Key Takeaways Perplexity AI has made its Comet browser completely free worldwide after launching in July 2025 at $200 per month for Max subscribers. Millions of users had signed up for the waitlist be...
Perplexity AI announced on October 2, 2025, that its artificial intelligence-powered browser Comet is now available free to users worldwide, marking a dramatic shift from its exclusive $200-per-month pricing just three months ago.
The AI search startup's decision to eliminate the paywall comes as competition intensifies in the emerging AI browser market, with tech giants including Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic all developing their own AI-enhanced browsing experiences.
Since Comet's July launch, millions of users have joined the waitlist to access the browser, according to company statements.
Comet functions as an AI-powered personal assistant that can search the web, organize browser tabs, draft emails, summarize content, and help with shopping and travel planning.
The browser features a sidebar assistant that answers questions about web pages users are viewing and can perform autonomous actions on behalf of users.
The company also introduced Background Assistants for paid subscribers, which can handle multiple tasks simultaneously in the background while users work on other activities.
These assistants work through a central dashboard that allows users to track task completion progress.
Alongside the free browser launch, Perplexity unveiled Comet Plus, a subscription tier priced at $5 monthly that provides access to premium content from major publishing partners.
CNN, The Washington Post, Condé Nast, Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Le Monde, and Le Figaro are among the inaugural partners participating in the program.
Under the Comet Plus model, participating publishers receive 80 percent of subscription revenue, with Perplexity retaining 20 percent for computing costs.
Publishers are compensated based on three types of traffic: direct human visits to their websites through the browser, citations in AI-generated search answers, and AI agent interactions with their content.
The revenue-sharing arrangement represents Perplexity's attempt to address ongoing tensions between AI companies and publishers over content usage.
The company currently faces lawsuits from News Corp, Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster, and several Japanese newspapers over alleged unauthorized use of copyrighted content.
Perplexity first launched Comet in July exclusively to subscribers of its Max plan, which costs $200 monthly. Access gradually expanded to Pro subscribers before this week's global free release.
The company emphasized that free access is permanent rather than a limited promotional offer.
Free Comet users receive access to the sidebar assistant and basic browsing features.
Subscribers to Pro and Max plans, priced at $20 and $200 monthly, respectively, gain access to more advanced AI models, the Background Assistant feature, and automatic inclusion of Comet Plus at no additional charge.
The company announced that a mobile version of Comet is in development, though no specific release date was provided. Currently, the browser is available only for desktop computers running Windows, macOS, or Linux operating systems.
Perplexity's move to offer Comet for free comes as the AI browser grows increasingly crowded. Google has integrated its Gemini AI into Chrome, while OpenAI launched Operator, an AI agent that uses browsers to complete tasks.
The Browser Company released Dia, another AI-powered browser, adding to the competitive pressure.
The company also revealed it had made an unsolicited $34.5 billion bid for Google's Chrome browser in August, though no details about the outcome of that offer were disclosed. Chrome currently dominates the browser market with billions of users worldwide.
Perplexity plans to negotiate with smartphone manufacturers about pre-installing Comet on devices, aiming to establish distribution channels before competitors can claim default browser status on new phones.
Security researchers from Brave previously discovered a vulnerability in Comet that could have allowed malicious actors to execute hidden commands and access user data. Perplexity has since patched the security flaw, according to reports.
The company, founded in 2022 by Aravind Srinivas and three co-founders, was valued at $14 billion as of its most recent funding round in June 2025.
Perplexity has positioned itself as an alternative to traditional search engines by providing direct answers with citations rather than lists of links.
Whether Comet can attract users away from established browsers like Chrome, Safari, and Firefox remains uncertain.
Anthropic has released Claude Opus 4.7, its most capable publicly available model to date, delivering significant improvements in advanced software engineering, high-resolution vision, and long-horizon agentic tasks.
Microsoft is reportedly exploring OpenClaw-style AI features for Copilot that could make the assistant more proactive inside Microsoft 365.
Meta launches Muse Spark, a closed proprietary AI model with tiered reasoning and 3B+ user reach across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Quest VR.
