Perplexity sources tracking
perplexitysourcesAnonymous
Perplexity's source list is ordered, stable and complete, which makes it the reference implementation we validate other engines' source parsing against.
How it renders
A numbered source list rendered under the answer.
Sampling
Source panels are wider and more stable than inline citations, so they reach a usable confidence interval at lower n.
Gotcha
Stability is relative. The list is structurally stable between samples; its contents still change, and reporting one run as fact remains wrong here too.
What the API returns
A single collection call against Perplexity for the sources field, sampled n times and returned as one object per prompt.
{
"engine": "perplexity",
"field": "sources",
"prompt": "best ai visibility tracking tool",
"country": "GB",
"language": "en",
"n": 30,
"sources": [
{
"url": "https://nostimates.com/docs",
"domain": "nostimates.com",
"inline": true,
"sample_frequency": 0.7
},
{
"url": "https://example.org/report",
"domain": "example.org",
"inline": false,
"sample_frequency": 0.23
}
]
}Response fields
| Key | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| url | string | Source URL from the panel. |
| domain | string | Registrable domain. |
| title | string | null | Panel title as rendered. |
| inline | boolean | Whether this source was also cited inline. |
| sample_frequency | float | Share of n samples containing this source. |
What it costs
Included in the base collection wherever the engine exposes a panel.
See credit pricing →Perplexity sources FAQ
- How reliable is Perplexity source extraction?
- The most reliable of any engine we cover — extraction success is effectively total on rendered answers.
- Do sources change between samples?
- Yes. Structure is stable, contents are not. Sample n times regardless.
Use Perplexity as your reliability baseline
We'll set up collection here first so you have a clean benchmark before adding noisier engines.
Other Perplexity data
Across every engine
Compare how sources behaves on every engine we track.
Sources across all engines →