Should I Use Inciteful Med, Google, ChatGPT, or Perplexity?
Each tool is good at something different. Here's how to choose.
Quick comparison
| Inciteful Med | ChatGPT | Perplexity | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Researching specific medical questions | Finding a clinic, hours, contact info | Brainstorming, plain-language explanations | General web research |
| Sources | Peer-reviewed medical literature, guidelines, clinical trials | Whatever ranks well - Reddit, blogs, hospital marketing | Trained on the open web (no live citations by default) | Live web search with citations |
| Citations | Every claim cited with passage excerpts | None - you click the links | Limited; varies by question | Yes, web links |
| Personalization | Uses your medical records, with permission | None | None | None |
| Privacy | Encrypted, never sold or shared, not used for training | Standard search tracking | Free-tier conversations may be used for training unless opted out | Standard search tracking |
| Time per answer | 30 seconds to 2 minutes (deep research) | Seconds | 5-30 seconds | Seconds |
Use Google when
- You need a clinic phone number, hours, or address.
- You want to read patient stories or community experiences (subreddits, forums).
- You need to look up the spelling of a drug name.
Use ChatGPT when
- You want a fast plain-language explanation of a concept.
- You're brainstorming or exploring how to phrase something.
- You don't need cited sources and you understand the answer might be wrong.
ChatGPT is great for "what does this medical term mean?" but not for "what should I do about this condition?" - its answers feel confident even when they're guessing.
Use Perplexity when
- You want quick web-sourced research on non-medical topics.
- You don't need anything specific to peer-reviewed medical evidence.
- You want speed over depth.
Use Inciteful Med when
- You need answers grounded in actual medical research, not blog posts.
- You want to verify each claim by reading the cited paper.
- You want answers personalized to a specific person's records.
- You're preparing for a medical decision and need real evidence to bring to your doctor.
Why we built it
Medical questions deserve answers that come from medical literature, not from whichever blog ranks first or whichever LLM training cutoff happens to apply. Inciteful Med exists because none of the alternatives prioritize cited, current, peer-reviewed medical research.