You need to research a competitor. You open 47 browser tabs. Three hours later, you have a headache and conflicting information.

There's a better way.

Perplexity Pro turns research that takes 6+ hours into 3-minute reports—with sources you can verify.

This tutorial shows you exactly how to use Perplexity Pro for competitive research, market intelligence, and strategic decisions.

What Is Perplexity Pro?

Perplexity is an AI search engine that:

• Searches the web in real-time (not limited by training data cutoffs)
• Cites every claim with verifiable sources
• Synthesizes information from multiple sources into clear answers
• Generates professional reports you can share with your team

Think: Google search + ChatGPT + research assistant, all in one tool.

Perplexity Free vs. Pro (2025)

Feature	Free	Pro ($20/month)
Basic searches	Unlimited	Unlimited
Pro searches (deep research)	5 per day	300+ per day
AI models	Default only	GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini 2.5 Pro, o3-pro
File uploads	❌	✅ Unlimited (PDFs, CSVs, images)
Deep Research	❌	✅ 2-4 minute comprehensive reports
Perplexity Labs	❌	✅ Generate reports, spreadsheets, charts
Collections	Limited	Unlimited (organize ongoing research)

Bottom line: Free is fine for casual use. Pro is essential for professional research.

Getting Started with Perplexity Pro

Step 1: Sign Up and Choose Your Model

1. Go to perplexity.ai and sign up
2. Upgrade to Pro ($20/month or $200/year)
3. Click your profile → Settings → Choose default AI model

Recommended models for business research:

• GPT-4o: Best for general business research and speed
• Claude 3.5 Sonnet: Best for analyzing documents and nuanced writing
• o3-pro: Best for complex analytical tasks (slower but thorough)

Pro tip: Switch models mid-conversation by clicking the model dropdown in the search bar.

Step 2: Enable Pro Search

Look for the "Pro" toggle next to the search bar. When enabled:

• Searches multiple sources deeply
• Synthesizes comprehensive answers
• Provides more citations
• Takes ~10-30 seconds (vs. instant for basic search)

Use Pro search when:

• You need comprehensive research
• Citations matter
• You're making important decisions
• The question is complex or nuanced

Use basic search when:

• You need a quick fact
• Speed matters more than depth
• Simple, straightforward questions

5 Powerful Use Cases for CEOs

1. Competitive Intelligence

The Problem: You need to understand what your competitors are doing—pricing, features, positioning, recent changes.

How to Use Perplexity:

Analyze [Competitor Name]'s business model, pricing strategy, and recent product updates in 2025. Include:
- Current pricing tiers and what they include
- Recent product announcements or feature launches
- Marketing positioning and target customer
- Strengths and weaknesses compared to [Your Company]
- Recent news or funding announcements

Cite all sources.

What You'll Get:

• Comprehensive competitor overview in 3 minutes
• Links to pricing pages, press releases, recent articles
• Synthesized insights you can act on immediately

Real Example Output Structure:

1. Company Overview (revenue, size, market position)
2. Pricing Analysis (exact tiers with sources)
3. Recent Product Updates (last 6 months)
4. Positioning & Target Market
5. SWOT Analysis
6. Recent News (funding, leadership changes, partnerships)

Pro Tip: Create a Collection called "Competitor Research" and ask follow-up questions in the same thread. Perplexity maintains context.

2. Market Research & Trends

The Problem: You need to understand industry trends to make strategic decisions, but don't have time to read 50 analyst reports.

How to Use Perplexity:

Analyze the current state and trends of the [specific industry/niche] market in 2025. Focus on:
- Market size and growth rate (with specific data)
- Key trends shaping the industry
- Emerging technologies or business models
- Regulatory changes or challenges
- Expert predictions for the next 12-24 months

Use recent sources (2024-2025) and cite industry reports where possible.

Advanced Query for Specific Insights:

I run a [brief company description]. Research emerging opportunities in [specific market segment] that a company with [your capabilities] could pursue. Include:
- Underserved customer segments
- Technology gaps competitors haven't solved
- Market timing signals (why now?)
- Estimated market size for each opportunity

What You'll Get:

• Data-backed market insights
• Links to analyst reports, research papers, news articles
• Actionable opportunities with market validation

Follow-Up Questions to Ask:

• "Which of these trends has the strongest supporting evidence?"
• "What are analysts most skeptical about?"
• "Show me companies successfully executing on these trends"
• "What regulatory risks should I know about?"

