Comet

Perplexity, the AI search engine company led by CEO Aravind Srinivas, launched Comet in July 2025. Perplexity is known for its AI-powered search engine that provides direct answers with citations rather than just returning links.

Top Features

1. Agentic AI Assistant: The Comet Assistant can actually navigate web pages, click buttons, fill forms, and perform tasks on your behalf - not just provide information. ‍
2. Contextual Intelligence: Processes data locally and analyzes your browsing context in real-time to provide relevant assistance without requiring manual activation.
3. Multi-tab Workflow Automation: Handles complex multi-step workflows across multiple tabs, extracting and transferring structured data between sites.‍
4. Email & Calendar Integration: For Max subscribers, it can analyze Gmail and calendar, draft replies matching your tone, prioritize inbox, schedule meetings, and respond to emails. ‍
5. Voice Control: Hit Shift + Alt + V to talk to your browser and give voice commands for hands-free operation. ‍
6. Smart Research: Automatically researches topics, extracts key information, creates summaries with citations, and organizes findings by subtopic.
7. Shopping Assistant: Compares prices across retailers, calculates shipping and taxes, finds deals, and can add items to cart with approval. ‍
8. Custom Shortcuts: Create reusable commands that collapse complex prompts into single words for repetitive tasks.

How to Get It & Install

Installation is straightforward:

1. Visit perplexity.ai/comet
2. Click "Download Comet"
3. Run the downloaded file to install
4. Launch the Comet app
5. Set up your profile (name, avatar, color scheme)
6. Choose whether to make it your default browser
7. Sign in with your Perplexity account for full features ‍

While Perplexity says it's "available to everyone worldwide," some users may still encounter a waitlist. You can join the waitlist for free or get immediate access by subscribing to Perplexity Pro ($20/month). ‍

Unique Selling Points (USPs)

1. True Agentic Capabilities: Unlike traditional AI assistants that just answer questions, Comet actually performs work - it can interact with any webpage element regardless of how it's coded.
2. Citations-First Approach: Every answer includes inline sources, making it valuable for academic and professional work where verification matters.
3. Now Free: Originally only available to $200/month Perplexity Max subscribers, Comet is now completely free to use with the company stating it "will always be free."
4. Privacy-Focused: Processes data locally and doesn't train its models on personal information.
5. Background Assistants: For Max users, multiple AI assistants can work simultaneously and asynchronously in the background on different tasks.

User Reviews & Reception

From Tom's Guide reviewer Alex Hughes: "When you use the assistant, Perplexity lists out every single step it takes. It is painfully granular, but when it is handling your finances, calendar, and accounts, this is exactly what you want."

Early reviews indicate Comet excels at "speed, granularity, and ease, outperforming Atlas in several reviews" when compared to OpenAI's browser.

Users note that while Comet can be slow at times, "it completes multi-step tasks without much hand-holding" compared to competitors like Atlas which can get stuck in loops.

According to Perplexity's data, "people using Comet ask 6-18 times more questions on their first day compared to regular browsing," suggesting high user engagement.

However, security researchers from Brave discovered vulnerabilities allowing attackers to inject malicious commands through hidden text in screenshots, though this was reported to Perplexity in October 2025. ‍

Alternatives

Main competitors include:

1. OpenAI Atlas - ChatGPT-integrated browser, currently macOS only, with "agent mode" for task automation. Better for users already deep in the ChatGPT ecosystem.
2. The Browser Company's Dia - AI-centric browser in invite-only beta, looks like Chrome with AI chat tool. Features "skills" (pre-made prompts) marketplace. ‍
3. Opera Neon - Contextual awareness, works offline, $19.90/month subscription, focuses on local processing for privacy.‍
4. Google Chrome with Gemini - Traditional browser with AI features added on
5. Microsoft Edge with Copilot - Windows-integrated AI browser

Pricing & Paid Features

Comet browser itself is now completely free and "will always be free" according to Perplexity.‍

Optional Paid Tiers:

1. Comet Plus ($5/month standalone): Premium journalism subscription providing AI-enhanced alternative to Apple News with partners including CNN, Washington Post, Condé Nast titles.‍
2. Perplexity Pro ($20/month): Advanced AI models, image/video generation, file upload/analysis. Pro users get Comet Plus included.
3. Perplexity Max ($200/month): Includes email assistant features, background assistants that work simultaneously, early access to new features, and all Pro benefits.

A mobile version is currently in development, promising to eliminate mobile ad clutter and offer voice-powered interaction.