Perplexity not working – How to Fix

Step-by-Step Fix

Work through these steps in order. Each step takes under two minutes. Stop as soon as searches work again.

1. Refresh Once and Note the Error Message

Press Ctrl+R (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+R (Mac) to reload the page. Do not spam refresh — repeated fast reloads can trigger rate limiting.

Note the exact error message you see:

• "Something went wrong" → likely a session or backend issue, continue to step 2
• "Too many requests" → you have hit a usage limit, go to step 4
• "Network error" or blank page → likely a connection or extension issue, go to step 3
• Page loads but the answer never appears → streaming connection blocked, go to step 3

2. Open an Incognito Window

Open a private/incognito window and navigate to perplexity.ai:

• Chrome: Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows) / Cmd+Shift+N (Mac)
• Firefox: Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P
• Safari: Cmd+Shift+N

Sign in to your Perplexity account and run the same search. Incognito windows disable all extensions by default and use a fresh session cookie. If Perplexity works in incognito, the problem is either an extension or a corrupted session in your main browser.

3. Disable Browser Extensions

Extensions are the single most common cause of Perplexity failures on an otherwise working connection. Ad blockers, privacy tools, and VPN extensions frequently break the streaming WebSocket connection Perplexity uses.

To disable all extensions quickly:

1. Open your browser's extension manager (chrome://extensions or about:addons)
2. Toggle off every extension
3. Reload perplexity.ai and test a search
4. If it works, re-enable extensions one at a time to find the culprit

Common offenders: uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, Ghostery, HTTPS Everywhere, and any VPN browser extension.

4. Switch Your Network

Corporate Wi-Fi, university networks, and some ISPs block or throttle WebSocket connections — which Perplexity relies on for streaming answers.

• Switch from Wi-Fi to mobile data (or vice versa)
• If using a VPN app, temporarily disconnect and test
• If on corporate/school Wi-Fi, try your phone's hotspot

Perplexity's streaming endpoint connects via WebSocket on port 443. Some firewalls block persistent WebSocket connections even on HTTPS.

5. Clear Cookies and Cache for Perplexity

A corrupted session token can make every search fail silently.

1. Go to your browser's settings → Privacy → Site data
2. Search for "perplexity.ai"
3. Delete all cookies and cached data for that domain
4. Log back in and test

This takes about 60 seconds and resolves most "perpetual loading" issues.

6. Reduce Request Complexity

If Perplexity works for simple searches but fails on complex ones, you are hitting a per-query compute limit. The server-side timeout is approximately 60 seconds.

• Switch from Pro Search to Quick Search for initial tests
• Avoid combining file uploads + long prompts + Deep Research in one query
• Break a large research task into 3–4 smaller queries

7. Check the Status Page

Visit status.perplexity.ai for real-time incident updates. The page shows uptime for:

• Web app
• API
• Pro search models (Gemini Pro Thinking, Claude Opus, GPT-4o)
• Deep Research

If an incident is active, no client-side fix will help. Wait for the green "Resolved" status and retry.

8. Try the Mobile App

If the web app remains broken and the status page shows no incidents, install or open the Perplexity mobile app. The app uses a separate endpoint and bypasses browser extension and WebSocket firewall issues entirely.

9. Verify Your Subscription Is Active

Since Perplexity quietly reduced Pro search limits in May 2026, some users mistook hitting the new 200-query weekly cap for a service outage. Before assuming a technical failure, go to perplexity.ai/settings/account and confirm:

• Your Pro subscription is active (not expired or payment-failed)
• You have remaining Pro searches for the current week
• Your Deep Research count has not reached the 20/month ceiling

If your Pro searches are exhausted, switch to Standard mode — Standard searches are unlimited on all plans and will continue working even after your Pro quota runs out.

Why This Happens

Perplexity delivers answers via a streaming WebSocket connection — unlike a standard webpage, the connection stays open while the AI generates the response word by word. Three things routinely break this:

1. Extensions intercept or modify the WebSocket handshake before it completes
2. Network firewalls (corporate, school, or ISP-level) close persistent connections after a few seconds
3. Session tokens expire silently, causing the backend to reject requests without a clear error message

Server-side outages are less common but do happen, particularly when Perplexity rolls out a new model or scales infrastructure — typically 1–4 times per month, each lasting 1–4 hours.

It is also worth noting that since May 2026, Perplexity reduced Pro search limits from 600 to 200 per week. If searches suddenly stop working mid-week without any network or extension issues, you may have hit the new weekly cap rather than experiencing a true outage. Check perplexity.ai/settings/account to verify your remaining Pro search quota before assuming a service problem.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Spamming the refresh button. Rapid reloads can trigger Perplexity's rate limiter and extend your downtime by 15–30 minutes.
• Assuming it is always a server outage. The majority of individual failures are caused by browser extensions or network issues, not backend problems. Check the status page before concluding it is an outage.
• Ignoring the exact error message. "Something went wrong" and "Too many requests" have completely different causes and solutions. The error text is your most important diagnostic clue.
• Testing with the most complex query possible. Always test with a simple one-word search first. If that works, the issue is query complexity, not a general outage.
• Forgetting that VPN apps affect the browser even when the browser extension is off. A standalone VPN application (not a browser extension) still routes all browser traffic through a shared IP. Disconnect the VPN app entirely, not just the in-browser extension.
• Skipping the mobile app as a diagnostic tool. If the app works and the web browser does not, you have immediately confirmed the problem is client-side — saving significant troubleshooting time.
• Confusing a plan cap with a service outage. Since May 2026, Perplexity Pro search is capped at 200 queries per week. Running out of your weekly allocation produces an error that looks similar to a network failure. Always check your quota at perplexity.ai/settings/account before escalating to a support ticket.

Related Articles

• Perplexity Pro Message Limit – How to Fix
• Perplexity Login Not Working
• Perplexity Deep Research Not Working

For more Perplexity guides, visit the Perplexity Help Hub.

If you are hitting search limits rather than a true outage, see Perplexity Pro Message Limit – How to Fix for the full breakdown of the May 2026 quota changes and how to work within them.