How to Use Perplexity AI: Complete Guide for Power Users 2025

Perplexity AI is one of the most useful AI tools available. If you are not getting the most from it, this guide covers everything from basic queries to advanced research workflows.

How to Use Perplexity AI: Complete Guide (2025)

What Makes Perplexity Different

Unlike Claude and ChatGPT (which have training data cutoffs), Perplexity searches the live web for every query and provides source citations. This makes it uniquely valuable for: current events, fact-checking, competitive research, and any question requiring up-to-date information.

Basic Usage: Getting Better Answers

Be specific with your query:
Instead of: “What is the best CRM?”
Use: “What are the best CRM tools for a 10-person B2B sales team with a $500/month budget in 2025? Include pricing and key differentiators.”

Use focus modes:

• All: general web search (default)
• Academic: searches academic papers and research
• Writing: focuses on high-quality content sources
• YouTube: searches video content
• Reddit: searches community discussions
• News: focuses on recent news sources

Pro Research Workflows

Competitive Intelligence: “Analyze the main competitors to [company] in [market]. For each competitor include: pricing, target customer, key strengths, key weaknesses, and recent news. Cite sources.”

Market Research: “What is the market size and growth rate for [market]? Include 2024-2025 data, key players, and market trends. Prioritize recent reports and cite all sources.”

Technical Research: “Explain [technical concept]. Include: how it works, current best practices, common mistakes to avoid, and examples of implementation. Focus on 2024-2025 sources.”

Using Collections for Projects

Perplexity Pro lets you save research into Collections — organized folders for ongoing projects. Create a collection for each major research area to keep sources organized and return to previous research threads.

Perplexity vs Google for Research

Task	Perplexity	Google
Quick fact lookup	Better (direct answer)	Good
Complex research synthesis	Much better	Requires many clicks
Source verification	Citations included	Must check each result
Current events	Real-time	Real-time
Academic research	Good with Academic mode	Good with Scholar

Try Perplexity Pro