Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT: Which Is the Best Conversational AI Tool?

Trying to compare Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT?

At first glance, they might appear to do the same thing. After all, both are conversational AI tools. You put in a prompt and get an AI-generated response, conversation-style.

In reality, the tools are quite different in terms of how they generate the response and how they can be used. For example, Perplexity AI is like a super-fast, always-available search assistant. ChatGPT is more of a conversational partner that explains things and writes creative copies.

With different features, use cases, and pricing, how do you know which tool is right for your requirements? To help you with this, we’ve tested both tools and thoroughly compared Perplexity AI vs ChatGPT in the below guide.

Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT: A Quick Overview

Both Perplexity AI and ChatGPT are powerful AI tools but they differ in their capabilities and use cases. Perplexity AI acts as a search engine alternative, pulling real-time information from the web and displaying the results in an easy-to-read format. ChatGPT is a general-purpose conversational AI model that can write, create, and answer queries.

Here’s a quick glance at Perplexity vs ChatGPT:

But before going into the detailed review, let’s understand what Perplexity AI and ChatGPT actually are.

ChatGPT: An All-in-One AI Assistant

ChatGPT is the tool that has brought conversational AI to the mainstream. With its natural language processing (NLP) capabilities, it can do a lot from answering simple questions and solving logic puzzles to generating full-fledged blog posts and writing code. 

Whether for fun or for actual work, you might have tried ChatGPT, too. The interface is simple enough. You type in a question or some text (prompt) and it generates a text-based answer. 

If you have the app version, you can input a voice prompt instead of text and also have voice conversations with the AI chatbot. The Plus version allows you to input both image and voice prompts and get image and audio results in return.

With all these capabilities, ChatGPT appears to be the Swiss Army Knife of AI chatbots. But, it’s still general purpose. That means, if you want to use it for a specific task, it’ is most likely to generate subpar results. ‘ll most likely give you subpar results.

Say you want to write an email or a blog post. You’ll get better results with a writing-specific AI tool like Writesonic. While ChatGPT can generate blog posts, it will be surface-level and poorly researched. In fact, sometimes the bot also hallucinates i.e. makes up its own answers, which makes the information less trustworthy. 

Similarly, if you want to run a web search, ChatGPT’s going to do it. But, it relies on third-party search providers and there’s a good chance the results are going to be inaccurate.

Check this example search we conducted through ChatGPT:

Despite searching the web, it wrongly states the minimum price as $62 (would be a great deal, though), while the websites itself quote prices of above $200.

This is where Perplexity AI comes in. An AI tool like Perplexity, made specifically for searching the web, gives you much better and more reliable answers than ChatGPT.

Perplexity AI: The Search-Specific AI Bot

Perplexity AI is an AI-powered conversational search engine, which is designed as an alternative to traditional search. The chatbot uses large language models (LLMs) to change the way people search. 

In traditional search, you get a list of relevant links as the search results that you need to manually go through. Perplexity AI changes this with an AI-generated answer that summarizes the required information from the relevant links. It also lists all the sources to maintain credibility.

If you’re thinking “But we already have Google for that!” here’s a quick comparison of how Perplexity AI differs from Google.

When you Google “how to bake a cake”:

You get a list of links to recipes, and a “People also ask” section for commonly asked questions. But finding a reliable recipe? That’s a task. You’d have to go through each website and sift through the information yourself. 

Now, try using Perplexity.

The tool gives an AI-generated answer that consolidates information from relevant links to give a step-by-step cake recipe you can quickly go through. In addition, it also gives links to the sources and also suggests videos you can watch. 

If you’ve got follow-up questions about the recipe, the AI tool generates contextual answers. 

Now, the real test. What happens if you ask it for flight prices?

It says $219, which is an accurate answer. It also gives you sources where you can find this price.

The Pro version allows you 300+ Pro searches a day, where you can also use images and PDFs. You also get image generation capabilities, which are limited in the free version.

It’s technically an AI chatbot. So, you can ask it to generate articles or try having a friendly chat. But, Perplexity AI’s capabilities in these terms are limited. Rather, it serves as a reliable search engine that gives sources and multimodal results with all its AI-generated answers.

If you’re looking for a tool that’s both a search engine and a conversational chatbot, it’s best to switch to Chatsonic. The AI-powered bot can do a variety of tasks such as generating articles and answering search queries, while staying up-to-date on the info.

Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT: Which Tool Has the Best Features?

Now, Perplexity AI and ChatGPT are designed for different purposes. Comparing their features one-on-one would be unfair. Instead, we can check how purpose-specific their features are.

Both Perplexity AI and ChatGPT can:

• Give answers to factual queries
• Respond contextually to follow-up questions
• Search the web for real-time information updates
• Generate images 
• Solve logic and math problems
• Write articles, emails, and social media posts
• Translate text in multiple languages

However, these features have some limitations depending on what the tool is designed for. 

For example, ChatGPT can only answer factual queries but it also hallucinates frequently, making it a poor search engine. However, it has good creative capabilities and can write better articles and emails compared to Perplexity AI.

On the other hand, Perplexity AI’s search features are quite robust. With factually accurate information, low hallucinations, and multiple source citations, you get reliable information for all search queries — even for academic and research ones.