3. Deep Research Reports (New in 2025)

The Problem: You need a comprehensive research report for a board meeting, investor pitch, or strategic planning session.

How to Use Deep Research:

Deep Research is Perplexity's most powerful feature (Pro only). It spends 2-4 minutes:

• Breaking your question into sub-questions
• Searching multiple angles and sources
• Synthesizing findings into a structured report
• Citing 30-50+ sources

To Activate:

1. Start a new thread
2. Enable "Pro" search
3. Ask a research question
4. Click "Deep Research" button (appears for complex queries)

Example Deep Research Query:

Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the B2B SaaS pricing landscape in 2025. Cover:
- Dominant pricing models (usage-based, tiered, flat-rate)
- Average price increases over the past 2 years
- How economic conditions affected pricing strategies
- Free trial vs. freemium adoption rates
- Customer preferences by company size
- Predictions for pricing trends in 2025-2026

Include specific examples and data from industry reports.

What You'll Get: A 2,000-3,000 word report organized into sections with:

• Executive summary
• Detailed findings for each topic
• Data visualizations (if available)
• 30-50 cited sources
• Export options (PDF, shareable link)

Real Output Time: 2-4 minutes (vs. 6+ hours of manual research)

Best For:

• Board presentations
• Strategic planning sessions
• Market entry decisions
• Investor pitches
• Quarterly planning

4. Document Analysis (Upload Files)

The Problem: You receive a 60-page competitor annual report, industry whitepaper, or contract and need key insights fast.

How to Use File Upload:

1. Click the paperclip icon in the search bar
2. Upload PDF, CSV, image, or spreadsheet
3. Ask specific questions about the document

Example Queries:

For Annual Reports:

I've uploaded [Competitor]'s 2024 annual report. Analyze:
- Revenue growth and key drivers
- Strategic priorities for 2025
- Risks and challenges they mention
- Product roadmap hints
- How they describe their competitive position

For Industry Whitepapers:

Summarize the key findings of this whitepaper in 5 bullet points. Then identify 3 actionable insights for a company in [your industry].

For Contracts or RFPs:

Review this document and identify:
- Key obligations and deadlines
- Financial commitments
- Potential risks or unfavorable terms
- Sections that need legal review

Multi-Document Analysis: Upload multiple files and ask:

Compare these three competitor pricing documents. What are the key differences in their approaches? Which one offers the best value for [specific customer type]?

What You'll Get:

• Quick summaries of long documents
• Specific answers with page citations
• Comparative analysis across documents
• Time saved: Hours → Minutes

5. Collections: Ongoing Market Monitoring

The Problem: You want to continuously monitor competitors, industry trends, or specific topics without repeating research.

What Are Collections?

Collections are organized research folders that Perplexity updates automatically. Think of them as persistent research threads.

How to Create a Collection:

1. Click "Collections" in the sidebar
2. "New Collection"
3. Name it (e.g., "Competitor Intel", "Industry Trends", "Product Ideas")
4. Add a description to focus the research
5. Start asking questions in that collection

Example Collections for CEOs:

Collection 1: "Competitor Monitoring"

• Add competitors you want to track
• Ask weekly: "What news or updates have [Competitors] published this week?"
• Perplexity searches for recent announcements, product updates, press mentions

Collection 2: "Industry Trends - [Your Industry]"

• Ask: "What are the top 3 trending topics in [industry] this month?"
• Follow-up weekly for fresh insights
• Export findings for team meetings

Collection 3: "Customer Research"

• "What are [target customer] saying about [problem you solve]?"
• "Find recent discussions about [pain point] on LinkedIn and Reddit"
• Identifies emerging customer needs

Collection 4: "Product Ideas"

• Research features competitors launched
• Validate product concepts with market data
• Track technology trends relevant to your roadmap

Pro Tip: Set a recurring calendar reminder to check your Collections weekly. Fresh research = strategic advantage.

