Used For

• +**You're researching competitors and need real customer reviews** → Gets actual Reddit threads and forums instead of promotional fluff, saves 2 hours of tab-hopping
• +**Your AI chatbot keeps giving outdated information from 2023** → Perplexity searches today's web, so you get current info with sources to back it up
• +**You're analyzing 50 pages of customer feedback manually** → Upload the files and get a summary in 5 minutes instead of spending your afternoon reading
• +Focus modes let you search only Reddit, YouTube, or academic papers - no wading through spam results
• +Pro Search asks follow-up questions when your query is vague, then digs deeper automatically

Best For

• >You're tired of opening 15 browser tabs just to answer one question
• >Your boss needs a quick fact check and you don't have 2 hours to research
• >You need real sources for your work instead of AI making stuff up

Not For

• -Heavy researchers who need more than 5 deep searches every 4 hours on the free plan - you'll hit limits fast
• -Teams that work offline or need local data - this is cloud-only and needs internet for everything
• -Anyone wanting a full research platform - it's great for quick answers but won't replace your entire workflow

Pairs With

• *Notion (where you paste Perplexity's research summaries instead of bookmarking 20 articles)
• *Slack (where you drop quick fact-checks instead of saying 'let me get back to you on that')
• *Google Drive (Pro users can upload docs directly for analysis instead of reading everything)
• *Email (where you export research as PDFs to send polished summaries to stakeholders)
• *Chrome (running alongside your regular tabs because some things still need good old Google)

The Catch

• !The free tier's 5 Pro Searches reset every 4 hours, not daily - hit your limit mid-research and you're waiting or upgrading
• !It's amazing for facts but still struggles with complex, nuanced queries that need human judgment
• !You'll find yourself using it for everything and wondering how you ever lived with regular Google

Bottom Line

ChatGPT that doesn't hallucinate because it actually searches the web and shows its sources.