What is Perplexity comet browser?
Comet is Perplexity's AI-powered web browser with a built-in assistant that can read your open tabs, answer questions, and take actions like booking, summarizing, or filling forms for you. It's an "agentic" browser, meaning you delegate tasks rather than click through them yourself. As of 2026-07 it's free on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.
Why — the first-principles explanation
A normal browser is a passive window: it shows web pages, and you do all the reading, clicking, and typing. Comet's core idea is to put an AI agent inside the browser so the browser can act, not just display. Because the assistant sees the same pages you see, it has full context, your open tabs, the article you're reading, the form in front of you, and can work on your behalf.
The key word is agentic. A regular AI chatbot can tell you how to do something; an agent can actually do it. Ask Comet to "compare these three laptops in my tabs and pick the best value," and it reads all three and answers. Ask it to "summarize this 40-page report" or "find and add the cheapest flight," and it navigates and takes steps across pages. This works because the assistant can both read page content and control the browser's actions.
That power is also the risk. An agent that can click and fill forms on your behalf could act on a malicious webpage's hidden instructions (called prompt injection) or take an action you didn't intend, so you should watch what it does on sensitive sites like banking. Perplexity made Comet free to compete with other AI browsers and to funnel users into its answer engine, betting that browsing you can delegate beats browsing you do by hand.
An example that makes it click
A normal browser is like a car you drive yourself, you steer, you brake, you park. Comet is like a car with a chauffeur who also knows the city. You get in and say, 'take me to the cheapest gas station, then the pharmacy,' and it figures out the route and drives.
So instead of opening five tabs to compare hotels, you just tell Comet, 'find me the best-rated hotel under $150 for these dates,' and it reads the pages and comes back with the answer. Handy, but like any chauffeur, you'd still glance up before letting it pull into your bank's parking lot.
How to do it
- Download Comet free from perplexity.ai/comet or your device's app store (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android).
- Install it and optionally sign in with your Perplexity account to sync history and Pro features.
- Browse normally, or open the built-in assistant sidebar to ask questions about your open tabs.
- Give it tasks in plain English, like 'summarize this page' or 'compare these products.'
- Review any actions it takes on sensitive sites (banking, shopping, email) before confirming.
Key facts
- Comet is Perplexity's agentic AI web browser with an assistant built into every page.
- It can read open tabs, summarize, compare, and take multi-step actions across the web.
- As of 2026-07, Comet is free on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
- The assistant is powered by Perplexity's answer engine and can use multiple AI models.
- Agentic browsing raises prompt-injection and unintended-action risks on sensitive sites.
An answer engine that searches the live web and cites its sources.
Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no cost to you.▶ The 60-second explainer (script)
What is Perplexity's Comet browser? Think of it as a web browser with a brain built in. A normal browser just shows you pages, you do all the clicking, reading, and typing. Comet flips that. It has an AI assistant baked into every page that can actually see your open tabs and do things for you. That's what people mean by an 'agentic' browser: you delegate tasks instead of doing them yourself. Say you've got three laptops open in tabs. Instead of comparing them yourself, you just ask Comet, 'which of these is the best value?' and it reads all three and tells you. It can summarize long articles, fill out forms, even help book things across multiple pages. The best part: as of 2026, Comet is completely free on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android. One caution, because it can take actions for you, keep an eye on it on sensitive sites like your bank. But for everyday browsing, it turns 'stuff you do' into 'stuff you ask for.'
What authoritative sources say
People also ask
Is Comet free?
Yes. As of 2026-07 Comet is free to download and use on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, with no subscription required for core features.
What makes Comet different from Chrome?
Comet has an agentic AI assistant built in that can read your tabs and take actions, not just display pages like a traditional browser.
Is Comet safe to use?
For normal browsing, yes, but because it can act for you, watch it on sensitive sites and be aware of prompt-injection risks from malicious pages.