Perplexity Labs: From Research to Deliverables

What Is Perplexity Labs?

Labs (Pro only, launched 2025) goes beyond answering questions—it creates deliverables:

• Research reports (formatted documents)
• Spreadsheets with analysis
• Charts and visualizations
• Presentations
• Simple web apps

How to Access Labs:

1. Start a new chat
2. Click "Labs" in the model selector
3. Describe what you want to create

Example Labs Requests:

Create a Competitive Matrix:

Create a competitive comparison spreadsheet for [Your Company] vs. [Competitor 1], [Competitor 2], [Competitor 3].

Compare:
- Pricing tiers
- Key features
- Target customers
- Strengths/weaknesses
- Recent funding

Format as a table I can export.

Generate a Market Report:

Create a professional market analysis report for [specific industry/niche] covering:
- Market size and growth
- Key players
- Emerging trends
- Opportunities
- Recommendations

Format as a document with sections, data, and citations.

Build a Dashboard:

Create a simple dashboard tracking the top 5 KPIs for a [industry] business. Include industry benchmarks and suggest target ranges.

What You'll Get:

• Formatted, shareable deliverables
• Exportable files (PDF, CSV, etc.)
• Time saved: Days → Minutes

Advanced Tips & Best Practices

1. Write Better Queries

Bad Query: "Tell me about my competitors"

Good Query: "Analyze [Competitor A] and [Competitor B]'s pricing strategy for [specific market segment]. Include pricing tiers, target customers, and recent price changes in 2024-2025. Cite sources."

Why it's better:

• Specific competitors
• Specific aspect (pricing)
• Specific market segment
• Time frame (2024-2025)
• Requests citations

Query Structure Template:

[Action verb] + [specific topic] + [context/constraints] + [desired output format] + [citation request]

2. Verify Sources (Always)

Perplexity cites sources, but you should verify:

• Click citation numbers to read original sources
• Check publication dates (recent = more relevant)
• Evaluate source credibility (industry reports > random blogs)
• Cross-reference key claims with multiple sources

Red flags:

• Single source for important claims
• Outdated sources (>1 year old for fast-moving industries)
• Low-credibility sources

3. Iterate with Follow-Up Questions

Don't accept the first answer. Dig deeper:

Initial Query: "What are the main pricing trends in B2B SaaS?"

Follow-Ups:

• "Which of these trends is backed by the strongest data?"
• "Show me specific examples of companies implementing usage-based pricing"
• "What do analysts predict will happen to these trends in 2026?"
• "Are there any contrarian views or skepticism about these trends?"

4. Combine Perplexity with Other Tools

Powerful workflow:

1. Perplexity: Research and gather insights (with sources)
2. Claude: Analyze findings and write the strategic document
3. ChatGPT: Create visuals or presentations from the document

Example:

• Perplexity: "Research our top 3 competitors' product positioning"
• Claude: "Using this research, write a positioning strategy for [Your Product]"
• ChatGPT: "Create a slide deck outline for this positioning strategy"

5. Export and Share Research

To Export:

• Click the share icon (top right)
• Choose "Copy link" or "Export as PDF"
• Share with team members (they don't need Pro to view)

Pro Tip: Create a Notion page or Google Doc with links to key Perplexity threads. Build a research library over time.

6. Use Folders to Organize Collections

Create folders for different research themes:

• Competitive Intelligence (competitor monitoring)
• Market Research (industry trends)
• Product Research (feature ideas, customer feedback)
• Sales Intelligence (prospect research, industry insights)

Perplexity vs. ChatGPT vs. Claude: When to Use Each

Task	Best Tool	Why
Competitive research	Perplexity	Real-time web search + citations
Market trends	Perplexity	Accesses latest reports and news
Writing strategy documents	Claude	Best writing quality, nuanced analysis
Brainstorming ideas	ChatGPT	Fast, creative, versatile
Analyzing uploaded documents	Claude or Perplexity	Both excel; Claude for writing, Perplexity for quick extraction
Fact-checking information	Perplexity	Shows sources, easy to verify
Quick general questions	ChatGPT	Fastest response time

Killer combo: Perplexity for research → Claude for analysis → ChatGPT for images/distribution

10 Practical Examples for Small Business CEOs

Example 1: Weekly Competitor Check-In

What news, product updates, or announcements have [Competitor 1], [Competitor 2], and [Competitor 3] made in the past 7 days? Include links to sources.

