I've been using Perplexity Pro since early 2024 as my daily driver AI for basically everything learning, research, and general back and forth conversations. The main draw for me was getting access to top-tier models from different companies without aggressive usage limits. Back then, it was one of the first platforms with genuinely usable internet search integrated, and the price to performance ratio was unbeatable.
There have always been controversial tweaks in the past (like the adjustments to Deep Research), but the core experience remained solid enough that I never really questioned my subscription. Compared to the competition, it was still worth it.
But recently? The platform has become practically useless to me.
A few days ago, they drastically tightened the usage limits. I'm now getting maybe 10 messages a day with an "advanced" model before it forcefully falls back to Sonar (or whatever the default is). And honestly, for my use cases, the default model is just too dumb. On top of that, the UI has become incredibly invasive. I'm being constantly shown popups pushing me to upgrade to an annual plan. If you dismiss them, they just come back on the next reload. I'm also constantly being nudged to upgrade to "Max" just to keep using advanced search. For the first time, I feel like I'm paying for more than I'm actually getting out of the platform.
Ever since the "Perplexity Computer" dropped, it feels like regular Pro users are just an afterthought. They keep shoving new features in our faces, only for them to be locked behind Perplexity-Computer, which I have zero interest in at that price point. Honestly, a well-configured Claude Code setup makes way more sense and is still cheaper.
I'm currently on a 3-month trial for Gemini, and the foundational models just feel significantly smarter right out of the gate. Plus, literally every major platform has some form of integrated web search and deep research now. This is no longer a unique selling point for Perplexity.
It feels like Perplexity used to be a great tool for general users, but now their primary target audience is enterprise customers willing to drop hundreds of euros a month.
If things don't change, I don't see a reason to stick around. What are your thoughts? Is anyone else experiencing this? Since these rollouts and limit changes are often regional, I should probably mention that I'm based in Germany.