AskMed vs Perplexity

What is Perplexity?

Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine made by Perplexity AI that answers questions in conversational language and cites its sources. Perplexity's Help Center says content is pulled from the web in real time as you ask, and that Perplexity serves people doing in-depth research for work, people looking for quick answers to everyday questions and people exploring new subjects. Pro Search runs several searches per question and lets you narrow the focus to Web, Academic, Finance or Files. Research mode runs dozens of searches, reads hundreds of sources and writes a report, and Learn Mode makes flashcards and quizzes from what you are studying. Some cited domains carry a Government, Academic or Trusted label from Perplexity's own source review. In May 2026 Perplexity added premium health sources, starting with NEJM, BMJ Journals and BMJ Best Practice, and Perplexity Health connects US users' medical records and wearables for personal health questions. Perplexity covers every topic; AskMed covers medicine only.

How do AskMed and Perplexity answer a medical question differently?

AskMed and Perplexity differ most in where the search goes before an answer is written. Perplexity searches the web by default, and its premium health sources announcement says that in Perplexity Computer those sources are triggered automatically for relevant questions, with no manual selection. AskMed searches only a fixed list of medical sources: journals and databases such as PubMed, the Cochrane Library, NEJM, The Lancet, JAMA and The BMJ; guidelines and agencies such as NICE, the USPSTF, WHO, CDC and ECDC; FDA and DailyMed drug labels; and references such as StatPearls, the MSD Manual and BMJ Best Practice. AskMed doesn't search the open web, forums or social media. From what it finds, AskMed ranks guidelines and health agencies first, then systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and prefers sources from the last 10 years. Every claim links to its source's exact web address, and when sources disagree, the answer says which evidence is stronger. AskMed writes the search query itself in precise medical terms.

When AskMed's search finds no usable medical source, you get a fixed reply that says so and asks you to rephrase, so an uncited answer is never shown as evidence. How AskMed answers lists every source and rule.

Can you choose medical sources in Perplexity?

Perplexity lets you choose a focus, not medical source types. Perplexity's Pro Search help page lists the focus options as Web, Academic, Finance and Files, and the Academic focus narrows a search to scholarly material across every field. AskMed's source filters are built for medicine. In AskMed you can turn four source types on or off (journals, guidelines, drug labels and references), choose which kinds of studies to use (systematic reviews and meta-analyses, review articles, clinical trials or other studies), and set the number of sources per answer anywhere from 3 to 12, with 8 as the default. A nurse who wants only guideline answers can switch everything else off; a researcher scoping a question can ask for systematic reviews alone; a student who wants a broad overview can raise the count to 12. If an answer cites more sources than you asked for, AskMed drops the least-cited ones. The filters apply to every everyday question, not only to long research reports.

Drug questions and local brand names

AskMed answers drug questions from official drug labels, the prescribing information a regulator approved, and Perplexity's pages state no equivalent drug label search. AskMed reads FDA labels and DailyMed, and for local brand names AskMed also checks official drug registries from many countries, such as the EMA and the UK's medicines.org.uk, so a brand sold in Europe, the UK or elsewhere leads to the right label. Perplexity's premium health sources announcement names Micromedex as a source for medication information that was still to come at launch in May 2026. Each drug claim in AskMed links to the label's web address, so a pharmacist checking an interaction or a nurse checking a side effect can open the label and confirm the wording. AskMed never gives medication doses, dose calculations or titration schedules. A drug answer still covers what the drug is used for, how it works, first-line and alternative options, how dosing is adjusted for kidney or liver function, monitoring, side effects and safety.

Exam prep built in

AskMed includes Exam Prep for 10 licensing exams, while Perplexity's Learn Mode makes general flashcards and quizzes and its Help Center names no licensing exam question bank. AskMed's question banks cover PLAB, USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK, PLE, EDN, UKOMNAS, NEET-PG, ENARM, TUS, Ghana MDC and Israel MLE. The questions are written in advance by the AskMed team, not generated by AI when you ask, and each bank is written in the language of its exam, so a candidate for a non-English exam practices in the language of the real paper. Every question comes with an explanation for every option, not only the right one, and a timed mock of 40 questions in 60 minutes lets you practice under exam conditions. When a question raises something you don't know, you can ask AskMed in the same app and get an answer cited to journals, guidelines and drug labels, then go back to the bank, on iPhone, iPad, Android or the web.

The best AI apps for USMLE and best AI apps for PLAB 1 guides compare AskMed with other study tools for those exams.

When to use each

Use Perplexity for questions outside medicine and AskMed for medical questions. Perplexity is a general search engine: its Help Center describes quick answers to everyday questions, research for professional work and exploring new subjects, with focus options for finance and your own files, so Perplexity suits a news story, a market question or a topic far from the clinic. AskMed is the tool to open when the question is clinical or academic medicine: a guideline recommendation, a drug interaction, the evidence behind a treatment, a mechanism to revise before an exam. In AskMed, every answer comes from a fixed list of medical sources, every claim links to its source, guidelines rank first, filters let you choose the type of evidence, and a question with no medical source gets a plain reply rather than a guess. For students and international medical graduates, AskMed also keeps exam question banks and cited answers in one account, so a gap found in a practice question can be checked in seconds.

How to check an AI medical answer

Checking an AI medical answer means checking the source behind the sentence you plan to act on, whichever tool wrote it, AskMed and Perplexity included. AI answers are written by a language model from what a search found, and a model can misread a source, cite a page that doesn't say what the sentence says, or miss a newer guideline. Four checks cover most of the risk. First, open the citation and confirm that the source says the same thing for the same group of patients, since a trial in adults doesn't answer a question about children. Second, look at the date and type of source: a current guideline outweighs an older review, and one small study is weaker than a meta-analysis. Third, check whose guidance it is, because NICE, US and European guidelines can disagree. Fourth, take doses from the current label or your local formulary. In AskMed, the source list labels each source as a Guideline, Research, Drug label or Reference.

1. Open the citation behind the claim. Make sure the source says what the sentence says, for the same patients and setting.
2. Look at the date and the type of source. A current guideline outweighs an older review, and a meta-analysis outweighs one small study.
3. Check whose guidance it is. Follow the guideline that applies where you practise.
4. Get doses from the label. Use the current prescribing information or your local formulary for amounts and schedules.

The ChatGPT accuracy guide sums up what studies found when general chatbots answer medical questions.

Bottom line

For medical questions, AskMed is the stronger choice over Perplexity. Perplexity is an AI search engine for every topic: it searches the web in real time, offers Web, Academic, Finance and Files focus, and has added premium health sources such as NEJM and BMJ Best Practice. AskMed is built only for medicine and for everyone who works or studies in it: doctors, residents, medical students, nurses, pharmacists and researchers. AskMed searches only a fixed list of medical journals, guidelines, drug labels and references, ranks guidelines first, and links every claim to its source. AskMed's filters let you pick source types, study types and 3 to 12 sources on every question, AskMed checks drug registries outside the US such as the EMA for local brand names, and AskMed says so plainly when no medical source supports an answer. AskMed adds question banks for 10 licensing exams, works worldwide with no NPI or US license, and runs on iPhone, iPad, Android and the web in seven languages.