I use perplexity, but I also use Google's deep search, and OAI's deep search, and Grok's deep search, and other models like DeepSeek, Llama or Gemini 2.5 with websearch enabled. All of them have different pros and cons that determine best fit for different use cases, and they all share the problem of hallucinating sources that don't exist.
No doubt, search in general is changing, but Perplexity doesn't have any great advantage over alternatives in this, and it certainly doesn't have the potential for any kind of moat that might be accessible to Google.
At this point, none of them are replacements for having good research skills, and trusting in them without taking time to dig deeper and dyor is taking a substantial risk for the credibility of any knowledge worker whose value is in providing analysis based on sound reasoning.
Collections are a must-have. I don’t know why others haven’t implemented them yet. It remains a pain to find back an old discussion, almost like searching in WhatsApp...
If we consider 'the context' as the context of the pain point—being overwhelmed by too much noise from a feed or discussion—collections in Instagram, X, or even Pinterest should be considered.
Even Slack has a bookmark feature to facilitate finding back important messages, though it is not yet organized into collections.
Thanks for the post and some clarifying comments here.. Im used to copilot, when I use perplexity sometimes I appreciate that it avoids this conversational feel going more straight to the answer but other times I feel like they need to redesign the frontend of the results like more minimalistic
I know totally how you feel AC, I find the interface of both Perplexity and ChatGPT extremely bloated and confusing now. I wish too that it was more minimalistic. It’s one of the reasons I am using Genspark more for certain kinds of summarization tasks.
There are certainly many valid alternatives to Perplexity. The citation quality can be poor and the way it attributes citations and data from sources is full of hallucinations at times. Given those errors for me, it's hard to warrant a significant subscription.
Liner for me wouldn't work for me personally, it's way too slow.
I've used Perplexity for months. It's excellent. I can build a library of my searches and can easily expand my queries on a subject to deepen my knowledge. With no ads or sponsors, it's easy to use, effective and efficient.
I use perplexity, but I also use Google's deep search, and OAI's deep search, and Grok's deep search, and other models like DeepSeek, Llama or Gemini 2.5 with websearch enabled. All of them have different pros and cons that determine best fit for different use cases, and they all share the problem of hallucinating sources that don't exist.
No doubt, search in general is changing, but Perplexity doesn't have any great advantage over alternatives in this, and it certainly doesn't have the potential for any kind of moat that might be accessible to Google.
At this point, none of them are replacements for having good research skills, and trusting in them without taking time to dig deeper and dyor is taking a substantial risk for the credibility of any knowledge worker whose value is in providing analysis based on sound reasoning.
Perplexity has been my search engine of choice the last two months.
Perplexity has been my search engine of choice the last two months.
Collections are a must-have. I don’t know why others haven’t implemented them yet. It remains a pain to find back an old discussion, almost like searching in WhatsApp...
That’s a really good idea actually! Being able to save, bookmark and tag research and searches is so important.
What is a good example of a product that has implemented collections in this context?
If we consider 'the context' as the context of the pain point—being overwhelmed by too much noise from a feed or discussion—collections in Instagram, X, or even Pinterest should be considered.
Even Slack has a bookmark feature to facilitate finding back important messages, though it is not yet organized into collections.
Closed to what we discuss, OpenAI released Canevas to help user keep note of their ai discussions.
Thanks for the post and some clarifying comments here.. Im used to copilot, when I use perplexity sometimes I appreciate that it avoids this conversational feel going more straight to the answer but other times I feel like they need to redesign the frontend of the results like more minimalistic
I know totally how you feel AC, I find the interface of both Perplexity and ChatGPT extremely bloated and confusing now. I wish too that it was more minimalistic. It’s one of the reasons I am using Genspark more for certain kinds of summarization tasks.
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Amazing work ! Let’s connect 🚀
One of the biggest challenges I’ve seen with perplexity is that it many times gives incorrect citations or summaries especially in research contexts.
I’ve found GetLiner as a better source for research work.
There are certainly many valid alternatives to Perplexity. The citation quality can be poor and the way it attributes citations and data from sources is full of hallucinations at times. Given those errors for me, it's hard to warrant a significant subscription.
Liner for me wouldn't work for me personally, it's way too slow.
This is the future of search!
Have you tried A/B testing against Google’s new Gemini Advanced?
Amazing post! I'm eager to use it more!
Great article with lots of insights. Perplexity is great. If you go deeper and use API you can build great applications.
Alex, have you used Perplexity’s API yet? I’m really excited to try it!
I use perplexity API for one of my projects. It's working great
I've used Perplexity for months. It's excellent. I can build a library of my searches and can easily expand my queries on a subject to deepen my knowledge. With no ads or sponsors, it's easy to use, effective and efficient.
Perplexity is part of my daily work.
I love this tool.
Great for general search but be careful about giving it access to personal/corporate data you wish to keep private.
Nice article
Yes this guest author is back on Substack now, tons of guides on his Newsletter.