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Much has been said about the comet, the Perplexity web browser, not only because of its AI features, but also because of its paid wall. The early access was initially reserved for a max perplexity user waiting list, a subscription that costs $ 200 per monthBefore the perplexity opens access to users of Perplexity Pro, who only need $ 20 per month. However, seeing that most web browsers are free to use, I imagine that most people have moved away from trying Comet because of the price.
If that looks like you, there are good news. On Friday, Perplexity made Comet available to all those who wish to try it for free. You do not need to subscribe to a perplexity plan, and you do not even need a perplexity account – although the company has certain features linked to those that are registered. Comet is built on chromium, so if you come from Chrome, or another chrome browser like Edge, you can jump immediately.
The installation of the comet is as simple as any other web browser: head to the Perplexity website and choose “Download the comet”. Even the configuration of the browser is familiar because you can import another Chrome profile, choose a profile photo and define a name. But of course, the real advantage announced here is the AI assistant. Like the other browsers supplied by AI, Comet has an integrated chatbot to whom you can talk about whatever you want – especially the web pages you browse. But the AI of Comet is agentic, which means that you can ask the AI to do things for you.
If you ask him to take you to a specific website, it will do it (although I am not sure that it is faster than just type on the site by hand). If you ask him to open a specific link on the page, you can see the bot take control of the page and choose the URL you asked. For example, I asked the assistant to open Lifehacker, then asked her to click on our article “How to browse the Dark web.” He did these two things and even offered a summary of the Dark web piece.
What do you think so far?
But Perplexity says that you can also ask for more complex tasks: depending on the company, the assistant can write emails on your behalf, create websites, make purchases, create quotes, add to your calendar. There is even a vocal mode, as with other robots AI like chatgpt or gemini, so that you can speak to the browser if you wish.
I am still not sold on the idea that the injection of agentic AI in my web browser is what I need to better discover the Internet. Maybe I need to spend time with the comet to live this “future”. But see how often technology always makes mistakes – not the mention of unexploited security risks – I am not sure I want to put all my navigation tasks to AI. However, if you are interested, you can try without spending a penny.
