Perplexity is a powerful tool for AI-driven web research. Cue is a voice assistant that sees your screen to execute tasks, dictate text, and run agents in any app.
Choose Perplexity for best-in-class web research with cited sources. Choose Cue for a voice-first assistant that uses screen context to execute tasks on your desktop.
Your primary job is real-time web research with cited answers. Perplexity is excellent at finding and summarizing information from the internet, and its new desktop agent extends this strength.
You want to use your voice to control apps, dictate text, and run actions. Cue is built around a voice, context, and action loop that works universally across your Mac or Windows computer.
Here is a fair, feature-by-feature look at how Cue and Perplexity compare.
| Feature | Cue | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|
| Live screen contextSees active app, selection, and visible content | ✓ Yes | Partial, web-focused |
| Voice as primary inputDesigned for voice-first workflows | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Hotkey activationTrigger from any app | ✓ Yes | Partial |
| Works inside any appNot just a standalone window | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Real-time voice dictationFor any text field on your desktop | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Real-time translationTranslate voice or text on screen | ✓ Yes | Partial, via search |
| Windows support | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| macOS support | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Free tierGenerous free plan available | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Web search with citationsReal-time search with sources | Partial | ✓ Yes |
| Multi-step agentWith local tools and web access | ✓ Yes | Partial, research-focused |
Cue offers a generous free tier and a simple Plus plan. Perplexity uses a freemium model for advanced search features.
Perplexity is a great research tool. Cue is built for a different job: voice-based action.
Perplexity's agent is new and focused on web research. Cue is built from the ground up to see your screen. It knows your active app, selected text, and visible content. This context turns a simple voice command into a precise action. Select text in an email, say 'rewrite this to be more formal', and Cue does it in place. Perplexity can't do that.
In Perplexity, voice is an option for text input. In Cue, voice is the workflow. A global hotkey instantly captures your voice and screen context to trigger an action. It's built for continuous dictation, quick commands, and running agents without leaving your current app.
Perplexity's agent operates on web-based tasks. Cue is a universal layer that works inside Figma, VS Code, Notion, and any other app on your desktop. It's not just for searching, but for doing work where you are.
They hear what you said.
Cue sees what you're doing.
And does the thing, in any app.
Our goal is to help you find the right tool, even if it's not ours.
Your work is primarily web research. Perplexity is one of the best tools available for finding, summarizing, and citing information from the live internet. Its ability to ask follow-up questions and synthesize data from multiple sources is a significant strength. If you need a powerful AI search engine, Perplexity is an excellent choice.
You want to use your voice to take action on your desktop. Switch if you need to dictate text into any field, run agents that see your screen context, or trigger actions with a hotkey from any app. Cue is designed to be a universal voice layer for your computer, not just a destination for search queries.
Yes, if you're looking for a voice-first desktop assistant rather than an AI search engine. While Perplexity excels at web research, Cue focuses on using voice and screen context to execute tasks, dictate text, and run agents inside any Mac or Windows application.
Yes, Cue is available for both macOS and Windows. Perplexity also offers broad cross-platform support, including desktop and mobile apps, so both tools are accessible on major platforms.
No. Perplexity is superior for real-time web research with citations. Cue can perform web searches as part of an agent task, but its core strength is desktop action, not web synthesis. For dedicated, sourced research, we recommend Perplexity.
Cue has a free tier with unlimited dictation and a generous agent credit limit. Cue Plus is $9.99/mo for unlimited agent use. Perplexity also has a free tier, with a Pro plan at $20/mo that unlocks more powerful models and higher usage limits for search.
Cue uses cloud-based AI models, including Claude Sonnet, Claude Opus, and Gemini Flash, to process your requests. This is similar to how Perplexity uses its own and third-party cloud models to power its search and answer capabilities.
Cue's main advantage is its deep, voice-first integration with the desktop. With a hotkey, Cue sees your selected text, active app, and screen content to perform actions. For example, you can select code and ask Cue to refactor it in place. Perplexity's agent is newer and oriented toward web-based research tasks.
Yes. Your privacy is a priority. Screen context and audio are captured to execute your command and are not stored long-term or used for training models. We only store data you explicitly save to your Cue Memory. You can read our full privacy policy for more details.
Switching is simple. Download Cue for Mac or Windows from our website. The installer takes less than a minute. Once installed, you can immediately use the global hotkey to start dictating or giving commands in any app. The free tier is a great way to start.
Start dictating in any app in minutes. Then explore custom agents that use your screen context to get real work done.