Comet Browser Review: AI Meets Chrome and Changes Everything

The Assistant War Has Come to Your Browser

Supercharging web browsers by adding assistants isn’t new. We’ve seen Microsoft Edge integrate Copilot. Arc is trying to be the design-forward star of productivity. Brave has Leo. Opera flirts with generative sidebars. Even Chrome is tiptoeing toward AI — though, to be fair, it still feels like Google’s more interested in ads than actual assistance.

But despite the noise, none of them stuck for me.

As a die-hard Chrome users (tab groups, Google ecosystem, extensions, etc.) I could not bring myself to seriously consider an alternative. I do have Firefox and Microsoft Edge installed on my PC and MacBook for one purpose: to test how Stark Insider pages render, and if any fixes are needed. Aside from that, I live in Chrome.

So when my Comet invite arrived, inviting me to try their AI-powered browser, I was skeptical. No way, not worth my time thanks. Chrome is it. To be clear, I am open to new tools and ideas. Just this year alone I’ve made the switch from OneNote and Google Docs to Notion (connected to Claude = chef’s kiss) and I now find Trello indispensable for to-do lists and enjoy the Kanban-inspired layout and flow (get things moving left to right boys!).

Since I subscribed to Perplexity just yesterday, I felt, well why not check it out. I am a paying customer and if I don’t like it, I can just uninstall and go back to Chrome. Which of course is not what happened at all.

Comet: A Chrome Fork With a Brain

Not having read any reviews or anything about Comet, aside from all the second-hand buzz it seems to be generating, I didn’t realize that it’s actually built on Chromium. That was why I immediately felt right at home. Everything pretty much works the same as your standard Chrome interface. Your tab groups will work the same, as will all your existing extensions and bookmarks and so forth.

So basically, while I’ve switched to Comet, I really haven’t switched from Chrome.

The one thing you will notice right away is that new Assistant section on the right side. You can close that window (Assistant button at top right of taskbar), but why? After all, this is the main attraction of browsing with Comet: to have a live assistant available anytime.

The Perplexity Assistant: Context-Aware and Surprisingly Helpful

My first impressions were positive using the Assistant. It immediately clicked. I sort of had one of those oh-my-god moments. This changes everything! And immediately texted Loni Stark to tell her the future had arrived, and that I was switching from Chrome. I had the Assistant write that email too. The slick AI let me review it first and I left it as is except adding: (me: this is WILD all integrated!). Once I confirmed the email, the rest was automatic, and I could see in Gmail had, indeed, been sent. Note that you do have to give Come explicit approval to access things like your Gmail, Calendar and so forth. The list is long so if you’re reticent to give over everything to an AI you can start small.

Then you just browse as you would normally. At the bottom of he Assistant window, just above the prompt field, you’ll see a favicon and title of the web page you’re currently on. That changes as you switch. A nifty little feature is that Perplexity keeps history for each page. So if I have some notes on this article I’m writing in WordPress they’ll be on the right side even after I’ve run some other prompts on other pages. That specific history is something I learned to really like right away, and it’s quickly become something I don’t think I could live without. A simple feature, to be sure, but a potentially big productivity booster.

Comet’s default behavior for new tabs is to open a Perplexity page. Not Google. As we know, AI is disrupting traditional search, with more of it happening inside chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and… Perplexity too.

There’s something meta going on here as well. If I’m on the ChatGPT or Claude pages, I now have a turbocharged AI session in play with two chatbots sitting next to each other ready to help fuel my productivity — or take me down jargon rabbit holes about RAG and LoRA and other AI stuff I’m tooling up for StarkMind and the upcoming Vertigo AI build.

We’re all accustomed to prompts and responses nowadays, so Comet is immediately intuitive.

In Gmail, I popped over to the Assistant window and asked for a summary of travel for the rest of the year. That was neatly presented and worked as expected, with the Assistant asking if I wanted to check further into the future for additional trips.

Also, summarizing conversations was particularly useful. Again, it’s probably another feature I’ll just take for granted in the future, but for now find every handy and remarkably effective.

Having multiple tabs open helps the Perplexity AI engine learn better context about what you’re trying to achieve. I could see that today in action when I was checking out the NASDAQ and stock markets.

Let the Comet Assistant Manage Your Tabs

Assisted web browsing is just scratching the surface.

For instance, you can also let it group tabs for you. I had several news stories open about LLMs, and asked the Assistant to create a new group: Can you add all the stories related to LLM into a tab group? And it did exactly that, creating a 5-tab group called “LLM Stories”.

One more instance of those little quality of life features you just know will help you work faster.

Using Web Apps with Comet: Notion, Google Docs, WordPress & More

On a whim I asked Comet to go ahead and create a new Notion page to track notes for this review. Surprisingly, it just that. That was unexpected as I hadn’t explicitly connected Notion to Perplexity. Or at least I don’t recall doing that. In any case it did create the page, where we could collaborate on some notes.

One caution here: the Assistant replaced my WordPress edit screen with the Notion page. Fortunately I had saved a draft and didn’t lose anything. Ideally, it should open in a new tab, not replace my existing one. So watch out for that.

I asked it to provide a list of apps it worked with and here’s the response:

Comet Supports Several Leading LLMs

Comet brings over one of Perplexity’s biggest strength: LLM flexibility.

Click a button to pick your brain of choice:

• Sonar
• Claude Sonnet 4.0
• GPT-5
• Gemini Pro 06-05
• Claude Sonnet 4.0 Thinking
• Grok 4
• o3

Plus, there’s also an option for “Best” which is the default and the one I’ve been using the most so far. Presumably, it pairs the best LLM depending on the prompt.

