Perplexity
AI-powered answer engine that searches the web and cites its sources.
Liked as a Google replacement that shows its sources123 and handles niche or quick queries well.45 The most common complaint is that answer quality has declined over time,6789 with citations that often don't match the text.1011
Why people recommend it
Search replacement · 3
Several commenters say it replaced Google for most non-trivial queries.
“It has replaced Google for all but the most trivial queries.”
“Perplexity AI made searching online fun again”
Show 1 more
“Of course OpenAI, Perplexity and others later implemented that properly”
Source citations · 2
Commenters value that it shows the sources behind its answers so they can check them.
“Perplexity AI made searching online fun again”
“So, after paying them upwards of $400-$500 and being a loyal customer, I walked.”
Fast answers · 2
Commenters use it for small, fast queries and found it quick.
“I've been using Perplexity for small, fast queries almost exclusively for the last year or so.”
“it seems like it gets worse and worse instead.”
Multiple models · 2
Pro users like switching between frontier models within the same thread.
“The beauty with this availability is that any model you switch to can read the whole thread”
“So, after paying them upwards of $400-$500 and being a loyal customer, I walked.”
Deep research · 2
Some users rely on its deep research mode.
“I use perplexity a lot and pretty much exclusively with "deep research" on.”
“So, after paying them upwards of $400-$500 and being a loyal customer, I walked.”
Generous free tier · 2
Its free tier is described as generous and usable without an account.
“I've been using Perplexity for small, fast queries almost exclusively for the last year or so.”
Caveats and dissent
Declining quality · 3
Former fans report that results have steadily gotten worse.
“it seems like it gets worse and worse instead.”
“observed a steady decrease in performance over long periods of time”
Show 1 more
“they started optimizing for speed of responses over quality of results. I can enter a query and see my results appear in a second, but they’re garbage.”
Unreliable citations · 3
Answers and citations can be wrong or not match the cited text, especially in niche areas.
“perplexity does nothing to make sure it's answer are correct let alone the citations”
“they started optimizing for speed of responses over quality of results. I can enter a query and see my results appear in a second, but they’re garbage.”
Show 1 more
“I've been using Perplexity for small, fast queries almost exclusively for the last year or so.”
Billing and limits · 2
Paying users report sharply reduced query limits, billing confusion and refunds denied by AI support.
“it's now practically unusable, and anyone who paid the full price, like me, has been ripped off.”
“observed a steady decrease in performance over long periods of time”
Model switching · 2
Users allege that the model is switched without notice and that long sessions are silently truncated on export.
“they are pushing things way too far, with flagrantly, persistently deceptive and sneaky practices.”
“it's now practically unusable, and anyone who paid the full price, like me, has been ripped off.”
Ads for subscribers · 1
One user left after ads appeared even for paying users.
“until the familiar VC backed pattern showed up: ads, even for paying users”
Cloudflare checks · 1
One user is stuck behind persistent Cloudflare checks.
“Grok / Perplexity are behind a perpetual CloudFlare check for me”
Often compared with
2 moved from Perplexity to ChatGPT
2 moved from Perplexity to Claude
1 moved from Google Search to Perplexity
1 moved from Perplexity to Kagi
1 moved from Perplexity to NotebookLM
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Three sites made 215,128 “best software” pages for AI. Perplexity cites them 4 mentions
- DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode 2 mentions
- Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore 2 mentions
- Ask HN: What Online LLM / Chat do you use? 2 mentions
- Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet’s revenue 1 mention
- Web Search API 1 mention
Also written as Perplexity Pro. Data: perplexity.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 34
“I used perplexity for some time.”
“similar to Perplexity, which is $1 per 1000 for fast search”
“it seems like it gets worse and worse instead.”
“observed a steady decrease in performance over long periods of time”
“perplexity does nothing to make sure it's answer are correct let alone the citations”
“So, after paying them upwards of $400-$500 and being a loyal customer, I walked.”
“they started optimizing for speed of responses over quality of results. I can enter a query and see my results appear in a second, but they’re garbage.”
“I use ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude.”
“Perplexity is great at financial data”
“I naturally use several models—GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity, etc.”
“for now I'll stick to my free Perplexity account”
“they are pushing things way too far, with flagrantly, persistently deceptive and sneaky practices.”
“I use perplexity a lot personally”
“using three frontier LLMs, Gemini, OpenAI, Perplexity, and Claude Sonnet 5, to both research the problem”
“Perplexity AI made searching online fun again”
“some AI like perplexity covers the remaining 1%”
“At least Perplexity is different to Google.”
“For general: Perplexity.”
“It has replaced Google for all but the most trivial queries.”
“Hum, I will use perplexity to find what is the mistery in here.”
“Of course OpenAI, Perplexity and others later implemented that properly”
“make something similar to Perplexity but focused on privacy and transparency”
“each run across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity with search ON and OFF”
“I also have access to Perplexity which is quite decent to be honest”
“Grok / Perplexity are behind a perpetual CloudFlare check for me”
“Perplexity and Claude are on the right track but not at all close.”
“I've been using Perplexity for small, fast queries almost exclusively for the last year or so.”
“it's now practically unusable, and anyone who paid the full price, like me, has been ripped off.”
“Perplexity often lead me down rabbitholes of trying to beat the LLM into submission”
“honestly the quality just isn't as good as Perplexity”
“until the familiar VC backed pattern showed up: ads, even for paying users”
“It's still a great source for Perplexity :)”
“The beauty with this availability is that any model you switch to can read the whole thread”
“I use perplexity a lot and pretty much exclusively with "deep research" on.”