details.
SQ Magazine Takeaway
Honestly, this is a pretty exciting step for email productivity. I’ve seen so many tools that promise to save time, but this one actually handles the full cycle. Checking availability, replying in your voice, and keeping your inbox organized. That said, the $200 monthly cost is no joke. It clearly targets businesses and high-intensity email users. If you’re someone who spends hours in your inbox daily, this might just change your workflow forever. For everyone else, it may still feel like overkill. Either way, it shows just how far AI agents have come in reshaping real work, not just chat responses.
