Perplexity Comet: The AI Browser That Redefines How You Explore the Web

Perplexity has officially launched Comet, a free AI-native browser that merges web exploration and live reasoning into one continuous experience. What began as an exclusive research tool for premium users is now available to everyone. The move—announced in late October 2025—marks Perplexity’s boldest step yet: turning the browser itself into the AI product.

Comet is designed to act as a real-time research companion. Instead of searching, opening dozens of tabs, and comparing sources manually, the browser reads what you’re reading, summarizes it, checks the facts, and helps you act on what you find—all in one window.

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From paid experiment to free global rollout.

Comet started as a premium feature within Perplexity’s highest subscription tier, priced near USD 200 per month, and later became available to Pro users through a limited waitlist. But in late 2025, Perplexity made a decisive change: Comet became free for everyone, globally, with optional paid content through a new bundle called Comet Plus.

This strategic reversal moves Perplexity from niche research tool to mainstream browser challenger. It signals a shift in focus—from answering queries on a separate site to owning the entire browsing surface. By giving away its most advanced interface, Perplexity aims to make the act of “looking something up” synonymous with using its AI.

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How Comet works in practice.

Comet runs a live retrieval engine on top of the page you’re viewing. When you open a site—whether it’s a news article, a technical blog, or a product page—Comet does four things automatically:

• Summarizes the main ideas in clear language.

• Cross-checks the claims using live search results and external sources.

• Surfaces contradictions or bias by comparing perspectives across sites.

• Suggests actions—for example, drafting a comparison, planning a trip, or finding verified alternatives.

It’s more than a sidebar assistant. The model is continuously aware of the content on the screen and can retrieve new context without you copying and pasting text. Every answer includes linked citations, preserving the signature transparency Perplexity is known for.

In short, Comet behaves like an analyst who reads alongside you—offering live insight and fact validation while you browse.

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Introducing Comet Plus and the publisher partnership model.

Alongside the browser, Perplexity launched Comet Plus, a content bundle costing about USD 5 per month or included in upper-tier plans. It integrates premium publisher material—articles from major outlets and specialist publications—directly into the AI’s responses.

Unlike platforms that scrape or summarize without permission, Perplexity publicly states that Comet Plus revenue is shared with publishers. That model reframes Perplexity as a distribution and licensing partner, not an adversary. For the media industry, this is an attempt at ethical monetization: the AI distributes content, but the original creators get paid.

From a user perspective, it means that answers draw on verified, high-quality journalism instead of random scraped content, while still giving direct source links.

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Why Comet changes the browser landscape.

The release of Comet signals that Perplexity is targeting the browser itself—not just the search field. By embedding AI into the browsing layer, it challenges Google Chrome + Gemini, Microsoft Edge + Copilot, and any add-on assistant that lives in a sidebar.

This approach delivers two strategic advantages:

• Habit capture. Users no longer need to visit perplexity.ai to ask a question. The AI becomes part of their everyday browsing, learning context and adapting suggestions seamlessly.

• Trust through transparency. Each summary and suggestion includes citations, preserving accountability. Instead of opaque answers, Comet shows evidence, appealing to researchers, analysts, students, and journalists who need verifiable data.

By combining live search grounding, context awareness, and in-page synthesis, Perplexity is effectively rewriting what “web search” means. You don’t ask questions on a site—you browse, and answers appear as you read.

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What makes Comet different from AI sidebars.

While other browsers bolt AI features onto their interface, Comet is built around AI from the ground up. It doesn’t wait for you to click “Ask AI.” It starts analyzing immediately when you load a page.

This difference matters in how users think: instead of using AI reactively, you use it continuously. Comet’s AI doesn’t replace the page—it enhances it, keeping the original content visible while overlaying live context.

The system can perform planning-level tasks directly in the browsing flow, such as:

• Drafting an itinerary while you browse travel sites.

• Comparing product specifications as you shop.

• Checking technical claims against other research papers.

• Suggesting sources for citations in academic writing.

Each of these tasks happens without switching tabs or copying text—reducing cognitive overhead while maintaining transparency.

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The strategic importance of going free.

Making Comet free in late 2025 is not a generosity play; it’s an ecosystem move. Perplexity wants to grow daily active use, not just occasional search queries. Every new Comet session expands its context dataset and strengthens its value as a browsing platform.

From a business perspective, this move creates:

• User lock-in. Once your browsing runs through Comet, shifting to another assistant feels inefficient.

• Publisher partnerships. The Comet Plus revenue share model reduces legal friction and builds a path toward licensed aggregation at scale.

• Brand differentiation. Where OpenAI and Anthropic focus on chat experiences, Perplexity focuses on web literacy—answers you can verify, right where the information lives.

In the AI race, this positions Perplexity as the trusted layer between humans and the web, not just another chatbot window.

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Where Comet leads next.

Comet points to Perplexity’s long-term ambition: to become the default browser of the reasoning web. The combination of real-time retrieval, citation integrity, and built-in premium content gives it a foundation few competitors have.

Future iterations are expected to add voice navigation, autonomous browsing sessions, and workspace synchronization with Perplexity’s Deep Research and Tasks features—blending passive browsing and active investigation in one tool.

If Comet succeeds, it may mark the start of an era where browsers think, summarize, and verify by default—where search as an act disappears, replaced by continuous understanding.

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