Back in May, I ditched Google for about a month. How on Earth can you live without Google for that long you may be screaming at your computer. Well, I was leaving it behind for one of Google’s newest competitors.
Perplexity is an AI search engine, operating like a mix of Google and ChatGPT. It's a tempting combination, and one that I was pleasantly surprised with during my Google replacement month.
But, in my search for my new daily search engine, the research must continue. I put my last five Google searches into Perplexity to see how well it compares to Google on a daily basis.
Best comedy films of all time
Google:
This was a Google search fueled while watching a comedy film a few nights ago. I searched “best comedy films of all time”.
I was greeted by a variety of lists, created by Google’s automatic filter at the top, with options for top comedy film picks, comedy satire, rom-coms, and buddy cop films.
As usual, there were also lots of articles to scroll through if I wanted a more in-depth look.
Perplexity:
Perplexity took a different approach here, giving a smaller list of options, curated from articles, ranging from the AFI, IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Empire. I was given a list of the top 15 films, each with the date, what it is notable for, and a short description of why it has gained its position.
There was also a smaller section listing five more under a category for other notable films.
While Google gave me the longer list of options, Perplexity felt more refined, offering descriptions, a ranking and notes on what the styling is like.
Winner: Perplexity
What’s new on Disney Plus
Searching the term “What’s new on Disney Plus” I was looking for a list of the most recent launches on the streaming platform, maybe even a list of dates for upcoming releases if I was lucky.
Google gave me a variety of films produced for Disney Plus between 2023 and 2025. It was a short and very random list.
Instead of trying to use this, I navigated over to the Disney Plus website and looked through their list of upcoming releases.
Perplexity
Perplexity understood the brief here. It focused on what was new in June 2025 for Disney Plus, listing off a mix of Marvel and Star Wars shows and a mix of other new releases like Welcome to Wrexham.
Under that was another list of new movies and documentaries.
While much better than Google and offering clearer details that fit my brief, a lot of the details on dates were equally vague on Perplexity, despite most of these shows either already coming out or having public release dates.
Winner: Perplexity
Italian restaurant
Google:
This is an interesting test for Google. A small restaurant I was trying to find the menu for. I searched the term, clicked the very first link, and was instantly put onto the restaurant's menu page. All pretty easy.
Perplexity:
Surprisingly, Perplexity managed to achieve this task. I say surprisingly because not only is it a small restaurant, but also because all of the menus are only available in photos of printed out menus.
Despite this, Perplexity gave me a broken-down list of all of the starters, mains and desserts, as well as giving a description of the vibe of the restaurant, its accessibility and a rough guide to its pricing.
All sounds great, right? Well, while a lot of the stuff it showed on Perplexity is indeed available from the restaurant with accurate pricing, it also picked up two other restaurants with the same name, throwing in their menus too. One of these restaurants isn’t even open anymore.
The problem seems to be from Perplexity scanning images of menus which are often blurry, confusing dates of the menus or location.
Winner: Google
Baldurs Gate 3 review
Google:
Yes, yes I know, I’m late to the party. Baldur’s Gate has been on every gamers list for a long time and I am only just getting around to researching it.
Google gave me a quick overview of ratings, showing 10/10 scores from IGN, TheGamer and GameSpot. It followed that up with an audience raitng score and the ability to read through reviews from the public.
Outside of this, I went to individual reviews through Google to get an idea of the game.
Perplexity:
This is where Perplexity thrives. When I searched for a review of the game through Perplexity, I was given a report generated by a blend of IGN, GameSpot, YouTube, and other websites - 10 to be exact.
This raised both the pros and cons, an idea of the plot and the experience and even a rough guide to how long it could take to complete. It ended the review with a bullet point list of the most important things to keep in mind.
Winner: Perplexity
More from Tom's Guide
- OpenAI wants to be your next Google — here’s how close it is
- This epic ChatGPT discount is too good to resist if you run a small team — save 96%
- I stopped using punctuation in my prompts — here’s why I swear by it now
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
