Perplexity
A search engine that answers in full sentences and backs every statement with numbered, clickable sources.
What it does
Perplexity combines web search with a language model: instead of a list of links you get a coherent answer with numbered sources alongside, so every statement can be checked with one click. For bigger questions there is a thorough research mode that reads many sources and writes a report. You can choose between language models, upload your own files and save results in collections.
Who it suits
Quick research with evidence: market overviews, competitor analyses, technical questions or fact-checking before publication. Interesting for marketing because you see which pages an AI search uses as sources.
Data protection for businesses
In the personal plans, using your data to improve the service is on by default and can be switched off in the settings; this applies to new data only. The Enterprise plans never use inputs for training. The vendor does not mention server locations in Europe.
How we use it
For us, Perplexity is above all a visibility topic: websites that Perplexity cites as a source get found in AI answers. In our GEO strategies for clients we therefore check specifically whether and how Perplexity names a website as a source.
Limits
An answer is only as good as the sources found; weak pages can slip through. Many features come with quotas.