"Earlier available only to the paying subscribers, the Comet browser now offers its core features to all users at no cost," [1]writes the Times of India . "This includes AI-powered search, contextual recommendations, and integrated tools designed to streamline research and content discovery." They say the move reflects the Chromium-based browser's goal to "compete with incumbents like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge" — but also reflects Perplexity's "broader mission to democratize AI tools."

[2]More details from The Verge :

> The internet is better on Comet," [3]the company says , promising to remain free forever as it styles the browser as a serious challenger to Google's Chrome...

>

> It's supposed to make surfing the web simpler and help you with tasks like [4]shopping , [5]booking trips , and [6]general life admin . To borrow the company's words again: you "get more done." The AI-powered browser [7]launched in July , though was only available for users who subscribed to the [8]$200 per month Perplexity Max plan ... No subscription at all will be needed to use Comet going forward, the company says.

Perplexity has even struck deals with major sites including the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times to offer free access to their sites for one month through the Comet browser. And last week Perplexity also launched an agressive [9]paid referral program , where active Perplexity Pro/Max subscribers get a payout of up to $15 for each friend who downloads and uses Comet through their affiliate link. (The payout size is based on the friend's country, with $15 being the payout amount for a U.S. user, with $10 payouts for users in 19 other countries include Canada, Australia, the U.K., several EU countries, Japan, and South Korea.

In addition, Srinivas has been sharing positive tweets about Comet. (Like "This is unbelievable. Comet [10]automatically hunts down Sora 2 invite codes across the web and signs you up!") But Perplexity [11]is making even bigger claims for its browser :

> Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas said that the Comet AI browser can improve productivity so that companies won't need to hire more people. "Instead of hiring one more person on your team, you could just use Comet to supplement all the work that you're doing," Srinivas told CNBC's "Squawk Box"... The CEO said the artificial intelligence-powered web browser is a "true personal assistant" that allows users to complete more tasks in the same amount of time and said that the productivity gained could be worth $10,000 per year for a single person...

>

> Other tech companies have also been rolling out their own AI browser assistants. In January, OpenAI introduced its web agent, [12]Operator , and Google released [13]Gemini AI to its Chrome browser in September.

Meanwhile, The Verge adds, The Browser Company (makers of the Arc browser) "is going all in [14]on Dia , and Opera [15]just launched its own AI browser, Neon ."

Of course, popularity brings problems, [16]writes the Times of India :

> iPhone users are being warned by Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas against downloading [17]a fake 'Comet' app on the App Store . He clarified that the official iOS version is not yet released and the current listing is unauthorized spam..

And earlier this month the browser security platform [18]described a "CometJacking" attack where malicious prompts could be hidden in URLs (as a parameter). Comet is instructed "to look for data in memory and connected services (e.g., Gmail, Calendar), encode the results (e.g., base64), and POST them to an attacker-controlled endpoint... all while appearing to the user as a harmless 'ask the assistant' flow." (And with some trivial encoding it also seems to evade exfiltration checks.)

The Hacker News reported that Perplexity [19]has classified the findings as "no security impact ."



[1] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/perplexity-ceo-aravind-srinivas-warns-iphone-users-not-to-download-comet-app-it-is-/articleshow/124596138.cms

[2] https://www.theverge.com/news/790419/perplexity-comet-available-everyone-free

[3] https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/comet-is-now-available-to-everyone-worldwide

[4] https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/18/24299574/perplexity-ai-search-engine-buy-products

[5] https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/9/24339020/perplexity-tripadvisor-integration-hotels

[6] https://www.theverge.com/news/709025/perplexity-comet-ai-browser-chrome-competitor

[7] https://www.theverge.com/news/703037/perplexity-ai-web-browser-comet-launch

[8] https://www.theverge.com/news/697108/perplexity-now-has-a-200-per-month-ai-subscription-too

[9] https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/11385821-partner-promotions-and-referral-programs

[10] https://x.com/arrakis_ai/status/1978247028132999210

[11] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/03/perplexity-ceo-comet-ai-browser-hiring-gdp.html

[12] https://openai.com/index/introducing-operator/

[13] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/18/google-gemini-chrome-ai-search.html

[14] https://www.theverge.com/web/685232/dia-browser-ai-arc

[15] https://www.theverge.com/news/787707/opera-neon-ai-browser-launch-monthly-cost

[16] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/perplexity-ceo-aravind-srinivas-warns-iphone-users-not-to-download-comet-app-it-is-/articleshow/124596138.cms

[17] https://x.com/AravSrinivas/status/1978107056012878072

[18] https://layerxsecurity.com/blog/cometjacking-how-one-click-can-turn-perplexitys-comet-ai-browser-against-you/

[19] https://thehackernews.com/2025/10/cometjacking-one-click-can-turn.html