You can also configure where the AI tool looks for information. Say you’re writing a thesis. You can direct Perplexity AI to look only at research papers, making the generated answers more relevant.

Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT: Models, Integrations, and Pricing

We’ve got a basic understanding of how the features differ in Perplexity.ai vs ChatGPT. Now, let’s get an in-depth overview of its models, integrations, use cases, and pricing.

Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT: Models

ChatGPT relies on OpenAI’s in-house large language model (LLMs): GPT-4. While the free version has only one default model, GPT-4o mini, the paid version allows you to switch between GPT-4o mini, GPT-4o, and GPT-4. 

These models make it multimodal, meaning ChatGPT can understand and generate image and audio-based queries and results. 

Perplexity, on the other hand, uses multiple models. While it’s built on an open-source model, you have the option to choose between advanced AI models such as Claude 3 Sonnet, GPT-4 Turbo, and even Sonar 32k. As a result, Perplexity has always been multimodal.

Love GPT-4’s capabilities? Try out these 6 tools also powered by GPT-4. 

Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT: Integrations and APIs

Perplexity AI has almost no customization capabilities because it’s designed for a specific purpose — search. 

However, with ChatGPT, you can basically create an AI tool to do anything using custom GPTs. For example, you can create flowcharts and mindmaps, create images with DALL-E, and even integrate your favorite tools like Canva into the AI model. 

You can explore different types of GPT at OpenAI’s GPT store.

Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT: Use Cases

Perplexity AI is useful for retrieving up-to-date information, fact-checking, research, and academic inquiries. While it’s good to use for any curious mind, if you’re a journalist, student, or researcher, the tool can be especially helpful.

ChatGPT is a general-purpose tool, meaning anyone and everyone can use it. However, it’s necessary to give it the right prompts to make ChatGPT perform the required functions.

Check out these ChatGPT prompts for marketing, social media, and e-commerce to understand how you can use ChatGPT. 

However, these prompts are not limited to ChatGPT. You can use these prompts with other conversational AI tools such as Chatsonic and get similar or even better results. 

Learn more about how Chatsonic compares with ChatGPT from our detailed guide.

Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT: Pricing

Both tools offer similar pricing for their premium versions. Perplexity AI Pro and ChatGPT Plus are both priced at $20 per month and have a host of advanced features.

However, we found Perplexity AI’s free version more than sufficient for a regular user. Upgrading to its Pro version is mostly useful for heavy research and not necessary for everyday searches.

Unlike Perplexity AI, ChatGPT’s Plus version makes a huge difference in its capabilities, even for layman’s use. With GPT-4o and DALL-E, the Plus version gives more accurate and in-depth answers in conversations, along with image generation.

We suggest trying out the free version of both, before splurging on the advanced version of either tool. 

Our Take on Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT

When we personally tested Perplexity AI and ChatGPT, we found both tools to have their own pros and cons.

While we loved how Perplexity AI provides information with multiple sources, its lack of personalization and inability to converse was evident. 

Similarly, ChatGPT impressed us with its conversational style, elaborate response generations, and creative capabilities. However, due to its hallucinations and unreliable search features, we wouldn’t use it for factual queries.

The Best Alternative to Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT: Chatsonic

If you want the best features from Perplexity AI and ChatGPT, consider trying Chatsonic. Chatsonic is an excellent alternative to both Perplexity AI and ChatGPT due to its extensive capabilities.

With Chatsonic, you get:

• Real-time information updates (similar to Perplexity AI): Chatsonic provides up-to-date information on current events, making it a reliable source for searching for information. 
• Creative content generation (like ChatGPT): Chatsonic can also handle creative tasks, such as writing an article or creating an image. 
• Multi-modal capabilities: Chatsonic can work across formats, from texts to images, and audio. You can ask it to analyze an image, generate a description of a scene, or even create custom images based on your prompts.
• Personality customization: Unlike Perplexity AI and ChatGPT, Chatsonic allows you to customize its personality, making interactions more engaging and tailored to your preferences. You can set it to be more formal for professional tasks or more casual for creative brainstorming sessions.
• Integration with various tools and platforms: Chatsonic can seamlessly integrate with other productivity tools, such as Zapier, making your workflows more efficient.

With the conversation-like style of ChatGPT and real-time information access like Perplexity AI, Chatsonic is the perfect alternative for anyone looking for a reliable AI chatbot. 

Final Thoughts: Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT: The Best AI Conversational AI Tool

Perplexity and ChatGPT are two powerful conversational AI tools with their own benefits and drawbacks. While Perpelxity AI focuses on providing accurate and credible information, ChatGPT makes it easier to find information in conversation style.

Using either of the tools can help you with specific requirements. However, if you’re looking for a tool that can do it all, we suggest trying Chatsonic.

Chatsonic has the best capabilities of Perplexity AI and ChatGPT combined, and a lot more. It can look up information in real-time, cite sources, respond to follow-ups, write Twitter threads and website copies, and generate images — all based on your instructions.
Want to try out the all-in-one AI tool? Sign up to Chatsonic for free.

Niyati Mahale

Niyati Mahale is a Content Writer @Writesonic. She specializes in artificial intelligence and B2B, with a flair for combining effective storytelling and SEO best practices to create impactful content.