Why Perplexity AI Is the Fastest-Growing Search Engine of 2025

When you first hear the word Perplexity, it sounds like something your math teacher would say before handing you a brutal exam. But in 2025, Perplexity means something else entirely: a search engine that’s giving Google sweaty palms and making ChatGPT glance nervously over its digital shoulder.

If you’ve been hearing the hype and wondering, “Okay, but how big is Perplexity really?”—you’re in the right place. Today, we’re breaking down real Perplexity AI stats 2025 in a way that’s human, fun, and (hopefully) backlink-worthy.

And don’t worry—this isn’t another boring AI report. I’ll throw in graphs, context, and a bit of sass so you actually enjoy reading it.

🚀 How Many People Use Perplexity AI in 2025?

Let’s start with the numbers that matter most: people. Because no matter how sleek the AI, without users it’s just a very expensive code library sitting in a server rack.

• On the website alone, Perplexity pulls in 15 million monthly active users.
• If you add in the mobile app, that jumps to 22 million monthly active users.
• That’s more than the population of the Netherlands, all typing “What’s the capital of Kazakhstan?” at 2 a.m.

Here’s how Perplexity’s user growth exploded in just over a year:

That’s the kind of hockey-stick growth startups dream about.

📊 How Many Questions Does Perplexity Handle?

Now, here’s where things get spicy.

• In May 2025, Perplexity handled 780 million queries.
• That breaks down to around 26 million questions per day.
• Or about 18,000 questions per minute.

Imagine being the one friend who always has the answers in the group chat—but multiplied by a hundred million.

Queries are climbing like a caffeinated squirrel—fast, relentless, and kind of impressive to watch.

📱 Desktop vs Mobile: Who’s Asking the Questions?

Fun fact: not all Perplexity users are sitting at desks in office chairs. In fact, most of them aren’t.

• 63.5% of users are on mobile.
• 36.5% are on desktop.

This makes sense—AI is becoming less of a “sit down and research” thing and more of a “settle arguments over dinner” thing.

Mobile is clearly winning, but desktop is still hanging in there for office warriors and night-owl researchers.

💰 Valuation and Revenue – Perplexity’s Big Payday

AI isn’t just about answering trivia—it’s about building billion-dollar empires.

• As of mid-2025, Perplexity is valued at around $18 billion.
• It’s already generating over $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

To put that in perspective, that’s unicorn status squared. Not bad for a company that didn’t exist three years ago.

🌍 Going Global

One of Perplexity’s biggest strengths? It didn’t stay stuck in Silicon Valley.

• It’s available in 238 countries.
• It supports 46 languages.

That means you could be in Brazil, Japan, Nigeria, or Iceland and still ask Perplexity “Should I put pineapple on pizza?” (answer: no, don’t do it).

⚖️ The Challenges (Because It’s Not All Sunshine)

Of course, every rising star gets a few bruises.

• In 2025, Perplexity faced copyright controversies for summarising content directly from publishers.
• Some websites accused it of aggressive web crawling.

This is part of a bigger question: how do you build an AI search engine without making the publishers who feed it very, very mad?

🔍 Perplexity vs ChatGPT – The Showdown

It’s impossible to talk about Perplexity without mentioning ChatGPT. Here’s a quick comparison:

• ChatGPT: 800 million weekly users.
• Perplexity: 22 million monthly users.
• ChatGPT: 2.5 billion prompts per day.
• Perplexity: 780 million prompts per month.

Yes, ChatGPT is still the giant in the room. But Perplexity has something different: search with citations. That makes it feel less like a chatbot and more like a research assistant.

🔮 What’s Next for Perplexity?

Here’s where I put on my prediction hat:

1. More enterprise deals (companies are hungry for AI that can actually cite).
2. 2–3 billion queries per month by 2026.
3. Deeper battles with Google (expect some spicy rivalry).
4. Regulation headaches (copyright debates are just starting).

🎯 Final Thoughts

Perplexity AI isn’t just “another AI tool.” It’s a sign of where search is headed. The age of “10 blue links” is ending, and the age of “just give me the answer, please” is beginning.

Here’s what the numbers told us today:

• 22 million monthly users.
• 780 million monthly queries.
• $18 billion valuation.
• 100+ million weekly questions.
• 238 countries served.

For a company still in startup years, those stats are jaw-dropping.

And whether you’re cheering for it, skeptical of it, or secretly hoping it eats into Google’s monopoly, one thing is clear: Perplexity is no longer just an underdog—it’s a real contender in the AI search race.