jQuery.parseJSON vs JSON.parse

According to jQuery

Where the browser provides a native implementation of JSON.parse, jQuery uses it to parse the string.

thus it means that jQuery provides a JSON parser if no native implementation exists on the browser. here's a comparison chart of browsers that have (and don't have) JSON functionality

Here is an extract from jQuery 1.9.1:

parseJSON: function( data ) {
    // Attempt to parse using the native JSON parser first
    if ( window.JSON && window.JSON.parse ) {
        return window.JSON.parse( data );
    }

    if ( data === null ) {
        return data;
    }

    if ( typeof data === "string" ) {

        // Make sure leading/trailing whitespace is removed (IE can't handle it)
        data = jQuery.trim( data );

        if ( data ) {
            // Make sure the incoming data is actual JSON
            // Logic borrowed from http://json.org/json2.js
            if ( rvalidchars.test( data.replace( rvalidescape, "@" )
                .replace( rvalidtokens, "]" )
                .replace( rvalidbraces, "")) ) {

                return ( new Function( "return " + data ) )();
            }
        }
    }

    jQuery.error( "Invalid JSON: " + data );
},

As you can see, jQuery will use the native JSON.parse method if it is available, and otherwise it will try to evaluate the data with new Function, which is kind of like eval.

So yes, you should definitely use jQuery.parseJSON.