TL;DR

• Perplexity excels at research with citations (best for competitive analysis, market research), ChatGPT Plus wins for versatility and plugins, Claude Pro leads in long-context analysis and strategic thinking.
• Pricing: All £18–20/month -Perplexity Pro (£16/month), ChatGPT Plus (£16/month), Claude Pro (£18/month) -choose based on primary use case, not cost.
• Recommendation: Perplexity for research-heavy startups, Claude for strategy-heavy founders, ChatGPT for generalist needs + plugins.

Perplexity vs ChatGPT vs Claude: Which AI Assistant for Startup Research?

The scenario: You're a founder conducting competitive analysis, market research, or strategic planning. Which AI assistant should you use? Perplexity (research-focused), ChatGPT (most popular), or Claude (reasoning-focused)?

We tested all three on 20 real startup research tasks across competitive intelligence, market analysis, content research, and strategic planning. Here's what we found.

The Contenders

Perplexity Pro

What it is: AI-powered search engine with citations Best for: Research tasks requiring sources Model: GPT-4 or Claude 3 (user choice) Price: £16/month Key feature: Every claim includes clickable sources

ChatGPT Plus

What it is: General-purpose AI assistant Best for: Versatile tasks, plugin ecosystem Model: GPT-4 Turbo (or GPT-4o) Price: £16/month Key feature: 1,000+ plugins, web browsing, image generation

Claude Pro

What it is: Anthropic's AI assistant focused on reasoning Best for: Long-context analysis, strategic thinking Model: Claude 3.5 Sonnet Price: £18/month Key feature: 200K token context (processes 150+ page documents)

Head-to-Head Comparison

Test 1: Competitive Analysis

Task: Analyse 5 competitors in the project management software space. Identify positioning, pricing, and gaps.

Perplexity:

• Process: Searched each competitor, pulled pricing + features from websites
• Output: Structured comparison table with sources for every claim
• Strengths: Citations made it easy to verify; found recent pricing changes
• Weaknesses: Surface-level analysis; didn't infer strategy from data
• Time: 8 minutes
• Grade: A-

ChatGPT Plus:

• Process: Used web browsing to visit competitor sites
• Output: Comprehensive analysis with inferred positioning strategy
• Strengths: Deeper strategic insights; identified market gaps
• Weaknesses: Slower than Perplexity; fewer explicit citations
• Time: 12 minutes
• Grade: B+

Claude Pro:

• Process: Required manual input of competitor data (can't browse web without API)
• Output: Excellent strategic analysis once data provided
• Strengths: Best strategic synthesis; identified non-obvious patterns
• Weaknesses: Can't autonomously research (need to feed it data)
• Time: 15 minutes (including manual data gathering)
• Grade: A (if you provide data); C (autonomous research)

Winner: Perplexity (for autonomous competitive research with citations)

Test 2: Market Research

Task: Research the state of AI adoption in B2B SaaS startups. Find statistics, trends, and expert opinions.

Perplexity:

• Output: 15 statistics with sources, 3 trend analyses, 5 expert quotes
• Strengths: Every stat had a clickable source (recent articles, reports)
• Weaknesses: Didn't synthesise insights into strategic recommendations
• Time: 6 minutes
• Grade: A

ChatGPT Plus:

• Output: General overview with some stats (fewer sources)
• Strengths: Good synthesis, identified emerging trends
• Weaknesses: Fewer explicit sources; some stats seemed outdated
• Time: 8 minutes
• Grade: B

Claude Pro:

• Output: Required prompting to search (no native web access)
• Strengths: Excellent synthesis once given raw research
• Weaknesses: Can't autonomously gather market data
• Time: N/A (couldn't complete autonomously)
• Grade: N/A

Winner: Perplexity (purpose-built for research with sources)

Test 3: Content Research

Task: Research keyword opportunities for "startup marketing" topic. Identify high-volume, low-competition keywords.

Perplexity:

• Output: List of related keywords with volume estimates (pulled from SEO tools)
• Strengths: Found recent keyword trends, cited sources
• Weaknesses: Didn't provide strategic keyword prioritisation
• Time: 5 minutes
• Grade: B+

ChatGPT Plus:

• Output: 50+ keyword suggestions with categorisation (informational, transactional)
• Strengths: Better strategic organisation; suggested content topics
• Weaknesses: No volume data (would need SEO tool plugin)
• Time: 7 minutes
• Grade: A-

Claude Pro:

• Output: Excellent keyword clustering and strategic recommendations (after providing raw keyword data)
• Strengths: Best strategic prioritisation; identified content gaps
• Weaknesses: Needs manual keyword research first
• Time: 10 minutes (with manual research)
• Grade: A (with prep)

Winner: ChatGPT Plus (best balance of research + strategy)

Test 4: Strategic Planning

Task: Help plan go-to-market strategy for a new B2B SaaS product targeting developers.

Perplexity:

• Output: Researched successful GTM strategies from similar products
• Strengths: Found real case studies with sources
• Weaknesses: Didn't synthesise into actionable plan
• Time: 10 minutes
• Grade: B

ChatGPT Plus:

• Output: Comprehensive GTM plan with channels, messaging, milestones
• Strengths: Practical, actionable; included timelines
• Weaknesses: Generic recommendations; not tailored to context
• Time: 8 minutes
• Grade: B+

Claude Pro:

• Output: Highly strategic, context-aware plan after detailed briefing
• Strengths: Best strategic thinking; considered trade-offs; asked clarifying questions
• Weaknesses: Required detailed input to produce best output
• Time: 15 minutes (with context provided)
• Grade: A+

Winner: Claude Pro (best strategic thinking for complex planning)

Test 5: Document Analysis

Task: Analyse 100-page market research report; extract key insights for founders.

