Perplexity vs Google — Is AI Search Actually Better?

I set Perplexity as my default search engine for 30 days. Not as an experiment — I was just tired of scrolling past SEO spam and ads to find answers on Google. Here's what happened.

Where Perplexity crushed Google

Research questions. "What are the differences between PostgreSQL and MySQL for a Next.js app?" On Google, I'd click 3-4 results, mentally synthesize the information, and form an opinion. On Perplexity, I got a synthesized answer with sources in 10 seconds. Same conclusion, fraction of the time.

Comparison queries. "Stripe vs Paddle for SaaS billing" — Perplexity gives a structured comparison with pros, cons, and pricing. Google gives me 10 blog posts, half of which are affiliate content pushing whichever tool pays more.

"How does X work" questions. Technical explanations are where Perplexity shines brightest. It synthesizes documentation, Stack Overflow answers, and blog posts into a coherent explanation. No clicking through 5 tabs.

Where Google still wins

Navigation. "Gmail login" or "YouTube" — I'm not asking a question, I'm going somewhere. Perplexity gives me an explanation of Gmail. Google gives me the link. Google wins.

Local searches. "Pizza near me" or "dentist open Saturday." Google Maps integration is unbeatable. Perplexity tries but it's not even close.

Shopping. "Buy iPhone 15 case" — Google Shopping with prices, reviews, and images. Perplexity gives me a research summary about iPhone cases. Not what I wanted.

Recent news. Google indexes news faster. Perplexity's sources can lag by hours or days for breaking stories.

The real answer

After 30 days, I didn't go back to Google-only. Instead, my workflow is now:

• Research, comparison, "how to": Perplexity
• Navigation, local, shopping: Google
• Current events: Google (then Perplexity for analysis)

The split is roughly 60/40 Perplexity/Google for my work (software development). For personal life, it's more like 30/70 — Google's local and shopping features are too useful to replace.

The interesting thing is that this ratio keeps shifting toward Perplexity. Not because Perplexity is getting dramatically better, but because Google keeps getting worse — more ads, more SEO spam, more AI overviews that aren't as good as Perplexity's.