Perplexity

Perplexity is an AI search and research assistant. Instead of returning a list of links, it reads the web for you and writes a direct answer with inline citations showing exactly where each claim came from. That single design choice — every answer is sourced — is why it has become the default research tool for writers, students, analysts and anyone who needs to check facts rather than just generate text.

It sits between a search engine and a chatbot. You ask a question in plain language, Perplexity runs searches, reads the sources and summarises them, and you can follow up conversationally while it keeps the context. Under the hood it orchestrates several leading models — including OpenAI's ChatGPT models, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude and NVIDIA Nemotron — and picks one per query, or lets paid users choose.

Over the past year Perplexity has grown well beyond search. Deep Research produces long, multi-source reports; Perplexity Computer is an agent that carries out multi-step work and produces documents, presentations, spreadsheets and simple web apps; and Comet is a free Chromium-based browser with an AI assistant built into every tab.

How Perplexity works

A typical research workflow is:

1. Ask a question in plain language — "what changed in UK employment law this year" rather than keywords.
2. Read the answer and check the numbered citations against the original sources.
3. Ask follow-ups; Perplexity keeps the thread's context.
4. Switch to Deep Research for a longer, structured report on a complex topic.
5. Save related threads and files into a Space so the research stays organised.
6. Hand the findings to Computer to turn them into a document, deck or spreadsheet — or export to PDF or DOCX.

Key capabilities

Cited answers — Every answer includes inline citations to the sources it used, so you can verify claims instead of trusting them blindly.

Model choice — Perplexity selects the best model per query; Pro and Max subscribers can pick a preferred model, and Max adds advanced reasoning models for deep investigations.

Deep Research — Multi-step research that reads many sources and returns a long, organised report. Limited on Free, with higher limits on Pro and the highest on Max.

Premium data sources — Pro and Max add finance and market data from sources including PitchBook, Statista and S&P Capital IQ, useful for market research and competitive analysis.

Perplexity Computer — An agent that does multi-step work: research, then create documents, presentations, spreadsheets, PDFs or web apps. It drafts in Markdown and exports to PDF or DOCX, supports inline edits on anything it created, and can run scheduled tasks. It runs on credits.

Comet browser — A free Chromium-based browser for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android with an assistant on every tab that can summarise pages, answer questions about what you're reading and carry out browsing tasks. It supports most Chrome extensions and has built-in ad blocking.

Spaces — Project folders for threads, files and instructions, so ongoing research keeps its context.

Model Council — Runs a question across multiple models to compare their answers; limited on Pro, with more runs on Max.

Discover, Finance, Shopping and Travel — Topic hubs for news, market data, price comparison and trip research.

Brain (research preview, Max) — A self-improving memory that builds a working model of your projects, people and files so Computer can act on earlier work.

Perplexity plans explained

Free covers everyday questions with cited answers on basic models, with limited daily usage and only a small allowance of the more advanced searches.

Pro is the plan most regular users need. It costs $20 a month, or $200 a year (about $17 a month), and raises every limit: top models with a model picker, Deep Research, Create files and apps, premium data sources and Model Council. Pro has no monthly credit allowance; instead, paid Pro plans include weekly Computer usage that doesn't roll over and is still rolling out, plus a one-time bonus of 4,000 credits that expires after about 30 days.

Max costs $200 a month or $2,000 a year (about $167 a month). It adds frontier and advanced reasoning models, the highest usage limits, 10,000 Computer credits every month, a one-time 35,000-credit bonus, Brain and Max Assistant in Comet. It's built for people running heavy research or agent work every day.

Education Pro gives verified students and educators everything in Pro for $10 a month. Enterprise Pro ($40 per seat a month) and Enterprise Max ($325 per seat a month) add organisational controls and monthly per-seat credits. API usage is billed separately from every plan.

Who Perplexity is for

Writers and content marketers — research a topic, collect sources and fact-check claims before drafting.

Students — understand a subject with sources to follow up, and Education Pro at $10 a month.

Analysts and founders — market and competitor research, with premium data sources on paid plans.

Anyone replacing traditional search — direct answers instead of ten blue links, with the links still there to check.

Getting the most out of Perplexity

Ask full questions, not keywords — it answers questions better than it matches search terms.

Always open the citations for anything important; the answer is only as good as its sources.

Use Spaces for ongoing projects so instructions and files carry over between threads.

Save Deep Research for genuinely complex questions; quick questions are faster in standard search.

Watch credits when using Computer on large tasks — the live counter shows what a task is costing as it runs.