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Perplexity AI vs Hugging Face: The Privacy & Security Dilemma

Explore how US-based Perplexity AI and France's Hugging Face address data privacy and security concerns. Discover which aligns with your values.

Last updated: February 1, 2026โ€ขReviewed by Built in EU Team

Should You Switch to Hugging Face?

What You Gain

Enhanced privacy protection and compliance with EU regulations.

Privacy advantage
Trade-offs

Users may lose advanced features and capabilities.

Perplexity AI has more features
Bottom Line

Switch if privacy is your priority; stay with Perplexity for features.

At a Glance

Data Location
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธUS

US data laws

๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ทFR

GDPR protected

Pricing

Perplexity AI

freemium

Hugging Face

freemium

Migration
Medium difficulty~1-2 days

Privacy & Compliance Comparison

Critical data sovereignty factors at a glance

CriteriaPerplexity AIHugging Face
Server Location
UnknownEU
GDPR Compliance
UnknownFull
Open Source
E2E Encryption
UnknownUnknown
Data Portability
UnknownUnknown

CLOUD Act Notice

Perplexity AI is a US company and must comply with CLOUD Act data requests, even for data stored in EU data centers. Hugging Face is not subject to US jurisdiction.

Switching from
Perplexity AI logo

Perplexity AI

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

Perplexity AI

VS
Switching to
Hugging Face logo

Hugging Face

๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท

Hugging Face

US Data Storage

Data subject to US CLOUD Act and may be accessed by US authorities

EU Data Protection

Data protected under GDPR with EU-only data residency

Certifications & Compliance

No certifications listed

Open Source
GDPR Compliant
EU-Based

Reasons to Switch

  • โœ“Hugging Face is fully GDPR compliant, ensuring EU data protection.
  • โœ“Open source allows for customization and community-driven improvements.
  • โœ“EU-based servers enhance data sovereignty for European users.
  • โœ“Access to a wide range of pre-trained models for diverse tasks.

Things to Consider

  • !Migrating data and workflows may require significant effort and time.
  • !Learning curve for using Hugging Face's API compared to Perplexity AI.
  • !Some features in Perplexity AI may not have direct equivalents in Hugging Face.
Migration difficulty:
Medium
~1-2 days

Migration Overview

Full guide
Difficulty
Medium
Time Estimate
~1-2 days

Depends on data size and complexity

Quick Steps

1

Create Hugging Face account and configure settings

2

Export and prepare data from Perplexity AI

3

Import data, test integrations, and migrate users

Note: Hugging Face offers a vast repository of models and tools, which could be leveraged for similar use cases as Perplexity AI. However, the open-source nature requires careful selection and integration of models.

Other alternatives to Perplexity AI

Ready to make the switch?

Start using Hugging Face today and take control of your data privacy.