Perplexity Comet, launched by Perplexity AI on July 9, 2025, is an innovative AI-powered web browser designed to redefine how we interact with the internet. Unlike traditional browsers like Chrome or Safari, Comet integrates Perplexity’s advanced AI search engine and an AI assistant to create a thinking-oriented browsing experience.
It aims to amplify human intelligence by automating tasks, summarizing content, and fostering curiosity-driven exploration. This detailed overview explores Comet’s features, availability, user experiences, competitive landscape, and future prospects, providing a complete picture of its potential and challenges.
Background and Purpose
Perplexity AI, founded in 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, is a San Francisco-based company valued at $18 billion as of July 2025. Known for its AI-powered search engine, Perplexity processed 780 million queries in May 2025, with 20% month-over-month growth. Comet, their latest product, builds on this foundation to transform browsing from a passive activity into an active, cognitive process. As stated in Perplexity’s blog, “Comet powers a shift from browsing to thinking,” aiming to make the internet a seamless extension of the user’s mind.
Key Features and Capabilities
Perplexity Comet offers a suite of features that leverage AI to enhance productivity and curiosity. Built on the Chromium framework, it ensures compatibility across desktop and mobile platforms. Below is a detailed breakdown of its capabilities:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| AI Search Integration | Pre-installed with Perplexity’s AI search engine, delivering text-based summaries of search results instead of links. |
| Comet Assistant | An AI agent that automates tasks like summarizing emails, managing tabs, navigating web pages, booking meetings, sending emails, and shopping (e.g., adding items to an Instacart cart). |
| Curiosity Enhancement | Allows users to highlight text on webpages for instant explanations, explore related ideas, ask for counterpoints, and get exploration suggestions, transforming pages into curiosity portals. |
| Automated Tab Organizing | Groups open tabs by topic, enabling easy navigation and comparison of information from inactive tabs. |
| Agentic Search | Supports autonomous task execution, such as comparing products, booking reservations, or managing daily briefs, with persistent context. |
| Personalization | Learns from user behavior to provide proactive, personalized assistance, acting as a “second brain.” |
| Workflow Transformation | Collapses complex workflows into fluid conversations, making research conversational and analysis intuitive. |
These features make Comet a powerful tool for researchers, professionals, and anyone seeking a smarter browsing experience. For example, it can summarize YouTube videos or X feeds, compare products across websites, or draft emails based on webpage content.
Availability and Access
As of July 29, 2025, Perplexity Comet is available to Perplexity Max subscribers, who pay $200 per month or $2,000 per year, and a select group of waitlist invitees. The Perplexity Max plan, launched on July 2, 2025, includes unlimited access to AI models, early access to new products like Comet, and priority support. New users can join the waitlist at Perplexity Comet, with invite-only access rolling out over the summer. Perplexity plans to expand access in the future, potentially including free or lower-tier users.
User Experience and Reception
User feedback, gathered from sources like TechRadar and Mashable, provides a balanced view of Comet’s strengths and limitations:
Strengths
- Task Automation: Comet excels at simple tasks, such as creating a 20-item charcuterie board shopping list and adding it to Instacart in five minutes, defaulting to cost-effective or bestselling items.
- Productivity Boost: Users report improved productivity by offloading mundane tasks like booking restaurants or checking hotel availability, allowing focus on core work.
- Innovative Interface: The automated tab organizing and curiosity enhancement features make browsing intuitive, with tabs grouped by topic and text highlights sparking deeper exploration.
Limitations
- Complex Task Struggles: Comet struggles with complex tasks, such as ordering a gluten-free pizza, where it added a regular pizza with incorrect specifications, or booking parking with wrong dates.
- Privacy Concerns: The browser requires extensive Google Account access (e.g., viewing screens, sending emails, accessing contacts), raising privacy concerns among users.
- Summary Shortcomings: Summaries of X feeds or YouTube videos can lack source links or key details, requiring users to consult original content for specifics.
Specific User Experiences
- Grocery Shopping: Users found it easy to create shopping lists, but preferred more control over specific item choices, and the AI didn’t complete purchases for privacy reasons.
- Pizza Ordering: The AI’s errors in handling dietary restrictions led some users to prefer manual ordering.
- Content Summarization: Useful for quick insights, but summaries sometimes miss critical details, such as in a Hard Fork podcast summary.
- Tab Organization: A favorite feature, though unnecessary labels (e.g., “calendar”) added visual clutter, easily resolved by ungrouping.
Overall, users like TechRadar’s reviewer see Comet as a glimpse into the future of AI-powered browsing, but its beta status and privacy concerns temper enthusiasm.
Competitive Landscape
Perplexity Comet enters a crowded field of AI-powered browsers, each offering unique AI integrations:
| Browser | Key AI Features | Launch Date |
|---|---|---|
| Dia (The Browser Company) | Natural language interaction, AI-driven browsing | June 2025 |
| Opera One | Aria AI assistant powered by ChatGPT for text generation and summarization | 2023 |
| Brave | Privacy-first with AI assistant, ad/tracker blocking, and cryptocurrency rewards | Ongoing updates |
| DuckDuckGo | Generative AI chatbot and search enhancements | Ongoing updates |
| OpenAI’s Browser (Rumored) | Expected to integrate Operator AI agent, keeping interactions within ChatGPT | Upcoming |
Google Chrome also introduced AI features in May 2025, including AI-generated themes and enhanced search, intensifying competition. Comet’s focus on task automation and curiosity enhancement gives it a unique edge, but convincing users to switch from established browsers like Chrome or Safari remains a challenge.
Future Outlook
Perplexity AI is committed to advancing Comet with new features and improvements based on user feedback. The company aims to enhance the accuracy and trustworthiness of its AI models, positioning Comet as a reliable “second brain” for decision-making. The agentic AI market, projected to reach $196.6 billion by 2034 with a 43.8% CAGR, underscores the potential for AI-powered browsers.
However, Perplexity faces legal challenges related to alleged copyright infringements and unauthorized content scraping by major media organizations like the BBC, Dow Jones, and The New York Times.. These issues could impact Comet’s development and public perception. Additionally, Perplexity’s aggressive expansion, including a proposed merger with TikTok US and a $500 million funding round in May 2025, signals strong investor confidence but also high expectations.
Perplexity Comet represents a bold step toward AI-driven browsing, offering a suite of features that make the internet more intuitive and productive. Its ability to automate tasks, summarize content, and enhance curiosity is promising, but limitations in handling complex tasks and privacy concerns highlight areas for improvement. As Perplexity navigates legal challenges and expands access, Comet could redefine how we interact with the web. For those eager to explore the future of browsing, joining the waitlist at Perplexity Comet or subscribing to Perplexity Max offers a chance to experience this innovative browser firsthand.
