Perplexity AI Review: I Replaced Google With It For 30 Days

I kept hearing that Perplexity was replacing Google for people. That sounded like hype. So I tried it.

For 30 days, Perplexity was my default search. Here’s what actually happened.

What Perplexity Actually Is

It’s a search engine that gives you answers instead of links.

Ask Google: “What’s the best laptop for programming?” → 10 links to SEO-optimized articles you have to read.

Ask Perplexity: Same question → A synthesized answer with recommendations, specs, and pros/cons, with sources cited.

The difference is massive when you actually need to understand something.

Where Perplexity Completely Won

Deep Research

This is where it’s legitimately better than Google.

I was researching market trends for a client. In Google, this meant opening 15 tabs, reading through fluff content, piecing together information myself.

In Perplexity, I asked questions and got synthesized answers with citations. What would’ve been 2 hours became 30 minutes.

For any “I need to understand this topic” search, Perplexity wins.

Current Events and Facts

ChatGPT’s knowledge cutoff means it can’t answer questions about recent things. Perplexity searches live.

“What happened at [recent event]?” → Actual answer with sources from today.

I stopped having to think about whether something happened before or after ChatGPT’s cutoff date.

Explaining Complex Things

“Explain how [technical thing] works” in Google gives you documentation written for experts.

Perplexity gives you an explanation at your level, then links to deeper resources if you need them.

I used it constantly for understanding things outside my expertise.

Comparison Research

“What’s the difference between [thing A] and [thing B]?” → Perplexity gives you a comparison table and explanation.

Google gives you 10 articles you have to synthesize yourself.

Where Google Still Won

Navigation

“Facebook login” → I just want the link. Perplexity gives me an explanation of Facebook. Google gives me the link.

For getting somewhere, not learning something, Google is faster.

Shopping

“Nike Air Max 90” → I want to see products and prices. Perplexity gives me information about the shoe. Google shows me shopping results.

For buying things, Google (especially Google Shopping) is better.

Local Stuff

“Coffee shop near me” → Google knows where I am and shows ratings, hours, maps. Perplexity gives me general information about finding coffee shops.

Google’s integration with Maps makes local search much better.

Quick Lookups

“Weather tomorrow” or “USD to EUR” or “Taylor Swift age” → Google answers these instantly in the search results. Perplexity works, but it’s overkill.

The Hybrid Workflow I Landed On

By day 15, I stopped forcing Perplexity for everything. Here’s how I use them now:

Use Perplexity when:

• I need to understand something
• I’m researching a topic
• I want information synthesized, not links
• I need current information that ChatGPT wouldn’t have
• I want sources I can verify

Use Google when:

• I want to go somewhere (navigation)
• I’m shopping
• I need local information
• It’s a quick lookup I’ve done before
• I want images or videos

This isn’t one replacing the other. They’re different tools.

Free vs. Pro - Is Pro Worth It?

Free tier:

• Limited searches per day (I think around 5-10 “Pro” searches)
• Uses a basic AI model
• Good enough for casual use

Pro ($20/month):

• Unlimited searches
• Better AI models (GPT-4 and Claude)
• Better at complex questions
• Faster

I paid for Pro after about a week. If you’re doing research regularly, it’s worth it. If you search a few times a day casually, free is fine.

What’s Still Annoying

It’s slower than Google for simple things

When I know exactly what I want, Perplexity’s synthesis process is overkill. Google’s instant answers are faster.

Sometimes too thorough

I ask a simple question, I get a 400-word explanation with 8 sources. Sometimes I just wanted a quick answer.

Sources aren’t always good

It cites sources, but sometimes the sources aren’t great. A random blog post isn’t necessarily better than no source.

Mobile app is just okay

It works, but the mobile experience isn’t as polished as Google’s.

The Bottom Line

Perplexity is the best tool I’ve found for research and understanding things. It’s genuinely transformative for that use case.

It’s not a Google replacement for everything. It’s a Google complement for specific things.

If you do any kind of research—writing, learning, decision-making—try Perplexity for a week. The free tier is enough to see if it fits your workflow.

If all you do is navigate to websites and check the weather, you don’t need it.

My verdict: Pro subscription is worth it for me. Saves enough research time that $20/month is nothing. But I still use Google probably 40% of the time for quick stuff.