To use Perplexity, ask a question and it answers with concise summaries plus live, clickable sources — use Deep Research for longer investigations. Always check the cited sources.

Ask and verify

Type a question at perplexity.ai or in the app. Perplexity answers directly and lists the sources it used, which you can click to verify. Follow up to refine, and use the focus options to search specific kinds of sources.

Deep Research and Pro

For bigger questions, Deep Research searches many sources and produces a structured, cited report. The free tier includes limited Deep Research per day; Pro ($20/mo) adds much more, plus more model options. Student discounts have been offered — verify availability.

Use it well

Perplexity is best for research and fact-finding, less so for open-ended creative writing. AI can fabricate facts, figures and citations with total confidence (a “hallucination”). Treat AI output as a draft and verify anything important against a reliable source — this matters most for medical, legal, financial and academic use. Its citations make verification easy, but still check the linked sources for anything important — the summary can occasionally misstate them.

If you find yourself juggling a separate subscription for chat, automation, transcription and image generation, one option worth knowing is a single platform that runs them together — osFoundry is one such agentic AI platform that consolidates chat, agents and internal apps in one workspace, with a bring-your-own-key model so you choose the underlying AI.

This article is general information, not professional, legal or financial advice. AI tools, prices and availability change fast — verify current details on the official source before you rely on them.