Perplexity Keeps Going Down. Here's What I Switched To.
Marcus RodriguezI was halfway through researching a client proposal when Perplexity went down again.
If you've been using Perplexity recently, you know the drill. "An issue affecting the stability of the website has been detected." Cool. Very helpful. Guess I'll just sit here then.
This keeps happening. October 2025 was an AWS outage that took Perplexity down for hours. November was a Cloudflare thing that broke half the internet, Perplexity included. And now February 2026, another stability issue.
I like Perplexity. The concept is great—AI-powered search with citations and follow-up questions. But I'm done with my workflow getting interrupted every few weeks because their infrastructure hiccups.
The thing that finally made me switch
It wasn't even an outage. It was realizing what Perplexity actually is: a single-model interface with search capabilities.
That's it. One AI model (their Sonar model, which is based on Llama), web search integration, and a nice UI. For $20/month.
Meanwhile, I'm also paying for ChatGPT Plus because Perplexity can't code. And sometimes I use Claude because it writes better. And occasionally Gemini because it handles videos.
I was managing four AI subscriptions—over $80/month—and still hitting limitations because each tool only does its one thing.
What I actually needed
Here's what I wanted:
That's when a friend showed me LazySusan.
Full disclosure: I'm not sponsored
I want to be clear—nobody's paying me to write this. I just genuinely switched and it solved my problem, so I'm sharing.
What LazySusan actually offers
Here's the deal: it's one subscription that gives you access to 50+ AI models. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity (when it's working), and a bunch of others I'd never even tried.
For AI search specifically—what I was using Perplexity for—I can now use:
If one goes down, I just switch to another. No workflow interruption. No staring at an error page.
The part I didn't expect
Using multiple models side-by-side changed how I work.
For research, I'll often run the same query through Perplexity AND Gemini. They surface different sources. They emphasize different aspects. I get a more complete picture than either one alone.
For coding, I'll start with Claude, then run the same problem through GPT-5 for a second opinion. They approach problems differently. One catches edge cases the other misses.
This wasn't possible when I was locked into single subscriptions. Now it's my default workflow.
The numbers
My old setup:
My new setup:
Plus I got access to image generators, video AI, and models I'd never tried because the standalone subscriptions were too expensive.
It's not perfect
I want to be fair here—LazySusan isn't a magic solution.
The token system takes some getting used to. Different models cost different amounts, so you need to be aware of what you're using. Heavy users might burn through tokens fast.
And if you're deeply invested in one platform's specific features—like ChatGPT's memory system or Claude's Projects—you might miss those. LazySusan gives you the models, but each platform has unique features beyond just the AI itself.
For me, the tradeoffs are worth it. I wanted flexibility and reliability more than platform-specific features.
The bottom line
Perplexity is fine when it works. But I'm done building my workflow around any single platform that can go down without warning.
If you're frustrated with outages, paying for multiple subscriptions, or just want to try different AI models without committing to each one separately—check out LazySusan.
Or don't. Keep using Perplexity. Just maybe have a backup plan for the next outage.
What's your experience been with Perplexity's reliability? And if you've found good alternatives, I'm curious what else is out there.