Two research & learning tools, one decision. Here is the honest split.
| Elicit | Perplexity | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Best at | Literature reviews and evidence questions - "what does research say about X?" | Questions where you need current information with links you can verify. |
| In short | A research assistant that finds and summarizes academic papers, extracting methods and findings into tables. | An answer engine that searches the web and cites its sources for every claim. |
| On Atlas | 3 starter prompts | 3 starter prompts |
Pick Elicit when the job is Literature reviews and evidence questions - "what does research say about X?". Pick Perplexity when the job is Questions where you need current information with links you can verify.. Still torn? Run one real task through both free tiers. An hour of testing beats a week of reviews.
Summarize the strongest evidence for and against [claim]. Cite primary sources only, rate the strength of the evidence, and end with what is still unknown.