5 AI browsers, 3 questions, 1 answer
Comet Browser Review: Which AI Browser Actually Fits You
This comet browser review starts from a simple fact: Comet is Perplexity's free, agentic browser - it clicks, fills forms, and compares prices across tabs. It is also one of five real choices right now, alongside Chrome, Arc, Dia, and just using Perplexity without switching browsers at all. Answer three questions below and the picker tells you which one actually fits, including the ones it rules out.
Updated July 5, 2026 - By Jim Liu(tracks AI browser and AI tool releases, cross-checked against vendor posts and independent benchmarks)
TL;DR - quick verdict
- Comet is free worldwide as of October 2025 and is the deepest agentic option, but it uses more RAM than Chrome and carries the prompt-injection risks common to agentic browsers.
- Chrome is the safest default - Gemini is already built in, and Auto Browse is rolling out for paid Google AI subscribers.
- Arc still runs but stopped getting new features in May 2025; Dia (Arc's replacement) is Mac-only for now.
- Perplexity without switching browsers is the lowest-commitment option if you just want cited answers.
Find your match: the interactive picker
Three questions, no sign-up. The picker eliminates whatever does not run on your OS first, then ranks the rest for your use case.
Answer all three to see your pick.
Comet browser review: full feature and price comparison
The picker above turns these facts into a ranked recommendation. This table is the raw evidence behind it, including a "Best for" row so you can jump straight to your persona.
| Feature | Comet | Chrome | Arc | Dia | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Availability (July 2026) | Free worldwide since Oct 2025, all major platforms | Universal, has been for two decades | Still installs, receives security patches only | Mac (Apple Silicon) only, no Windows build | Works in any browser as a website or extension |
| RAM use (light session) | Roughly 280-340MB, more with agent tasks running | Roughly 220-260MB baseline | Similar to Chrome, Chromium-based | Not independently benchmarked yet | Whatever your existing browser already uses |
| Agent / automation depth | Deepest -- clicks, fills forms, compares prices across tabs | Auto Browse handles multi-step tasks, Pro/Ultra only, US preview | None -- Arc Max AI was summaries and tab naming, nothing agentic | Chat-driven assistant across your open SaaS tabs | None -- it answers questions, it does not act for you |
| Known security concerns | Brave disclosed prompt-injection risks in 2025; agent can be tricked by hidden page text | Standard Chrome sandboxing, no agentic attack surface yet outside preview | Standard Chromium security, no active development to patch new issues fast | Too new for independent security research to have caught up | Same as any search engine -- your queries go to Perplexity, no page-control risk |
| Best for | Shoppers and researchers who want tasks done, not just answered | Everyone who doesn't want to think about this decision | Existing Arc fans riding it out until something replaces it | Mac users in SaaS-heavy jobs (support, ops, sales) | Anyone who wants Perplexity's answers without a new browser |
| Not ideal for | Anyone who wants a lightweight browser -- it runs noticeably heavier than Chrome | People who want agent-first browsing today -- Chrome's agent mode is still a US-only preview | Anyone picking a browser for the next few years -- there is no roadmap left | Windows or Linux users -- Dia has no build for either as of mid-2026 | Anyone who actually wants the browser to take actions for them, not just answer questions |
Verified July 2026 from Perplexity's own release posts, Wikipedia's Comet browser entry, and the vendor blogs linked in the FAQ below. AI browsers change fast - recheck pricing before you commit.
Real-world reports: what reviewers found after testing Comet
We have not run Comet's full agent suite ourselves for this page, so instead of inventing quotes, here is what people who did publish, dated so you can judge how current it still is. The comet browser ram usage figures below come from independent benchmarks, not Perplexity's own marketing.
Oct 2025 - a week of daily use
Writer Naresh B A ran Comet as his main browser for a week and called the multi-site shopping comparisons genuinely impressive, but noted that AI-heavy tasks run slower than plain Chrome and that a shaky connection makes the agent feel unreliable, since it depends on the network far more than normal browsing does.
2025 - Brave security research
Brave's security team demonstrated that hidden instructions on an ordinary webpage, including inside a comment thread, could get Comet's agent to act on them without the user asking. This is prompt injection, and it is a category of risk shared by every browser adding agentic features, not a bug unique to Comet.
Benchmarked resource use
Independent testing puts Comet around 280 to 340MB of RAM in normal use, about a fifth to a third more than Chrome. With agent features actively running, memory has been reported spiking past 1GB on just a few tabs. On a newer machine you likely will not notice.
Real scenarios: who should pick what
Six situations run through the same picker above. Click a card to load those exact answers into the widget and see the full ranking, not just the winner.
Is Comet browser worth switching to?
This comet browser review keeps coming back to one split: Comet is the strongest pick for an ai browser for shopping and multi-tab research, while everyone else on this page wins on something Comet does not do as well yet, whether that is stability, OS coverage, or a lighter footprint.
Switch to Comet if
- You regularly compare prices or options across several sites and want that automated
- You are on Windows, Mac, Android, or iOS - the platforms Comet actually supports
- You are comfortable with a browser account having read access to email or calendar for some tasks
- You don't mind roughly 20-30% more RAM use than Chrome
Not ideal for: older or lower-RAM machines, or anyone who wants zero exposure to prompt-injection risk while agent features are still this new.
Stay on Chrome (or your current browser) if
- You want AI help without changing browsers, extensions, or bookmarks
- Gemini in Chrome or the Perplexity website already covers your question-answering needs
- You are on Linux, where Comet, Arc, and Dia are not available at all
- You would rather wait for agentic browsing to mature before granting account access
Not ideal for: anyone who specifically wants a browser to complete tasks end-to-end without them driving each step.
One caveat that applies across every agentic browser, not just Comet
The core agentic browser prompt injection risk - hidden instructions embedded in a webpage that an AI agent follows without the user asking - is an unsolved problem across the industry, not a Comet-only flaw. Brave's security researchers demonstrated it against Comet in 2025, and similar risks apply to Chrome's Auto Browse and Dia's assistant as they roll out further. Keep agent permissions scoped to what a task actually needs.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Perplexity made Comet free for everyone in October 2025, after limiting it to Pro subscribers when it launched in July 2025. The free tier covers normal browsing and a limited number of agent tasks per day. Pro ($20/mo) and Max ($200/mo) remove those caps and add access to more underlying AI models.
Keep exploring
Curious how the models behind these browsers actually compare? See our AI model comparison , or if browser agents are not enough automation for you, look at our desktop AI agent comparator.