Example 2: Validate a Product Idea

Research the market demand for [product idea]. Include:
- Similar existing products and their traction
- Customer discussions on Reddit, LinkedIn, or forums
- Market size estimates
- Potential challenges or criticisms

Example 3: Find Partnership Opportunities

Identify 10 companies in [adjacent industry] that serve [target customer] but don't compete with [your product/service]. Include company size, recent news, and why they'd be good partnership targets.

Example 4: Salary Benchmarking

What is the market salary range for a [role] with [years of experience] in [location] for a [company size] company in [industry]? Include sources from 2024-2025 salary reports.

Example 5: Industry Regulation Research

What regulatory changes or compliance requirements were introduced in [industry] in 2024-2025 that affect companies like mine? Cite official sources.

Example 6: Customer Pain Point Research

Find recent discussions (last 6 months) on LinkedIn, Reddit, and industry forums where [target customer] complain about [problem]. Summarize the top 5 recurring pain points with example quotes.

Example 7: Technology Stack Research

What technology stack (tools, platforms, frameworks) do leading [industry] companies use? Focus on [specific area like "customer data platforms" or "automation tools"].

Example 8: Event & Conference Intel

List the top 10 industry conferences and events for [industry] in 2025. Include dates, locations, expected attendance, and whether [competitors] have attended or sponsored in the past.

Example 9: Acquisition Target Research

Identify 5-10 potential acquisition targets in [space/niche] with:
- Company size and revenue estimates
- Funding history
- Product offering
- Strategic fit with [your company]
- Any public acquisition signals

Example 10: Pricing Strategy Research

Analyze how [specific industry] companies structure their pricing. Include:
- Common pricing models (tiered, usage-based, flat)
- Typical price points by company size
- Free trial vs. freemium prevalence
- Recent pricing changes and reasoning

Is Perplexity Pro Worth $20/Month?

You should upgrade to Pro if:

✅ You research competitors or market trends weekly

✅ You need cited sources for important decisions

✅ You analyze documents regularly (PDFs, reports, whitepapers)

✅ You're making strategic decisions that require data

✅ You want to save 5-10 hours per week on research

Stick with Free if:

❌ You research occasionally (less than 5 deep questions per day)

❌ You don't need comprehensive reports

❌ You don't upload or analyze documents

❌ Speed matters more than depth

ROI calculation:

• Pro costs $20/month = $240/year
• If it saves 5 hours/week = 260 hours/year
• Value of your time: $100/hour (conservative for CEO)
• Annual value: $26,000

Break-even: If Pro saves you just 2.5 hours per year, it pays for itself.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Trusting Without Verifying

Mistake: Accepting Perplexity's answers as 100% fact Fix: Always click citations and verify important claims

2. Vague Questions

Mistake: "Tell me about my industry" Fix: "Analyze the top 3 trends in [specific industry niche] in 2025 based on analyst reports"

3. Using Basic Search for Complex Questions

Mistake: Leaving "Pro" toggle off for important research Fix: Enable Pro search when depth matters

4. Not Using Collections

Mistake: Starting from scratch every time you research competitors Fix: Create Collections for ongoing monitoring

5. Forgetting to Export

Mistake: Losing valuable research because you didn't save it Fix: Export key threads as PDFs or share links in your note-taking system

Next Steps

1. Sign up for Perplexity and try the free tier this week
2. Test one research query from the examples above
3. Compare results to doing the same research manually
4. Upgrade to Pro if you see value ($20/month or $200/year)
5. Create your first Collection for ongoing competitor monitoring

Pro move: Set up 3 Collections this week:

1. Competitor Intelligence
2. Industry Trends
3. Customer Research

Check each weekly. Turn research into a competitive advantage.

Want help implementing Perplexity Pro into your research workflow? We help small companies build systematic market intelligence processes that inform better strategic decisions—without hiring a research team.