# Competitor research with Perplexity: a repeatable method > A step-by-step Perplexity method for competitor teardowns: positioning, pricing, integrations, reviews and change tracking, with prompts. Source: https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-competitor-research Author: Dipuck Jones, founder of MentionX Updated: 5 November 2026 Level: Practitioner **The fastest reliable way to research competitors with Perplexity is a fixed teardown. Use the same seven sections, the same prompts and the same source rules for every rival, in a shared Project, with every claim linked and dated. You get comparable one-pagers in an afternoon, and a monthly refresh shows you what changed. The other half of the job is to ask Perplexity about your category the way a buyer would, and see which competitor it recommends and why.** > **Key takeaways** > > - Use one template for every competitor: positioning, ICP, pricing, product, proof, channels and weaknesses. > - Use Pro Search to build each section, and Research for the full teardown. > - Ask buyer-style prompts to see how Perplexity itself positions your rivals. That's a visibility finding, not just research. > - Log every claim with its URL and date. Refresh monthly and diff the changes. *Checked 5 November 2026 (CET) against the Perplexity Help Center, Perplexity blog, Perplexity API docs and the outlets cited in Sources. Perplexity renames and moves features often, so confirm labels and limits in your own account. "Our view" marks MentionX opinion. Ledgerline is a fictional company used for illustration.* ## What goes into a competitor teardown? | Section | Questions | Best sources | |---|---|---| | 1. Positioning | Headline promise, category label, top three claims | Homepage, product pages, recent press releases | | 2. ICP | Company size, industries, roles they target | Case studies, customer logos, job posts | | 3. Pricing | Tiers, billing basis, what's gated, free trial | Pricing page, help centre, review-site pricing notes | | 4. Product | Core features, integrations, recent launches | Docs, changelog, integration directory | | 5. Proof | Customers, case-study metrics, awards, review ratings | Case studies, G2/Capterra, analyst mentions | | 6. Channels | Content themes, events, partners, communities | Blog, webinar pages, partner pages, social | | 7. Weaknesses | Recurring complaints, churn reasons, gaps | Review text, community threads, comparison pages | ## What prompts should you use for each section? Run these in a Project whose instructions include your source rules (see [lesson 4](https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-prompting-source-control)). Replace Competitor A with the real name and domain. **Positioning** ``` From competitor-a.com (homepage, product pages) and press releases from the last 12 months, extract: headline promise, category they claim, top three differentiators, exact quotes with URLs. ``` **Pricing** ``` Build a table of Competitor A's current pricing tiers: tier name, price, billing basis, limits, what requires sales contact. Use only the official pricing page and help centre. Show the date each page was last updated if visible. ``` **Product and launches** ``` List features and integrations Competitor A launched or announced in the last 6 months. Use their changelog, blog and docs. Table: date, feature, link. ``` **Proof** ``` List named customers and any quantified results Competitor A publishes. Separate "metric claimed by vendor" from "metric verified by a third party". ``` **Weaknesses** ``` Search review sites and finance-community threads for recurring complaints about Competitor A in the last 12 months. Group into themes with 2 example quotes each, linked. ``` > **Pro move:** add "Quote the exact sentence" to every prompt. Paraphrases hide weak evidence. Exact quotes make it obvious when a claim isn't really there. ## How do you see how Perplexity positions competitors? This step is about visibility as much as research. Ask the questions your buyers ask and record what Perplexity says about each rival: | Prompt type | Example | |---|---| | Best-of | "Best accounts payable automation software for mid-market companies" | | Versus | "Competitor A vs Competitor B for multi-entity AP" | | Alternative | "Alternatives to Competitor A" | | Problem-led | "How do I stop duplicate invoice payments?" | | Feature-led | "AP software with native NetSuite integration" | For each answer, record which vendors are mentioned, in what order, the reason given for each, and the cited sources. Those reasons tell you which messages Perplexity has absorbed from each competitor's content and third-party coverage. Track these prompts over time in [lesson 19](https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-share-of-citations-tracking). ## How do you run the teardown step by step? 1. **Create the Project.** Name it "Competitive intel", attach a competitor list with domains, and paste the source rules into the instructions. 2. **Run one section at a time with Pro Search.** Short, focused prompts give cleaner sources than one giant prompt. 3. **Run a Research report to fill gaps.** "Using the sections above, write a one-page teardown of Competitor A. Flag any section with weak evidence." 4. **Verify.** Open the five most important citations, especially pricing and proof. 5. **Write the so-what.** Three implications for your positioning, content and sales enablement. Write this yourself and don't delegate it. 6. **Store.** Save the one-pager with the date in your shared drive and pin the thread in the Project. 7. **Schedule the refresh.** Use a Computer Automation (see [lesson 9](https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-computer-marketing-tasks)) or an n8n workflow ([lesson 12](https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-n8n-automation)) to check pricing and changelog pages monthly. ## How do you track changes over time? Changes matter more than snapshots. A simple diff routine: - Keep last month's teardown table. - Ask: "Compare this table (attached) with Competitor A's current pricing page and changelog. List only changes, with links." - Log each change with the date, what changed and why it matters. Perplexity's API cookbook includes a "story timeline" recipe that searches week by week with publication-date filters. You can adapt it to "what was said about Competitor A each week this quarter". See [lesson 11](https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-api-agent-search-marketers). ## How do you keep the research honest? - **Separate claim from fact.