If you are a research physicist or a quantitative analyst, you need Wolfram Alpha (or, more likely, Mathematica itself). You pay the subscription; you learn the syntax.
The next generation doesn't want an oracle. They want a co-pilot. They don't want to learn the syntax of Mathematica; they want to say, "You know what I meant" when they typed the integral incorrectly. There is no single tool that matches Wolfram Alpha’s breadth. It remains the only public-facing platform that can compute the GDP of Belgium in 1983, then graph the Fourier transform of a sound wave, then tell you the nutritional content of an egg, all in under three seconds. wolfram alpha alternative
But breadth is not depth. And authority is not pedagogy. If you are a research physicist or a