Perplexity & ChatGPT

1. Learn it

• ▸This is a different skill from calling a model in code. Here you are the user, not the developer.
• ▸Perplexity leans on live sources and shows its links, which makes it checkable. Chat assistants lean on reasoning and memory of the conversation.
• ▸Ask for the trade-offs and the counter-argument, not just an answer. The confident wrong answer is the dangerous one.
• ▸Always follow one link before you act on anything factual — pricing, limits and APIs change constantly.
• ▸Paste your own context in. A question about your actual error beats a general question every time.

Cost: Free tiers; around $20/month for the paid versions.

Ask a decision question properly

Write a research question about a choice in your build. Include your constraints, what you've already ruled out, and ask for the case against your favourite option.

1. 1Free tiers exist on both — you don't need a subscription to start.
2. 2Use the one with sources when the answer must be true today.
3. 3Keep a note of answers you acted on, so you can spot the ones that were wrong.

MessyDev never signs you up, spends your money, or touches your accounts. You do that part.

4. Use it

Comparing tools, understanding an error, drafting copy, and sanity-checking a plan before you build it.