Perplexity

Perplexity answers a question by searching the web in real time and writing a short, sourced summary rather than returning a list of links. Every claim is footnoted to the page it came from, so you can check it, and follow-up questions keep the earlier context.

Why it's a discovery: it sits between a search engine and a chatbot — faster to a trustworthy answer than either. The free plan gives unlimited basic searches and a few "Pro" (deeper, multi-step) searches per day; Pro ($20/month) removes the limit and adds model choice (GPT-5, Claude) and file uploads. There's a separate pay-as-you-go API (Sonar) for building search-grounded answers into your own apps.

Best for: researchers, developers checking documentation and current facts, and anyone who wants an answer they can cite.