Short answer: pay for Perplexity if cited research is a daily job and the free search limit gets in the way. Pay for ChatGPT if drafting and files are the weekly job. Keep both only if they own different weekly workflows.
The split
- Perplexity: first stop for source-backed questions.
- ChatGPT: drafting, files, and multimodal work after you have sources.
Run the same research question in both. Count how many citations you actually opened and verified. That number beats a generic benchmark.
Related: ChatGPT vs Perplexity, Is Perplexity worth it?, Perplexity vs Google.
If you pay for both plus Claude for the same research, that is overlap. Premium hands-on protocol helps you pick a primary. 7-day trial; LAUNCH50 for 50% off first paid month (new users).