The Ultimate Showdown: Perplexity Spaces vs. Gemini Gems – Which is Right for You?
Z
Zack Saadioui
8/14/2025
The Ultimate Showdown: Perplexity Spaces vs. Gemini Gems – Which is Right for You?
Hey there, so you've probably been hearing a TON about all these new AI tools popping up, right? It feels like every week there's a new "game-changer" that promises to revolutionize how we work, research, & even think. Honestly, it can be a little overwhelming to keep up with it all.
Two of the biggest names making waves right now are Perplexity Spaces & Google's Gemini Gems. They both offer this cool way to create customized AI assistants, but they go about it in VERY different ways. It’s not just about which one is "better" – it’s about which one is better for YOU.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into both of these platforms, running tests, & seeing what they're really made of. So, let's break it all down, no jargon, just real talk. We'll look at what they do, who they're for, & how they stack up against each other in the real world.
What's the Big Idea? Perplexity Spaces vs. Gemini Gems
At first glance, Spaces & Gems seem pretty similar. They both let you create these little custom chatbots where you can set instructions & upload your own files. The goal is to have a personalized AI that's an expert in whatever you need it to be. But here's the thing, the philosophy behind each one is fundamentally different.
Perplexity Spaces is all about being the ultimate answer engine. Think of it as a super-powered research assistant. It's built for accuracy, transparency, & getting you the best, most up-to-date information from the web, with citations to back it up. When you create a Space, you're essentially building a dedicated research hub for a specific topic.
Gemini Gems, on the other hand, is more like a creative collaborator. Since it's baked into the Google ecosystem, it's designed to be a versatile partner for all sorts of tasks, from writing emails & generating ideas to summarizing documents in your Google Drive. It's less about just finding answers & more about helping you create & get things done.
So, to put it simply:
Perplexity Spaces = Your Personal Research Analyst
Gemini Gems = Your Personal AI Teammate
This distinction is SUPER important, & it's going to influence which one you gravitate towards.
A Deeper Dive: Feature-by-Feature Breakdown
Let's get into the nitty-gritty. Here's how Perplexity Spaces & Gemini Gems stack up when you look at their core features:
Yes, you can set a persona & guidelines for the Space
Yes, you can give your Gem a specific role & instructions
File Uploads
Yes, you can upload PDFs, text files, etc. (Pro users get more storage)
Yes, you can upload files to give your Gem context
Web Access
Excellent, real-time web search is its specialty
Yes, integrated with Google Search
Collaboration
Yes, you can invite others to collaborate in a Space
Not as direct, more for individual use
AI Models
Offers a variety of models, including their own Sonar series, plus options like GPT-4 & Claude 3.5 on the Pro plan
Uses Google's own Gemini models, like Gemini 1.5 Pro & Flash
Ecosystem Integration
Standalone, but can connect to some apps for file syncing on enterprise plans
Deeply integrated with Google Workspace (Docs, Drive, Gmail, etc.)
Pricing
Free tier with limited features, Pro plan for around $20/month
Free for basic use, but Gems are part of the Gemini Advanced subscription (around $20/month)
The User Experience: How They Feel to Use
This is where the differences REALLY start to show.
Using Perplexity Spaces feels clean, focused, & professional. When you create a Space, it's like opening a fresh notebook for a new project. You can give it a name, a description, & some instructions. For example, you could create a Space for "Q3 Marketing Campaign" & instruct it to act as a marketing expert, always providing data-backed suggestions & citing its sources.
The cool thing about Spaces is the ability to toggle between searching the web & searching only the files you've uploaded. This is amazing for things like analyzing a dense research paper without getting distracted by web results. The answers are structured, with clear citations, which makes it feel incredibly reliable.
Using Gemini Gems, however, feels a bit more like you're building a team of specialists. You can create a "Gem" for anything. Maybe you have a "Creative Writing Coach" Gem that helps you brainstorm story ideas, or a "Social Media Manager" Gem that drafts your LinkedIn posts in a specific tone of voice.
The real magic of Gems is its connection to your Google account. You can actually use the "@" symbol to pull in information from your Gmail, Google Docs, & Drive. Imagine asking your "Project Manager" Gem to summarize the key points from a specific Google Doc – that's a HUGE time-saver. It feels less like a sterile research tool & more like a true digital assistant that's part of your workflow.
Head-to-Head: Real-World Scenarios
Let's see how these two platforms handle some common tasks.
Scenario 1: The Market Researcher
You're a market researcher tasked with putting together a report on the latest trends in the electric vehicle (EV) industry.
With Perplexity Spaces: This is where Spaces absolutely shines. You'd create a "EV Market Research" Space. You could upload industry reports, competitor analyses, & a list of key companies to watch. Then, you can ask it questions like, "What are the most significant challenges facing EV adoption in 2025, based on the uploaded documents & recent news?" Perplexity will give you a detailed, synthesized answer, pulling from both your files & the latest web results, with footnotes linking back to the sources. It’s precise, credible, & exactly what a researcher needs.