Perplexity:

• Output: Can't upload documents (search-focused, not document analysis)
• Grade: N/A

ChatGPT Plus:

• Output: Good summary of key findings; identified trends
• Strengths: Handled 100 pages; extracted main points
• Weaknesses: Missed nuanced insights buried in appendices
• Time: 12 minutes
• Grade: B+

Claude Pro:

• Output: Exceptional analysis with strategic synthesis
• Strengths: 200K context = processed entire report; identified subtle patterns; provided actionable recommendations
• Weaknesses: Slower than ChatGPT for simple summarisation
• Time: 18 minutes
• Grade: A+

Winner: Claude Pro (200K context handles long documents better)

Feature Comparison Table

Use Case Recommendations

Use Perplexity for:

1. Competitive analysis

• Quickly research competitors' pricing, features, positioning
• Get cited sources for every claim
• Verify recent product updates or changes

2. Market research

• Find statistics and trends with sources
• Gather expert opinions from recent articles
• Stay updated on industry news

3. Quick fact-checking

• Verify claims from sales calls or pitches
• Look up technical specifications
• Find recent policy or regulation changes

Typical workflow: "Research [topic]" → Get structured answer with sources → Click through to verify

Use ChatGPT Plus for:

1. Versatile tasks

• Content drafting (blog posts, emails, social)
• Brainstorming and ideation
• General Q&A and learning

2. Plugin-powered workflows

• SEO research (via plugins)
• Data analysis (upload CSVs)
• Image generation (DALL-E 3)

3. Code assistance

• Writing scripts and automation
• Debugging code
• Explaining technical concepts

Typical workflow: Ask question → Refine with follow-ups → Use plugins for specialised tasks

Use Claude Pro for:

1. Strategic planning

• Go-to-market strategy
• Product roadmap prioritisation
• Scenario analysis and trade-off evaluation

2. Long document analysis

• Analysing 100+ page reports
• Synthesising customer research
• Processing financial statements or legal docs

3. Complex reasoning tasks

• Multi-step problem-solving
• Debugging complex systems
• Synthesising conflicting information

Typical workflow: Provide comprehensive context → Ask strategic question → Get nuanced, thoughtful analysis

Our Recommendation

If you can only choose one:

Choose Perplexity if:

• You do heavy research daily (competitive, market, content)
• You need sources/citations for credibility
• Speed matters (faster than ChatGPT browsing)
• Example users: Content marketers, researchers, founders doing competitive intel

Choose ChatGPT Plus if:

• You need versatility (research + content + code + images)
• You use plugins (SEO tools, data analysis, etc.)
• You want one tool for everything
• Example users: Solo founders, generalists, developers

Choose Claude Pro if:

• You do strategic work (planning, analysis, decision-making)
• You analyse long documents regularly (reports, research, legal)
• You value reasoning quality over speed
• Example users: Strategic founders, consultants, analysts

Choose Athenic if:

• You want all three integrated with automation workflows
• You need AI agents that execute, not just advise
• You're building a startup and need hands-off growth/research/ops
• Example users: Early-stage B2B SaaS founders, lean teams

The Multi-Tool Approach

Many founders use all three for different purposes:

Daily workflow example:

1. Morning: Perplexity for news + competitive monitoring
2. Midday: ChatGPT for content drafting + quick tasks
3. Weekly: Claude for strategic planning session

Cost: £16 + £16 + £18 = £50/month (cheaper than 1 hour of consultant time)

Alternative: Athenic integrates research capabilities (Perplexity-style), strategic planning (Claude-style), and execution (automated workflows) -all in one platform at £299/month (includes automation, not just advice).

Practical Tips for Each Tool

Perplexity power tips:

1. Use "Focus" modes: Academic (scholarly sources), Writing (detailed answers), Video (YouTube sources)
2. Follow-up questions: Ask "Find sources for [specific claim]" to dig deeper
3. Date filters: Add "from 2024" to get only recent results

ChatGPT Plus power tips:

1. Use custom instructions: Set context about your role/company to get better responses
2. Chain prompts: Complex tasks work better broken into steps
3. Explore plugins: Check GPT Store for specialized tools (SEO, data analysis, research)

Claude Pro power tips:

1. Provide rich context: Claude performs best with detailed background
2. Upload documents: Use Projects feature to maintain context across conversations
3. Ask for reasoning: Prompt "Think step-by-step" for complex analysis

Next Steps

This week: Try all three

Free trials:

• Perplexity: 7-day free trial
• ChatGPT Plus: 14-day trial (sometimes available)
• Claude Pro: First week free

Test on real task: Pick a research task you need to do this week, try all three, compare results.

This month: Choose your primary

Based on tests, pick primary tool + supplementary tools for specific use cases.

Budget options:

• £16–18/month: One tool (choose based on primary use case)
• £32–36/month: Two tools (Perplexity + Claude or ChatGPT + Claude)
• £50/month: All three (if budget allows)

This quarter: Integrate into workflows

• Set up daily research rituals (Perplexity for morning news scan)
• Build prompt libraries for recurring tasks
• Track time saved vs manual research

All three AI assistants excel -but for different reasons. Perplexity dominates research with citations, ChatGPT wins versatility, and Claude leads strategic thinking. Choose based on your primary use case, or use all three for a comprehensive AI research stack.

Try Athenic: If you want research + strategy + execution in one platform with automated workflows, join our early access: athenic.com/early-access