Last updated: 2026-10-02
Komo AI is an AI search engine at komo.ai that answers questions with inline citations from the web and can also look for people to ask. It offers 2 search types and is free to use with a daily credit allowance, while paid plans add deep research, premium models and much larger monthly credit grants.
About Komo AI
Komo (AI Search), a company founded in 2022, runs Komo AI as a cited-answer search engine on komo.ai. You type a question, choose Web or People, and get one answer assembled from several sources with inline citations, closer to a short research brief than a page of links. It sits in the AI search and discovery category alongside Perplexity AI, Genspark and Andi.
Komo now meters every plan in a single credit currency. Free accounts receive a daily grant and run on Komo Fast plus budget models; paid accounts receive a monthly grant, get deep research and the premium models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and xAI, and can stack top-up packs that never expire. Searching requires a signed-in account on every plan, including the free one.
The People mode, which Komo promotes as Firsthand, takes a different route from ordinary AI search: instead of summarising pages, it tries to find the right people to ask for questions a model cannot answer from the web. Shared answers are published as public links under komo.ai/share, which is also where Komo hosts its own example searches.
The same company runs a separate sales product, documented at docs.komo.ai and described there as an AI Revenue Engine, with Playbooks, Signal Agents and CRM enrichment. It has its own 7-day trial and is not part of the search plans covered on this page, so check which product a review or price list is describing.
Where the alternative wins: Perplexity AI prices its paid plans within a few dollars of Komo's, ships native phone apps, and bundles an agent that builds documents and apps, none of which Komo lists. If you need search across your own company files rather than the open web, Glean is the better fit. For peer-reviewed papers alone, Consensus is narrower but deeper, and developers who want search results through an API should look at Exa instead.
Pricing
Komo meters every plan in credits. Free: $0 with a daily credit grant, Komo Fast and budget models, no card. Komo Pro: $20/month, or $17/month billed annually, with 2,000 monthly credits, premium models, deep research and people search.
Komo Max: $200/month, or $170/month billed annually, with 25,000 monthly credits and the highest parallel-run limits. Paid plans can add non-expiring top-ups: 500 credits for $5 or 2,500 for $20. No enterprise tier is listed.
Prices from komo.ai/pricing, checked 2 October 2026; compare Perplexity AI.
| Tier | Monthly price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 25 credits every day, Komo Fast and budget models, All focus modes, Search history |
| Komo Pro | $20/mo | 2,000 monthly credits, Premium models: GPT-5.6, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Deep research, People search, Non-expiring credit top-ups |
| Komo Max | $200/mo | 25,000 monthly credits, Highest parallel-run limits, Priority access to new features, Everything in Komo Pro |
Key Features
- Cited answers: Each answer pulls from several web sources and cites them inline, so any claim can be checked against its page in one click.
- Web and People search: The home screen offers 2 search types: Web for cited answers, and People, which looks for someone who can answer what the web cannot.
- Deep research: A longer multi-source research run that needs Komo Pro or Max; free accounts cannot run it.
- Premium model choice: Komo Pro opens 4 premium model families from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and xAI, while free accounts use Komo Fast.
- One credit balance: All usage draws from a single balance of 2,000 credits a month on Pro or 25,000 on Max, topped up with packs that never expire.
- Shareable answers: Any answer can be published as a public link under komo.ai/share, the same format Komo uses for its own example searches.
Pros
- Free plan is usable every day without a card, which makes it easy to judge before paying
- Paid plans cost about the same as Perplexity's, so trying Komo carries little price risk
- A single credit balance is simpler to budget than separate caps per feature
- Model choice on Pro lets you check one question against several frontier models
Cons
- Deep research, people search and premium models all need Komo Pro
- No native iOS or Android app is listed, so phone use means the web app
- The pricing page does not say how many credits each search type costs, so it is hard to predict how far the free daily credits go
- komo.ai publishes no trust or security page, so compliance cannot be checked before buying
- Shares a name with Komo's own sales product and with the unrelated Kommo CRM, which muddles search results and reviews
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do Komo Pro and Komo Max cost per month?
Komo AI costs $0 on Free, $20 a month for Komo Pro and $200 a month for Komo Max, according to komo.ai/pricing on 2 October 2026. Paying yearly brings Pro to $17 and Max to $170 a month, a 15% saving. Extra credits come in packs of 500 for $5 or 2,500 for $20 and do not expire. No enterprise plan is published.
What do you get on Komo AI's free tier?
Yes, Komo AI is free: the Free plan grants 25 credits every day with no card, though you must sign in before searching. It runs on Komo Fast and budget models and keeps all focus modes plus search history. Deep research, people search and premium models such as GPT-5.6, Claude, Gemini and Grok are reserved for Komo Pro.
What should you use instead of Komo AI?
Perplexity AI is the closest alternative, with almost identical paid pricing and native phone apps. Glean suits teams that need search across their own company tools rather than the open web. Consensus is narrower and covers only peer-reviewed research, while Exa fits developers who want search results delivered through an API.
Komo AI or Perplexity: which should you pick?
Pick Komo AI if a free daily credit grant and a people-search mode matter most; pick Perplexity if you want phone apps and an agent that builds documents and apps. Price barely separates them: on annual billing Komo Pro is $17 a month against Perplexity Pro at $17, and Komo Max is $170 against Perplexity Max at $167, per both vendors' pricing pages on 2 October 2026.
How do you start using Komo AI without paying?
Create a free account at komo.ai, because every search requires sign-in, then choose Web or People and ask your question; no card is needed. If the daily credits run out often, Komo Pro is the next step and adds deep research. Top-up packs stack on a paid plan's monthly grant rather than replacing it.
Top Alternatives
- Perplexity AI: Perplexity and Komo AI charge almost the same for paid plans; Perplexity adds phone apps and a document-building agent, while Komo answers with a no-cost daily allowance and its People mode.
- Glean: Glean searches a company's own permissioned apps; Komo AI searches the open web, so the two solve different problems for different buyers.
- Consensus: Consensus is limited to peer-reviewed literature; Komo AI answers general web questions on any topic and leaves academic depth to specialists.
Hokai guides covering Komo AI
- Andi Search Is Free for the Third Year Running. That's Not Entirely Reassuring.: Andi Search won its third straight PCMag award for staying completely free. Three years after promising a paid tier, here is what that bet means for you.
Also mentioned in
- Best AI for Writing Research Papers in 2026: Find, Read, Then Draft: Best AI for writing research papers: Consensus and Gemini Notebook find and read sources while you write the argument. Prices and rules, checked 20 Oct 2026.
- Best AI Search Engines in 2026: 6 Free Alternatives to Google: Which AI search engines are free in 2026? Perplexity, Bing Copilot, Komo, Andi, Consensus and Lens compared on free limits and prices, read 30 Oct 2026.
- Best AI Search Tools for Work in 2026: Company Search and Agent Search APIs: Glean searches a company's own Slack and Drive. Firecrawl, Tavily and Exa give AI agents a search API. How to pick workplace and developer AI search in 2026.