As an aside, I find this to be a compelling value proposition. Google charges $19.99 for Gemini (solid). Yet, you could also pay the same amount and sub to Perplexity and then have access not only to Gemini, but other popular models. Granted, you won’t get the full depth of Google’s integration if you go that route, but, for me, it works out great.

The Future of Web Browsing is (Already) Here

There’s a lot of “game changing” going on this year, and this feels no different, so yes:

Comet is a game changer.

AI and chatbots in a web browser is an absolute prime example of a modern-day killer app. There’s no distraction. Just a minimal, highly effective implementation that enhances workflow. As I used Comet, I realized it was always just there when needed, but not distracting from my everyday work.

Comet won’t replace my use of Claude and ChatGPT, But part of the things I was using them for like helping with emails will likely be a job purely for the Comet Assistant — it’s right there and saves some (exhausting) copy/paste work if I were using something not integrated with Gmail.

Final Thoughts

Yep, there’s no turning back. I “switched” to Comet.

Comet early access is limited to those with a paid Perplexity Max subscription ($200/month) or to those who receive an invite from the waitlist, which is how I gained access.

Community Discussion & Early User Reviews

Join the conversation about Comet Browser across the web:

• Follow @perplexity_ai on X for Comet updates
• r/perplexity_ai Reddit community discussing Comet
• Hacker News discussion on Comet browser
• Official Comet announcement from Perplexity
• TechCrunch review of Comet launch

What Real Users Are Saying:

Positive Reviews:

“When I spoke with Perplexity to request access to Comet, a member of the company’s PR told me it would take a week or so to have my first ‘wow moment’ with the web browser. After playing around with Comet, I think that’s an understatement, as my first few hours with the software felt like I was learning how to use the internet for the very first time again.”

“I came back to my laptop to find a long string of actions from Comet. It had tracked down a variety of restaurants that fit all of my requirements and was desperately scrolling through each one to find a table… When you use the assistant, Perplexity lists out every single step it takes. It is painfully granular, but when it is handling your finances, calendar, and accounts, this is exactly what you want.”

“The old way involved opening a dozen tabs — G2, Capterra, Reddit threads, company pricing pages, and competitor comparison articles. My brain would be the CPU, frantically switching contexts… With Comet, the process was conversational. I opened all the relevant pages, pulled up the assistant, and prompted: ‘Based on all my open tabs, create a table comparing Notion, Asana, Monday, and ClickUp on pricing for a team of 10, key integrations, and user sentiment regarding ease of use.’ Seconds later, a neatly formatted table appeared.”

“Comet feels otherworldly. Something… perplexing for real (geddit?). And I’ll tell you how. When I first got access to Comet, I assumed it was yet another browser with an AI sidebar (which it does have) that helps you with translations, summaries, and other basic stuff using the current webpage. But Comet baffled me — in the best way — right from the first step.”

Critical Reviews:

“During our testing, we found Comet’s AI agent to be surprisingly helpful for simple tasks, but it quickly falls apart when given more complex requests. Using Comet Assistant to its fullest potential also requires you to hand over an uncomfortable level of access to Perplexity.”

“Turns out, Comet Assistant hallucinated and entered completely wrong dates, later telling me that the dates I wanted were booked, but still wanted to have me complete the check-out anyways. I had to tell the AI agent that the dates were non-negotiable, and asked it to find another location. It ran into the same problem again.”

“I also found Comet to be way too cluttered and clunky for a browser. I like my browser to be minimalistic and simple. While the design elements look attractive, I’m someone who prefers functionality to form. The extra AI features also eat up more RAM, which isn’t ideal.”

“It got stuck in a loop when it couldn’t find fresh chicken (Amazon India doesn’t sell it at my location), and it kept trying for several minutes… There are still an awful lot of rough edges around AI’s use to smooth out, and the voice input system via Assistant (which actually makes the browser stand out) can be sluggish — often taking minutes to analyze a command or a page.”

Mixed Opinions:

“No review is complete without a clear-eyed look at the downsides. For all its futuristic promise, using Comet in its current state requires accepting some hard truths. Let’s be blunt: for Comet to function as your personal agent, you must grant it deep, unprecedented access to your digital life.”

“At $200/month, Perplexity Max is rather expensive. While there will definitely be a free version, I’m sure the company will skimp on some important features to push users to subscribe to the premium tiers. At that point, you might as well use any other free browser and get a premium plan for whichever LLM or AI assistant you want.”

“The browser’s combination of a seamless setup process, faster performance, and practical AI applications makes it a compelling choice for users seeking to optimize their workflows. However, to fully realize its potential, challenges such as task execution reliability and transparency must be addressed.”

Expert Analysis:

“Comet is entering a crowded arena. While AI-powered browsers present uncharted territory for many users, Google itself seems convinced this is the direction browsers are headed: The Search giant has deployed several AI integrations into Chrome in recent months, not to mention AI mode, an AI search product with a striking resemblance to Perplexity.”

“Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas revealed that the company’s upcoming browser, Comet, will track ‘everything users do online’ in order to sell ‘hyper-personalized’ ads… This logic conveniently overlooks a fundamental right: PRIVACY.”

Bottom Line from Professional Reviews:

Comet Browser shows genuine innovation in AI-assisted browsing, with reviewers praising its Gmail integration, multi-tab analysis, and transparent step-by-step AI actions. However, significant issues include hallucinations during complex tasks, high RAM usage (15–20% more than Chrome), and the steep $200/month price point. Most reviewers agree: impressive for early adopters, but wait for v2.0 if you need reliability.

Professional Review Consensus: Promising but premature for mainstream adoption