A browser with the assistant built into the tab
Perplexity's launch post describes Comet as a browser where an assistant sits inside ordinary browsing rather than a chat window bolted onto a search box: it can act on a page a user is already looking at, highlight text for an explanation, or carry out multi-step requests such as booking a meeting or drafting an email based on something read in a tab. [1]
Access at launch was narrow: Comet went first to subscribers of Perplexity Max, the company's $200-a-month tier, with the rest of the announced waitlist told to expect invite-only rollout "over the summer," plus a limited number of invites each new user could pass along. [1]
Free worldwide, three months later
By October 2, 2025, Perplexity made Comet free and available worldwide. CNBC reported that the waitlist from the Max-only launch had grown to "millions" of people in the interim, and that Perplexity was adding features including a mobile version and a Background Assistant able to work multiple tasks asynchronously. [2]
Atlas interpretation: Perplexity's own framing tied the free release to competition rather than to Comet reaching some maturity milestone on its own terms: Google had just added Gemini to Chrome, Anthropic had announced a browser-based agent, and OpenAI's Operator, also launched at a $200-a-month tier before opening up, had already established that a paywalled agentic browser tool draws a limited audience. Giving Comet away removed the price barrier a rival could route around. [2]
Sources
- Introducing Comet: Browse at the speed of thought
Perplexity · Jul 9, 2025
- Perplexity AI rolls out Comet browser for free worldwide
CNBC · Oct 2, 2025