# Perplexity 121 Hacker News commenters recommended Perplexity and 102 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 1 years (7 owners). **Verdict:** An AI search engine that gives fast answers with linked sources, often used to replace Google, though cited links don't always support its claims and Pro features were cut. ## Why people recommend it - Answers cite verifiable sources (7 comments): "their design of every sentence needing to be able to be referenced back to an actual source seems like a super power for trust" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50291052)) "Just ask Phind/Perplexity to explain the problem, give the solution and provide verifiable links one can check to validate." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46453040)) "the product feels focused because the AI, sources, and browsing workflow all serve the same clear job" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49505678)) - Replaces conventional web search (5 comments): "much more pleasant to ask perplexity, ChatGPT or Claude a question than to put yourself through the torture of conventional search" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46892018)) "Perplexity’s Research tool has basically replaced Google for me, for any search where I don’t already know the answer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45801911)) "Perplexity AI made searching online fun again, be it for code, anything in general, I just use Perplexity AI." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48498039)) - Fast answers (5 comments): "Perplexity Pro with any thinking model blows both out of the water in a fraction of the time, in my experience" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46237556)) "Perplexity was very very good on the surface. Rarely made an obvious blunder or error, and was fast." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47031029)) "Perplexity beats Google, ChatGPT, and Claude if you want an answer with citations and want it fast." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45945175)) - Fairly accurate, fewer hallucinations (5 comments): "Perplexity is so much more useful to me, because I usually have a question, that I can just enter and get an answer that usually is correct." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49007552)) "I started using Perplexity after it was recommended to me as having fewer hallucinations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46607438)) "The summary matched my recollection and a quick look at the decision itself verified it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47343248)) ## What people warn about - Citations often don't match claims (4 comments): "But some things it gets wrong, seems especially things it should understand by looking at the pictures." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46698947)) "Perplexity answers queries like "the official Emirates Airlines reservations number" with step-by-step instructions that prominently include a scam call-center number." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46196808)) "the link does not say what Perplexity told you it does. This happened to me a frightful number of times." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50292606)) - Pro tier cuts and cancellations (5 comments): "Suddenly they've changed the typeface and now it's running on GPT5, with Sonar behind the paywall." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47156771)) "cutting back features in a lot of areas, especially in the Pro tier, and doing it pretty drastically without any notice" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47345207)) "They have been receiving a lot of hate on Reddit for a few weeks, since they started mass canceling Pro accounts." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47344478)) - Broken export and copy features (3 comments): "I've lost many hours of work due to being foolish enough to believe Export as PDF means export as pdf." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46489872)) "Their 'export to pdf/markdown/doc' is a fraudulent scam and I've about 50 exports that all looked fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47186130)) "I'm able to copy and paste entire sessions in Grok, GPT, Claude and Gemini. Just not in Perplexity." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47189034)) - Login, phone and data concerns (3 comments): "I really hate the current trend of not having passwords. For example perplexity doesn't have a password, just an email verification to login." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46702301)) "Perplexity may retain, copy, distribute and otherwise use Search Data for its lawful business purposes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47948293)) "Perplexity requires providing a phone number to continue to work, even if you're on Pro subscription" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48141518)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Kagi Assistant](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kagi-assistant.md): 79 recommend - [Google AI Mode](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-ai-mode.md): 74 recommend - [Phind](https://hackerapproved.com/p/phind.md): 36 recommend - [Google AI summaries](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-ai-summaries.md): 13 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.perplexity.ai/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Perplexity", https://hackerapproved.com/p/perplexity/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).