What is Perplexity?

Think of Perplexity as your AI-powered search companion. It searches the web in real-time and uses AI to give you clear, direct answers with references to back everything up.

Perplexity is one of the tools we're using the most on a daily basis — it has fully replaced Google for us. It is perfect for quick research, finding information, and we love that Perplexity also finds photos, illustrations, and videos. It can even search for information from YouTube videos based on their transcripts.

Here's what makes Perplexity unique:

• Real-time Search: Get current information from across the web, updated in seconds

• Source Verification: Every answer comes with clickable sources you can check

• Academic Focus: Access scholarly articles and research papers for deeper insights

• Social Media: Search and analyze content from Reddit discussions and YouTube videos

💡 Tip: You can access Perplexity for free without logging in here. The Pro version is priced at $20 per month and will give you access to the most capable models, AI collaboration features, document processing, and more.

Perplexity Models

Perplexity offers a range of AI models for different research needs and continually adds new ones. Pro users gain access to the most advanced models from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Grok and DeepSeek.

💡 Tip: The new reasoning models from OpenAI (o3) and DeepSeek take longer to process, but their results are worth the wait

Perplexity Spaces

Perplexity Spaces are collaborative research “hubs” where you can work with AI on different topics. They're like chat rooms focused on specific subjects, allowing you to build knowledge over time.

Key features of Spaces include:

• Continuous Context: The AI remembers your previous conversations within the space

• Collections: Save and organize your research findings

• Multi-Modal Support: Share images, documents, and links

• Collaboration: Share spaces with team members for group research (Pro feature)

💡Tip: Create separate Spaces for different research topics to keep your conversations organized

Perplexity Discover

The Discover section is where you can explore popular searches and trending topics. You'll find everything from breaking news analysis to deep dives into specific topics. Perplexity Discover is available for free here.

Here are some ways to use it:

• Browse trending topics to stay informed

• Find new perspectives on subjects you're researching

• Save interesting searches to your collections

• Dive deeper into articles by asking follow-up questions

💡Tip: Customize your Discover feed by following topics and users that match your interests

Perplexity Deep Research 🧠

Perplexity becomes even more powerful when you combine search with the most capable reasoning models. The latest reasoning models from DeepSeek and OpenAI will give you much better results to help you understand the research better.

This combination is particularly valuable when you need to:

• Synthesize complex information from multiple sources

• Identify patterns and relationships in research data

• Get detailed analysis of current events with historical context

Example 1: Researching on youtube

Let's look at how to use Perplexity to find information faster. Let's say that you want to learn more about Perplexity and that you're looking for videos covering Perplexity use cases and videos.

Example prompt

Find 20 videos on how to use Perplexity. Organize your results in a table with a link and a short description of what each video covers. Give a rating based on what people are saying to help me prioritize my time.

Example 2: Stock research

Let's see how to use Perplexity to research stocks that might benefit from the AI boom. We can use a focused prompt to get comprehensive information about market trends, analyst opinions, and financial metrics.

Example prompt

Research the top 20 publicly traded companies that are well-positioned to benefit from AI technology growth. Include their main AI initiatives, recent quarterly performance, market cap, and analyst ratings. Create a comparison table ranking them by AI revenue potential, current AI capabilities, and market position. Add links to their latest earnings calls discussing AI strategy if available.

You made it 🎉

Ready to dive in? The free version of Perplexity is a great starting point to explore many of these features for free and without logging in. Just head over to perplexity.ai and start searching!