ChatGPT never appealed to me. I was aware of the surrounding craze in November 2022. Chatting with a bot felt perplexing. Especially when ChatGPT couldn’t access the Internet.
By late 2024, my bank, Revolut, partnered with Perplexity. As part of my Revolut Premium plan, they gave me access to Perplexity Pro. Only then did the utility of AI become apparent.
Piotrek Bodera
Suite of useful Perplexity tools
AI Search Engine
Perplexity helped me address complex search queries that regular search engines couldn’t. For example, debugging my web development projects:
- this error message shows up (screenshot),
- with this software version (system status),
- in such circumstances (context description),
- and this is the expected behavior (explanation).
All this data was crunched with official documentation, StackOverflow advice, reported issues, and any other relevant sources. Customized step-by-step solutions to my unique problems were the result.
Comet, the AI web browser
Around October 2025, Perplexity launched its own web browser that elevated problem-solving. The context now included the entire webpage.
Comet was not only able to see the content and read the source code. It could also take control of the site and follow instructions. A crucial feature that helped me debug a project I created in Webflow.
In general, Webflow offers a structured web builder editor. Occasionally, user customization or theme bugs cause complex issues. With Comet, I could test every layer and find the root cause.
New possibilities with Perplexity Computer
The newest addition to the Perplexity suite is the Computer. Released in February 2026. At first, I couldn’t grasp how it's different from the regular chat interface. But then, they added countless connectors.
These are MCPs (Model Context Protocols) offered as a first-party (like WordPress.com) or third-party (via Pipedream). The crucial part is that they made it easy to connect popular tools as data sources.
Google Ads, Analytics, Search Console, and Tag Manager are some tools I use for my web development projects. They are data rich, and therefore hard to navigate. Google Analytics is infamous for its hard-to-read dashboard. But with Perplexity Computer, I gained the ability to chat with all my data.
Which allowed me to:
- Comprehend and compare Ads and Analytics data.
- Learn how to set up the Performance Max campaign.
- Create precise ad conversion tracking with Zapier, Gravity Forms, and Google Tag Manager.
Claude was the best part of Perplexity
Perplexity's selling point is that for a 20 USD monthly subscription, you get access to all major LLMs. I liked that! Especially in the beginning, I was comparing Claude to ChatGPT, Gemini, xAI, Llama, etc.
Yet, over time, Claude offered the highest quality. Its text generation is better than ChatGPT's. The research quality gives better results than Gemini. Finally, the reasoning for complex tasks is better than anything else.
Every time I used Perplexity, I was always enabling Claude. So, I got annoyed when they started limiting my access to Claude models.
Computer broke the bank
Claude gave me the best answers, and the Computer could connect to my data. I reached the peak of my happiness with Perplexity around April 2026. But then it went downhill from there.
Perplexity offered Pro subscribers 2000 Computer credits. It was hard to know how they actually counted the usage. So it only lasted for a couple of long threads with enabled connectors.
Since I was getting solutions to my problems, I started reading more about the Computer. The 2000 credits were only a one-time trial. So I enabled the 5 USD auto-refill to continue using this helpful feature.
A few more threads later, I already paid over 20 USD. Not per month. But just for the usage.
That's when I realized that using Perplexity is no longer worth it.
Perplexity's disadvantages
Perplexity is a great product. I learned a lot by using it and experimenting with all its features. If you're new to AI, then start with their free plan.
In case you already use Revolut. Then upgrade to Premium/Metal to get access to Perplexity Pro and other benefits.
However, the more I used Perplexity, the more I saw its disadvantages. So it's worth understanding their characteristics:
- They promise unlimited use of all models. In practice, I hit the limit often, especially during complex tasks on Comet.
- Since Perplexity needs to pay for frontier model APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) they always default you to their own Llama-based model called Sonar.
- The usage of models is not transparent. Perplexity determines the timing and method for model access limitations.
- Models come and go without prior notice. You never know if you'll be able to use the same model tomorrow.
- In theory, Perplexity shows you which model was used to generate the answer. Again, this transparency is an ongoing issue.
