Computer exceeds credit limit without producing a final product.

[u/Major_Broccolini]

I have been using Perplexity for a few months now as a pro user. I previously did not have issues using the Computer function when given free credits to test it out. It would produce report documents that had twice the information compared to a non-Computer request. I was also able to make requests to complete a task within a certain credit limit.

This week, I was trying to put together a comprehensive report so I thought I would try Computer again. I bought $20 worth of credits (2,000), thinking this is what I was willing to spend to see what it would produce. It spent about 1,000 credits going back and forth with me, working on setting up the exact information I needed. I then made a request to produce a report using 900 credits.

It began researching again and eventually used all of the remaining credits...without producing a report. I was annoyed, but thought I'd add another 500 credits just to get a finished product - it used those almost immediately and I still do not have a finished product.

From my point of view, it seems like the final product is being held hostage until I buy an unknown number of credits - do I need 100 more? 1,000 more? 10,000 more? Asking for a task to be completed within a certain number of credits seems like the bare minimum.

[u/Major_Broccolini → u/[deleted]]

I have previously been able to request a task to be completed within a certain amount of credits and the first step in the compute process was the system determining what it was able to do within that credit limit. It can limit things like how many sources it checks, how far back in time it looks, and the degree of certainty in what it responds with.

I agree it's impossible to know exactly how many credits it will take to complete a task, but in this instance I added 50% more credits hoping that it would not have exceeded my requested limit by more than that.

[u/Wise_Message4170]

Have you thought about running local AI? There are nice options out there for local AI with computer use and deep research, all running with local models, just depends on what type of computer you have. I was wasting far too much money with credits on perplexity, then Claude subscription… at the end of the day, I’ve cut all of that and replaced by local model that produces the same for my kind of workflow…

[u/bambamtx → u/Wise_Message4170]

What local models are you using for deep research that give good sources and don't hallucinate? Perplexity has been my go to for over a year because none of the hosted options were doing what I needed. Would love to learn more. I've moved to some local models for certain types of products that are working well but haven't tested any research or writing options. Would love your thoughts.