** "Competitor A says it cuts processing time by half" isn't evidence that it does. - **Date everything.** Pricing older than 90 days is a hypothesis. - **Note access limits.** Perplexity can't see gated demos or logged-in pages. Say so in the one-pager. - **Don't scrape what you shouldn't.** Use public pages only, and respect site terms. - **No invented numbers.** If Perplexity offers a revenue or customer-count estimate without a credible source, write "unknown". ## Worked example: Ledgerline *Ledgerline is a fictional accounts-payable software company. Details are illustrative.* Ledgerline's product marketer built teardowns of Competitors A-D in one afternoon using the template, then ran the five buyer prompts. | Finding | Source type | Implication | |---|---|---| | Competitor A moved its NetSuite integration into its cheapest tier | Pricing page, changelog | Update the Ledgerline vs Competitor A page within a week | | Competitor C's reviews repeatedly mention slow support | Review text | Lead the sales talk track with Ledgerline's support SLA, backed by evidence | | Perplexity's "best AP software" answer described Competitor B as "best for multi-entity" | Two review roundups cited | Earned-media target: get Ledgerline into both roundups ([lesson 16](https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-citation-gap-earned-media)) | | Competitor D had no recent launches | Changelog | Lower priority for monthly refresh | ### Walkthrough 1. Created the "Competitive intel" Project with domains and source rules. 2. Ran the seven section prompts per competitor (28 Pro Searches in total). 3. Ran one Research report per competitor to stitch the sections together and flag gaps. 4. Verified pricing by hand for all four rivals. 5. Ran the five buyer prompts and logged mentions, order and cited sources. 6. Wrote three implications per competitor and shared them in the Monday meeting. 7. Set a monthly Automation to diff pricing and changelog pages. ## Common mistakes - **One giant prompt.** It gives shallow sections and mixed sources. - **No dates.** You can't tell old from current. - **Skipping the buyer prompts.** You learn what competitors say, but not what Perplexity says about them. - **Teardowns nobody reads.** Always finish with three implications and an owner. ## Try it yourself Pick your closest competitor. Run the positioning, pricing and weaknesses prompts above, then the "best-of" and "alternatives to" buyer prompts. Fill the teardown table and write three implications. Time yourself. A first teardown should take under two hours. ## Quick quiz **1. Why run sections separately instead of one big prompt?** *Answer:* Focused prompts produce cleaner sources and more complete sections. **2. What is the visibility value of buyer prompts in competitor research?** *Answer:* They show how Perplexity itself positions each rival and which sources drive that, which tells you where you need to get cited. **3. What should you write when a revenue figure has no credible source?** *Answer:* Unknown. ## What should you check before the next lesson? - A "Competitive intel" Project exists with domains and source rules. - At least one teardown is complete, verified and dated. - Buyer prompts are logged for later tracking. Previous: [Prompting and source control](https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-prompting-source-control). Next: [Market and audience research](https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-market-audience-research). Or return to the [Perplexity for Marketers track](https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-for-marketers). Related: [Projects for teams](https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-projects-teams), [n8n competitor monitoring](https://mentionx.ai/learn/n8n/n8n-competitor-monitoring), [ChatGPT deep research for competitive intel](https://mentionx.ai/learn/chatgpt/chatgpt-deep-research-competitive-intel). ## Common questions **Is it legal to research competitors with Perplexity?** Researching public information such as websites, pricing pages, reviews and filings is normal competitive research. Don't try to access gated or private material, and follow each site's terms. **How often should I refresh a competitor teardown?** Monthly for pricing and messaging on your top rivals, quarterly for the full teardown, and immediately after a launch or funding announcement. **Can Perplexity tell me a competitor's revenue?** Only if a credible public source exists, such as filings or reputable reporting. Treat estimates without a named source as unknown. ## Sources - Perplexity Help Center, [What is Pro Search?](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10352903-what-is-pro-search) - Perplexity Help Center, [What are Projects?](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10352961-what-are-projects) - Perplexity API docs, [Track what the web said each week about a topic](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/cookbook/examples/agent-api-story-timeline/README) - All accessed 5 Nov 2026. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is it legal to research competitors with Perplexity? Researching public information such as websites, pricing pages, reviews and filings is normal competitive research. Do not try to access gated or private material, and follow each site's terms. ### How often should I refresh a competitor teardown? Monthly for pricing and messaging on your top rivals, quarterly for the full teardown, and immediately after a launch or funding announcement. ### Can Perplexity tell me a competitor's revenue? Only if a credible public source exists, such as filings or reputable reporting. Treat estimates without a named source as unknown. --- Written and reviewed by Dipuck Jones for MentionX Learn. The HTML version of this page: https://mentionx.ai/learn/perplexity/perplexity-competitor-research