There comes a time in every professional's life when they have to choose a favorite AI assistant. I didn't expect to pick a search engine.
Someone recommended Perplexity to me as a research tool. Since I'm a content writer, I spend a lot of time checking facts and tracking down references. AI-powered search with sources I could easily inspect sounded promising, and as I used it more, I kept discovering other features that helped me get work done.
Based on my experience with Perplexity, here's what it does, how it differs from a chatbot and agent harness like ChatGPT, and where it might fit into your day.
Table of contents:
What is Perplexity?
Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine designed to act like an all-in-one research assistant. Instead of working through a list of websites, you get a summarized response you can explore through follow-up questions.
Beyond search, it offers specialized research environments, access to models from different providers, and a Computer mode for completing multistep tasks.
What can you do with Perplexity?
You can treat Perplexity like a regular search engine or chatbot: ask a simple question, maybe give it a few follow-up questions, and end there. But Perplexity also has tools for learning, researching, and getting work off your plate. Here's what to know about using Perplexity.
Search for answers
Perplexity has a few different types of searches:
Standard Search is designed to return fast, basic answers, and it's available on the free plan.
Pro Search attempts to understand the specifics of your question and tailors its response to your needs. It's the default on a paid plan.
Deep Research is an advanced search that explores even more sources and does in-depth research and analysis.
I'd argue that Perplexity's most important feature is that it always provides you with a list of references it used. This is what allows it to work as an alternative to a regular search engine, because you can still dig deeper into the topic instead of just relying on the AI summary.
Learn something step by step
Sometimes an answer isn't enough. You want to understand how it works. Learn step by step is an interactive educational environment in Perplexity. It acts as a tutor and uses explanations, questions, and exercises to help you work through a topic.
For example, I asked it to help me prepare for a Spanish exam. It had me respond to questions in Spanish to test my current level of understanding, and then it helped me figure out what to learn next. The back-and-forth conversation helped create a learning path for me.
Go deeper with Model Council
Perplexity lets you choose from multiple AI models, and Model Council lets you put several to work on the same prompt. It creates a summary of their responses, including points of agreement and disagreement. It saves you from manually asking several tools the same thing.
Complete multi-step tasks with Computer
Perplexity Computer is an AI agent that can complete multistep tasks for you. I've used Computer to create financial spreadsheets and workbooks. It's saved me hours of setting up files, figuring out how everything should work, and troubleshooting. You still need to review everything, but it's nice not to start from a blank page.
Here are some features that help you use Computer:
Artifacts: A library of all files you've created, uploaded, or were shared with you, so Computer can work with them.
Connectors: Provide Computer access to supported apps and accounts, like Asana, Google Drive, and Notion. Computer can take actions without you manually moving everything between tools.
Skills: Give Computer reusable instructions for specific tasks. Instead of explaining the same process each time, you can set up a Skill to guide how it approaches the work.
Explore the Apps menu
The Apps menu gives you more focused research environments. You might not need all of them, but it's worth knowing what's there:
Discover: Browse stories across technology, finance, entertainment, and other topics. You can tailor it to present subjects aligned with your interests.
Finance: See what's happening in markets and review stock activity. You can even track politicians' trades.
Personal CFO: Connect your financial accounts to get a real-time look at your portfolio, spending trends, and debt repayment.
Health: Connect supported health records and services to explore your information in one place.
Academic: Focus your search on scholarly resources.
Patents: Search patent information and follow references to the documents.
Get browser assistance with Comet
Comet is a browser with Perplexity assistance built in. The assistant can work with the page you're viewing and reference other open tabs.
For example, open a few product pages and ask it to compare the specifications across those tabs. Or ask it to explain an unfamiliar term in the article you're reading. There's less copying information into a separate conversation, which is handy when your research already has you juggling tabs.
Schedule recurring work with Automations
Automations gives Computer an ongoing assignment. You might schedule a Monday briefing on the latest industry news, specifying the topics, sources, and changes you care about. Computer can use connected tools and context from earlier runs to create the brief.
Keep the assignment focused so you get something useful rather than another wall of text. And watch usage: Computer consumes credits. Each scheduled run uses credits, so check the cost before letting it repeat.
How is Perplexity different from ChatGPT?
Perplexity and ChatGPT are AI-powered conversation tools. You enter a prompt, and they return with answers and citations. For me, the difference is how well Perplexity fits into my research workflow.
Part of my job as a content writer is to cite my sources and fact-check every claim. I need to check the original reference and also find it again later.
Perplexity displays a side panel that shows the sources it referenced. It's convenient for fact-checking as you work, which is essential to combat AI hallucinations. As I ask follow-up questions, the panel gets updated with additional sources. I can also highlight a sentence in the output and click "Check sources" to inspect the references behind it.
The model selection is another perk of Perplexity. Rather than choosing only from OpenAI's model lineup, Perplexity lets you try models from different providers, including Anthropic and Google. Model Council goes further, asking multiple models the same question and synthesizing their responses. It's useful—and honestly, a little fun—to explore their different approaches and see where they agree and disagree.
Overall, I'd consider Perplexity when research and fact-checking are an important part of your tasks.
Which Perplexity model should you use?
You don't need to audition every model before asking a question. Start simple, then experiment when you have a reason to.
My recommendation is to leave it on Best for everyday questions. In this mode, Perplexity automatically selects a suitable model for your request. You can choose which AI model to use when you want more control.
Paid users can manually select an AI model, and the lineup includes state-of-the-art models from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, SpaceXSI, Moonshot AI, Z.ai, and more.
It may take some trial and error to find the model that you prefer. You can experiment and try the same task with different models, which can give you insights on what would work best for your workflows. Compare how clearly they explain things, follow your instructions, and organize the answer. Or you could use the Model Council to compare multiple perspectives.
Perplexity AI pricing
Perplexity is available through the web app, mobile apps, and the Comet browser. Businesses can get Enterprise plans for high usage, but the Individual plans work just fine for everyday use.
Here's a look at the Individual plans:
Standard searches are free, and you don't even have to create an account to use it. You also get limited access to more powerful features.
Perplexity Pro costs $17/month (billed annually). You receive access to advanced AI models, including the ability to select a preferred model. You can also use Perplexity Computer and premium data sources.
Perplexity Max costs $167/month (billed annually). It's heavy-duty and gives you higher limits on usage every month. Max also has advanced reasoning models for deep investigations and large datasets.
Automate Perplexity with Zapier
Computer already handles some recurring and app-triggered work, but if you want to add Perplexity to your broader workflows, Zapier lets you securely access 9,000+ apps directly from your chat.
Pro, Max, and Enterprise subscribers can add Zapier MCP as a custom connector. Then you can ask Perplexity to act in your other apps from the same conversation, like sending your research to a Google Doc and sharing it in Slack. Zapier manages the connection to each app, and you choose which actions Perplexity is allowed to take. Once a request becomes something you do regularly, Perplexity can build it as a Zap—an automated workflow—so it runs without you even opening a chat.
Build automations from wherever you work. Describe the outcome you want, and Zapier connects your tools, runs the steps, and stays on the job after you close the chat. Combine AI with reliable, deterministic automation across 9,000+ apps. Get started for free.
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This article was originally published in April 2024 by Harry Guinness. The most recent update was in October 2026.
