Remember the last time you planned a vacation? The chaotic dance between a dozen tabs—flights, hotels, reviews, maps, restaurant blogs—each one a small silo of information you had to painstakingly stitch together. It’s the kind of digital grunt work we’ve come to accept as normal. But what if your browser could do it all for you?
That’s the tantalizing promise of Comet, the new AI-powered browser from the minds at Perplexity. Launched in July 2025, Comet isn’t just another chrome-plated window to the internet; it’s a bold attempt to fundamentally change how we navigate our digital lives. By integrating a powerful AI assistant directly into the Browse experience, Comet aims to transform your web surfing from a manual chore into a seamless conversation. But does it live up to the astronomical hype? Let’s take a closer look.
A Browser with a Brain
On the surface, Comet feels familiar. It’s built on Chromium, the same open-source engine that powers Google Chrome, so your favorite extensions, bookmarks, and muscle memory will feel right at home. The magic, however, lives in a sleek sidebar on the right: a conversational AI that acts as your personal researcher, assistant, and taskmaster.
This isn’t just another chatbot. Comet’s AI is “agentic,” a tech term that means it can understand context and take action across multiple steps and websites on your behalf. Imagine you’re trying to build a new gaming PC after watching a YouTube tutorial. Instead of pausing the video and opening new tabs to search for each component, you can simply ask the Comet assistant: “Find the best prices for all the parts mentioned in this video and create a spreadsheet comparing them.”
The AI gets to work, scanning the video transcript, searching online retailers, and compiling the data without you ever leaving the page. Early adopters are already sharing mind-boggling examples. One user on X (formerly Twitter) described asking Comet to scan their Gmail, identify all active subscriptions, and draft cancellation requests for the ones they no longer wanted. It’s a task that could take an hour of tedious searching, reduced to a single command.
How to Pilot Your Comet: A Quick-Start Guide
Ready to give your Browse an upgrade? Getting started with Comet is straightforward, though for now, it’s an exclusive perk for Perplexity Pro ($20/month) subscribers. Here’s how to get up and running:
- Download and Install: Visit Perplexity’s official website to download Comet for macOS or Windows. The installation is a breeze, and a pop-up will offer to import all your bookmarks, passwords, and extensions from Chrome in just a few clicks.
- Meet Your AI Assistant: Once installed, you’ll see the Comet icon in the sidebar. Click it to open the chat interface. This is your mission control. Start with simple prompts to get a feel for it, like asking it to summarize a lengthy news article you have open or explain a complex topic.
- Delegate Complex Tasks: Now for the fun part. Put the agentic AI to the test. Try a multi-step command related to your own life. For example: “Plan a weekend trip to Austin, Texas for next month. Find me three boutique hotels under $300 a night with a pool, and suggest two highly-rated barbecue spots near each one.” Comet will cross-reference information from multiple sites and present a consolidated summary.
- Use Context-Specific Commands: Comet is aware of what you’re doing. Use the
@tabcommand to direct a question at a specific open page. For instance, with several Amazon tabs open, you could ask, “Of the laptops in these tabs, which one has the longest battery life according to user reviews?” - Manage Your Privacy: During setup, Comet gives you control over privacy settings. It features a built-in ad blocker and tracking protection. For sensitive tasks like scanning your email, Perplexity states that the processing happens locally on your device to protect your data, a crucial feature in an age of rampant privacy concerns.
The Dawn of a New Web War?
Comet’s ambitious launch doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It lands squarely in the middle of a brewing “AI browser war.” Google is actively integrating its own AI features into Chrome with Project Mariner, and rumors persist that OpenAI is developing a browser of its own.
However, Perplexity seems to have a head start in creating a genuinely useful, integrated experience. As John-Anthony Disotto of TechRadar noted in his hands-on review, Comet feels like “the epitome of useful AI,” freeing up mental energy from mundane planning so he could focus on creative work.
Of course, the technology is still nascent. Some users have reported that complex commands can occasionally stall or fail. And as PCMag‘s Ruben Circelli pointed out, while the interface is polished, the actual task automation can sometimes be slower than doing it yourself—for now. The learning curve isn’t just for the user, but for the AI as well.
So, is Comet the future? For power users, researchers, students, and anyone who feels bogged down by the daily grind of digital information management, it very well could be. It represents a shift from a web you search to a web you command. For the more casual user, the monthly subscription might be a barrier, but the ideas Comet is pioneering are likely to ripple across the entire industry.
The internet is becoming an active partner rather than a passive library. With tools like Comet leading the charge, we’re just scratching the surface of what it means to browse at the speed of thought.
This report was compiled based on information from Perplexity’s official product announcements and user guides, alongside hands-on reviews and industry analysis from publications including TechRadar, PCMag, and ZDNET, as well as public discourse from users on social media platforms.