Replit AI vs Perplexity: Build the Thing vs Research the Thing

Replit AI is an in-browser IDE that scaffolds, writes, and deploys apps from prompts. Perplexity is an answer engine that grounds responses in web sources and shows them. One makes software; the other makes decisions.

I used Perplexity to confirm the right library and a known pitfall, then Replit AI to scaffold the app and ship it to a live URL. Perplexity shortened my research; Replit shortened my build. Neither could do the other's job.

The friction is handoff. Perplexity's citations don't paste into code, and Replit won't tell you whether your approach is sound versus three alternatives. Used together they cover 'should I' and 'how do I.'

Verdict: validating an approach and finding sources, Perplexity. Actually building and deploying, Replit AI. On a real project you'll start with one and finish with the other.