FedRAMP grants first ‘Class C’ certification to Perplexity

FedRAMP granted its first "Class C" certification under its 20x revamp to Perplexity, making the company's Enterprise platform the first cloud service offering fully compliant with the new moderate-impact rules, FedRAMP announced in a Nov. 2 blog post. The certification lets federal agencies search the live web and get cited answers inside Perplexity's certified environment, and gives agency users access to frontier models including OpenAI GPT, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini and Perplexity Sonar. Agencies can obtain Enterprise Pro for Government through the General Services Administration's OneGov offer for $0.25 per agency through March 31, 2027; FedRAMP currently lists seven Class A, 12 Class B (still in pilot) and no Class D certifications.

FedRAMP grants first ‘Class C’ certification to Perplexity The new FedRAMP certification gives federal agencies access to Perplexity models, as well as leading frontier AI models. FedRAMP has granted its first “Class C” certification to artificial intelligence company Perplexity, making it the first cloud service offering that is fully compliant with FedRAMP 20x’s new rules for moderate impact. FedRAMP launched https://www.nextgov.com/modernization/2025/03/gsa-launches-fedramp-revamp/404004/ its 20x revamp effort in March 2025, and later released its consolidated rules https://www.fedramp.gov/2026/ in June 2026 that officially implemented many of the proposed changes piloted over the previous year. The rules established the new “Class C” certification, which serves as the equivalent of FedRAMP’s old “moderate” level. The rules also introduced the FedRAMP 20x Class A certification, as well as Class B and Class D certification. According to the FedRAMP Marketplace https://www.fedramp.gov/marketplace/products/?view=cards , there are currently seven Class A certifications, which serve as a new level to accelerate entry into the marketplace. There are 12 Class B certifications still in the 20x pilot phase, which serve as the equivalent of FedRAMP’s old “low” level. There are no Class D certifications yet. In a Nov. 2 blog post https://www.fedramp.gov/2026-11-02-memo-to-milestone/ , FedRAMP said the first Class C certification “marks the actual beginning of the race to expand the marketplace to enable federal agencies to work with many thousands of different cloud-based services that accelerate key agency operations to reduce the footprint of the information technology infrastructure that they directly manage.” “It took a ton of work to get here, and a ton of collaboration with inspired stakeholders both government and industry-wide,” FedRAMP said. “Everything up until now has been development, piloting, training, preparing.” In a blog post https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/new-fedramp-certification-brings-perplexity-to-more-government-workflows from Perplexity, the company said the new FedRAMP certification means federal agencies can search the live web and get cited answers within its certified environment. It added that federal employees can also use Perplexity to summarize approved documents, draft briefing notes and outline policy updates. Federal agencies can access Enterprise Pro for Government through the General Services Administration’s OneGov offer https://www.nextgov.com/acquisition/2025/11/gsa-perplexity-ink-first-direct-government-onegov-deal/409620/ for $0.25 per agency through March 31, 2027. The offering provides agencies access to models developed by Perplexity and third-party model developers. According to the company’s new FedRAMP certification https://www.fedramp.gov/marketplace/products/FR2604643715/ , Perplexity’s Enterprise platform provides agency users with access to leading frontier AI models, “including OpenAI GPT, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Perplexity Sonar and more.”