Perplexity Comet
Perplexity Comet
Standalone browser built by Perplexity AI with an embedded AI agent that operates the web on the user's behalf. Built on Chromium. Launched July 9, 2025 as a Perplexity Max-subscriber exclusive, made free globally in October 2025.
What It Is
Comet is not a search interface with a browser bolted on — the agent is the primary interaction model. The browser's job is to give the agent a runtime: a real browser context with persistent sessions, cookies, and DOM access. The user states a goal; the agent executes it across multiple sites, tabs, and steps.
This makes it the first consumer product to ship computer-use as the primary interface rather than as a discrete feature inside another product.
Key Capabilities
- Autonomous task execution: the agent can navigate sites, fill forms, complete purchases, send emails, and submit data without user intervention at each step
- Research workflows: multi-site traversal and synthesis, equivalent to Perplexity's Deep Research but with live browser execution
- Comparison shopping: visits product pages, reads prices, and summarizes across retailers
- Email / calendar actions: composes and sends emails from within the browser
- Page summarization and in-page Q&A: passive AI assistance available at any point during normal browsing
How It Differs from Perplexity Search
Perplexity Search is passive: user asks, model retrieves and synthesizes, session ends. Comet is active: user states an intent, agent plans and executes across an open-ended number of steps, acting on sites rather than just reading them. The distinction is retrieval vs. action.
Platforms
Windows 10+, macOS Big Sur+, Android 12+ (November 2025), iOS 18+ (March 2026), visionOS 2.0+.
Privacy
The agent requires full browser control to function: it sees the active page, interacts with DOM elements, and can access any authenticated session open in the browser. This is architecturally necessary but means Perplexity's infrastructure has access to browsing state.
Security researchers (LayerX Security, August 2025) identified "CometJacking" — an attack vector that could exfiltrate sensitive user data via the agent's browser access. Perplexity declined to acknowledge security impact during responsible disclosure.
Enterprise version adds central policy controls and data handling restrictions not present in the consumer product.
Related
computer-use · agentic-workflows · mcp