Perplexity AI Browser Comet Now Free for All Users

If you've been paying attention to the browser space, then you've most likely noticed something interesting going on. Perplexity has recently taken a bold step by making its Comet browser available to everyone, free of charge, after having previously charged $200/month for access through its Max plan. That's quite a change, and one that has people talking.

Let's be real here. When a company takes something that was worth $200/month and suddenly makes it free, something larger is at play. The startup announced that millions of people already had signed up for the waitlist, which is a sure sign there is serious interest in what they are building.

What Makes Comet Different

So what is the story with this browser anyway? Comet comes with a sidecar assistant, which follows you as you browse and will respond to questions about any page you are on, summarize things, organize your web stuff, and even turn pages for you. A sentinel is like having someone riding shotgun through the internet, except that the person is empowered by artificial intelligence.

The free version allows you to use some pretty helpful tools. You can find Discover for personalized news feeds (OpenAI does the same with Pulse), Spaces to organize your projects, Shopping for price comparison and deal hunting, Travel to aggregate destination info, Finance for budgeting and investing, and Sports for scores and updates.

That's actually a pretty decent line-up for something that's free. But here's where things get interesting.

The Paid Tiers Still Exist

While the basic Comet experience is now free, Perplexity isn't leaving its paying customers behind. Max subscribers, at the cost of $200 per month, can enjoy better AI models along with access to an email assistant that can draft responses, sort your inbox, schedule appointments and respond to questions about your emails. They also have first dibs on new features.

One of those new features is sheer madness. Max users now have a "background assistant" which can perform several tasks simultaneously while you're doing other things or literally making a sandwich. So, it could tell them to send you an email, and deposit concert tickets to your cart, and provide you with the best flight for a particular date, all at once. From a central dashboard, you can monitor everything and jump in at any time to take the lead or wrap things up.

There's also Comet Plus, an AI-powered alternative to Apple News, which is coming soon. It is free for all users, and can be downloaded for a fee of $5 per month, whereas Pro users ($20/month) and Max users receive it by default.

Why The Free Switch?

Of course, this movement is not taking place in a vacuum. Perplexity is up against established players like Google Chrome and new entrants like The Browser Company's Dia, not to mention the expected browser release from OpenAI. When you're up against Google and potentially OpenAI, giving your product away begins to make more sense.

The strategy is pretty obvious: get as many people using Comet as you possibly can, show that the technology actually works in the wild, then translate some of those free users into paying customers who desire the premium features. This is a tried-and-true playbook in tech, but that doesn't make it a safe playbook.

The real challenge for Perplexity is proving that Comet's capabilities are consistent enough to get people to switch from browsers they already use. Chrome users have their extensions and bookmarks synced across their devices, and most of us have our browsing habits pretty locked in too. Safari users are well entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. Making people move requires more than cool features; it requires those features to be smooth every single day.

What This Means For Users

If you've been wondering about AI browsers but didn't want to shell out $200 a month to test one out, here's your chance. You can download Comet on your computer and find out if having an AI assistant built into your browser really does make your life easier.

Also interesting is the timing. We're at the point where AI is transitioning from being something you visit once in a while to something that is embedded in the apps and services you use all the time. Browsers are a natural location for that integration because that's where most of us spend a significant amount of our digital lives.

Whether Comet is the car you drive every day or just something you tinker with, the free nature of it eliminates the biggest obstacle to trying it. And it's precisely that point that Perplexity wants to make. They need people who are actually using Comet and giving feedback and finding use cases that may not be obvious yet.

The browser wars just got a little bit more interesting. After years of Chrome dominance, we are finally seeing true competition, and AI is the trump card that everyone is betting on. Meaning Comet free is a big swing and it'll be interesting to see if users take the bait.

For now, if you've got a few minutes and a curious mind, you now have the barrier to entry reduced to zero. Maybe it's worth seeing what all the fuss is about.