Perplexity’s Comet browser is now available to everyone for free

The AI startup is styling Comet as a serious competitor to Chrome.

After launching to subscribers willing to fork out hundreds of dollars a month this summer, Perplexity’s agentic AI browser Comet is now available to everyone for free. “The internet is better on Comet,” the company says, promising to remain free forever as it styles the browser as a serious challenger to Google’s Chrome.

Comet puts AI at the heart of the browsing experience. It incorporates Perplexity’s AI search tools and a personal AI assistant that, in the company’s words, actually “travels the web with” users, instead of being “tacked onto a traditional browser.” It’s supposed to make surfing the web simpler and help you with tasks like shopping, booking trips, and general life admin. To borrow the company’s words again: you “get more done.”

The AI-powered browser launched in July, though was only available for users who subscribed to the $200 per month Perplexity Max plan. Later, Perplexity expanded this to include “select” subscribers of its cheaper Pro plan and lucky invitees on what the company says is now a millions-strong waitlist. No subscription at all will be needed to use Comet going forward, the company says.

Perplexity has also revealed its launch partners for Comet Plus, the subscription package it announced in August that gives users access to curated news content in a scheme CEO Aravind Srinivas likened to Apple News Plus. The list currently includes:

•     CNN
•     Conde Nast
•     Fortune
•     Le Figaro
•     Le Monde
•     The Los Angeles Times
•     The Washington Post

Access to Comet Plus is included for subscribers to Perplexity Pro and Max, and $5 per month for all other users.

Perplexity is not alone in its quest to bring AI to the internet. Google has infused Gemini into Chrome, The Browser Company — the makers of the Arc browser — is going all in on Dia, and Opera just launched its own AI browser, Neon.

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