With Gemini Gems: You could create an "EV Industry Analyst" Gem. It would do a good job of searching the web & giving you an overview. However, it might not provide the same level of source transparency as Perplexity. Where it might have an edge is if you have a bunch of notes in Google Docs – you could ask it to summarize them for you. But for pure, hard-nosed research, Perplexity has the advantage.
Winner: Perplexity Spaces
Scenario 2: The Content Creator
You're a content creator who needs to brainstorm ideas for a new YouTube series & then write a script for the first episode.
With Perplexity Spaces: You could create a "YouTube Idea Generator" Space & feed it information about your channel & target audience. It could help you with research & finding trending topics. However, when it comes to the actual creative writing part, it might feel a bit dry. Its strength is in facts, not flair.
With Gemini Gems: This is Gemini's home turf. You could create a "YouTube Scriptwriter" Gem & give it a persona: "You are a witty & engaging scriptwriter who specializes in making complex topics easy to understand." You could then have a back-&-forth conversation, brainstorming ideas, developing an outline, & then finally asking it to write the full script. Gemini's creative writing capabilities are generally considered more robust & human-like.
Winner: Gemini Gems
Scenario 3: The Small Business Owner
You're a small business owner who needs help with everything from drafting customer support emails to creating marketing copy & analyzing sales data.
This one's a bit of a toss-up, & it highlights the different philosophies of the two platforms.
With Perplexity Spaces: You could create separate Spaces for different parts of your business. A "Customer Support" Space could be loaded with your FAQ documents to help you draft quick, accurate replies. A "Marketing" Space could help you research competitor strategies. It's a great way to organize your business knowledge.
With Gemini Gems: You could create a team of Gems: a "Support Specialist," a "Marketing Guru," & a "Data Analyst." The ability to connect to your Google Workspace is a massive advantage here. You could have your "Marketing Guru" Gem help you write a promotional email & then have it check your Google Calendar for the best time to send it.
For a business owner who needs to implement these AI tools on their website to interact with customers, neither Perplexity Spaces nor Gemini Gems are the perfect solution out-of-the-box. They're more for internal use.
This is where a tool like Arsturn comes in. If you're looking to build a customer-facing chatbot for your website, Arsturn is designed for that specific purpose. It lets you create a no-code AI chatbot trained on your own data – your product info, your support articles, your FAQs. This means you can have an AI assistant on your website 24/7, answering customer questions, providing instant support, & even helping with lead generation. So, while you might use Gemini Gems to draft your marketing copy, you'd use Arsturn to build the chatbot that delivers that copy & engages with your website visitors.
The AI Models Powering the Magic
It's worth touching on the AI models behind these platforms, as it has a big impact on their performance.
Perplexity is interesting because it's model-agnostic. On its free plan, it uses its own Sonar models. But if you upgrade to the Pro plan, you can choose from a whole menu of powerful models, including OpenAI's GPT-4.1 & Anthropic's Claude 3.5. This is great because you can pick the best model for the task at hand. For example, you might use Claude for writing & GPT-4 for data analysis.
Gemini, as you'd expect, uses Google's in-house Gemini models. The free version typically uses Gemini 1.5 Flash, while the Advanced subscription gives you access to the more powerful Gemini 1.5 Pro. These models are known for their massive context windows (meaning they can remember more of your conversation) & their multimodal capabilities (they can understand text, images, & even video).
The Big Question: Which One Should You Choose?
Alright, let's bring it all home. Here’s the bottom line:
You should choose Perplexity Spaces if:
Your work is heavily research-based.
You value accuracy & source citations above all else.
You need to stay on top of the latest information & news.
You're a student, academic, journalist, or analyst.
You like the idea of having a clean, organized hub for each of your projects.
You should choose Gemini Gems if:
You live in the Google ecosystem (Docs, Drive, Gmail, etc.).
You need a versatile assistant for a wide range of creative & administrative tasks.
You value workflow automation & having an AI that can help you "do" things.
You're a marketer, content creator, small business owner, or just someone who wants to be more productive.
You want an AI that feels more like a collaborative partner.
And if you're a business looking to take that next step & build a custom AI chatbot for your website, you should definitely check out Arsturn. It’s a conversational AI platform that helps you build meaningful connections with your audience through personalized chatbots, turning your website into an interactive experience that can boost conversions & provide top-notch customer support.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, both Perplexity Spaces & Gemini Gems are pretty amazing tools. They represent a new way of interacting with AI, moving beyond simple one-off questions to creating persistent, personalized assistants.
The best way to figure out which one is right for you is to just try them both out. They both have free versions, so you can get a feel for their workflows & see which one clicks with the way you work.
I hope this breakdown was helpful! It's an exciting time in the world of AI, & tools like these are only going to get better. Let me know what you think – have you tried either of them? Which one do you prefer?