- The Pro plan doesn't give access to the best models like Opus 4.8, only Sonnet 4.6.
- Comet promises privacy but collects user data for ad targeting.
- Computer is great, but usage is only credit-based and quickly depletes.
- Perplexity cancelled support for custom local-hosted MCPs, forcing to use credit-based Computer connectors.
- Every other query suggests follow-ups that use Computer "for better results". Encouraging everyone to pay for the credits.
- Since Pipedream is used for many connections and sometimes fails, Perplexity doesn't offer support for these issues.
It feels to me that Perplexity is a start-up looking for a sustainable business model. Serving "unlimited" frontier LLMs is not sustainable. Therefore, they are constantly looking for new ways to monetize their users. Computer credits show this shift.
Revolut subscription changes
In 2024 I've been already paying for Revolut Premium to get lower exchange fees for my international transactions. Revolut genuinely surprised me when it added the Perplexity Pro subscription to my plan.
Twelve months later, Perplexity Pro notified me that my subscription had ended. That’s when I realized that Revolut Premium only offers Perplexity Pro for one year. Since it was very useful to me, I upgraded Revolut to the Metal plan. It gives access to Perplexity Pro for as long as I stay on this plan.
Yet now Revolut is increasing its prices. Metal is shifting from 15.99 EUR to 17.99 EUR. The increase may appear to be small. However, these factors add up:
- Due to my heavy use, Perplexity's quality is decreasing.
- By downgrading to Revolut Premium, I'll only pay 9.99 instead 17.99 EUR/month.
- I prefer to pay 20 USD/month for Claude Pro and experience first-class quality.
Claude's advantages
After around 18 months of using Claude in Perplexity, I know that Anthropic offers the best models. This perspective is also validated in other places:
- Claude Code is especially appreciated by developers.
- Perplexity by default uses Claude for Computer.
- Brave offers Claude in its Leo AI assistant.
- My friends use and recommend Claude over other models.
- Claude tops in benchmarks like safety and reasoning.
Most importantly, I want to use my data sources to get practical solutions. Claude now offers a lot of first-party connectors. Moreover, they're the ones who created the MCP standard. Which means there's a growing library of open-source MCPs I could add to Claude desktop app. Including Google Ads and Google Analytics, Google Search Console, etc.
I know that data coming from MCP uses more tokens. And I'm often hitting the usage limit. But after a few hours, I can continue working. Unlike Perplexity, no extra credit purchase is necessary.
Lastly, with the Claude Pro plan, I get access to the best models like Opus 4.8. The quality of reasoning is phenomenal. I often prepare a long prompt with all the data, context, and a list of questions. The AI quickly responds with some clarifying questions. Once I answer them, it takes 5-10 minutes to prepare a detailed response. Nonetheless, the response's quality and tone justify the delay.
MCP Is Costing You 37% More Tokens Than Necessary
by u/gounisalex in ClaudeAI
Using MCP increased token usage as discussed on Reddit
Summary
Perplexity was a training ground for me. I started as a skeptic and ended up as a heavy user. So much so that I'm now maxing out the usage limit of my Claude Pro plan.
For 20 USD I get:
- the newest Opus 4.8,
- transparent usage,
- Chrome extension that works similarly to Comet,
- growing library of first-party connectors,
- ability to add custom MCPs,
- Claude Code I use in my VS Code,
- Cowork for task automation on my Mac,
- Dispatch to control my Mac remotely.
This article lacks sponsorship or affiliate ties. I'm just sharing my experience to show how quickly the AI landscape is changing. And how quickly anyone can learn to use it.
Andrew Chapados
Additionally, I write it as my input regarding the mounting cost of AI usage. Because I get that it's profitable for Perplexity and other AI companies to charge for API usage. However, nomading long-term taught me resourcefulness.
Downgrading one subscription and moving to another provider preserves my resources. All while giving me better quality and higher usage limits.
Over to you
What's your AI experience? Did you use Perplexity? Then, what are your thoughts? Or did you stick with Claude from the start?
Reply and tell me what you think. I strive to respond to every comment, and I'd love hearing from you.
See you next Tuesday.
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