Perplexity.
Answer engine — citations-first research surface.
What it is.
Citations-first answer engine. Where Google indexes documents, Perplexity composes answers — with sources. Deep Research mode runs multi-step research with intermediate searches. Pro Search and the Perplexity API are the same engine wrapped for different surfaces.
Where it fits.
Anywhere the user needs an answer with sources they can verify. Analysts, journalists, lawyers, consultants. Increasingly used as the grounding layer for agent stacks via the API — replaces Bing API for many builders. Spaces feature replaces internal wikis for some teams.
- Best citations-first UX in the category
- Deep Research mode rivals dedicated research analysts
- API surface for agent grounding
- Answer hallucination still possible — sources require human verification
- Pricing climbs steeply at Max tier
Frequently asked.
Is Perplexity better than Google?
For research-style queries with multi-source synthesis, yes. For navigational queries, Google still wins on speed and intent-matching.
What is Deep Research?
Multi-step research mode that runs intermediate searches, synthesises across them, and produces a long-form cited answer. Released late 2024 as a Pro-tier feature.
Can Perplexity be used inside agent stacks?
Yes via the API. Common pattern: agent generates a query, hits Perplexity API for grounded citations, summarises with frontier model.
