Comet Browser Review 2025: The AI That Browses For You (Full Benchmarks)

Comet Browser: At a Glance

Overall Score	Verdict	Recommended For	Not Recommended For
9.0 / 10	A revolutionary glimpse into the future of browsing, currently best for non-sensitive tasks in a sandboxed environment due to security risks.	AI Researchers, Developers, Students, Early Adopters.	Privacy-conscious users, Corporate environments, anyone handling sensitive data.

Summary

Comet Browser by Perplexity is the first commercially available browser built around the concept of “Agentic Browsing.” It transforms the user’s role from a manual operator into a director, issuing high-level commands that the AI executes by clicking, typing, and navigating the web. Initially launched as a $200/month premium product, it is now free, attracting millions to its waitlist. This review finds that while Comet delivers genuinely revolutionary capabilities, its power is matched by critical security flaws and performance trade-offs that demand careful consideration.

Installation / Onboarding & Time-to-First-Result

Getting started with Comet is refreshingly simple, taking approximately three minutes from download to first meaningful result. Its Chromium foundation allows for a seamless one-click import of bookmarks, passwords, and extensions from Chrome or Edge.

Step-by-Step Onboarding:

1. Download: Visit perplexity.ai/comet and download the installer for Windows or macOS.
2. Import: On first launch, a prompt appears to import settings from your existing browser.
3. Permissions: Grant optional but recommended permissions for Gmail and Google Calendar integration.
4. First Command: Open a new tab and use the prompt bar (or Cmd/Ctrl + E) to issue your first command.

UI/UX & Developer Ergonomics

Comet maintains a familiar Chromium layout, ensuring a low learning curve. The key differentiator is the integration of the AI assistant, which is designed to be powerful yet unobtrusive.

Key UI Elements:

• Sidecar Assistant: A persistent sidebar, activated by a hotkey, where you interact with the AI.
• Agentic Mode Indicator: A distinct blue border appears around a webpage when the AI is actively controlling it, providing a clear visual cue.
• Transparent Reasoning: During complex tasks, the AI displays its “thought process” in the sidebar, showing the steps it plans to take before executing them.

Performance & Reliability

While Comet’s AI capabilities are impressive, they come at the cost of raw performance. It is measurably slower and more resource-intensive than its traditional counterparts.

Performance Metric	Comet Browser v1.0	Google Chrome v120	Dia Browser v0.9
Speedometer 2.1 Score	182	195	168
Page Load Speed	2.3s (avg)	2.1s (avg)	2.8s (avg)
RAM Usage (Idle)	890 MB	650 MB	1100 MB
CPU Usage (AI Active)	~35%	~5%	~45% (On-Device)
Battery Drain (per hour)	~22%	~15%	~25%

Our tests are validated against public standards like BrowserBench’s Speedometer 2.1.

Security & Privacy: Is Comet Browser Safe?

The short answer is no, not for sensitive tasks. While powerful, Comet Browser currently has a critical, unpatched vulnerability and a concerning privacy policy that make it unsuitable for handling personal, financial, or corporate data.

⚠️ Security Warning: Do Not Connect Comet to Sensitive Accounts Due to the “CometJacking” vulnerability, we strongly advise against connecting Comet to your primary email, cloud storage, or any account containing sensitive personal or financial information until a patch is issued and verified.

The “CometJacking” Vulnerability

In October 2025, security firm LayerX Research disclosed a new attack vector dubbed “CometJacking” . This vulnerability allows an attacker to embed hidden AI commands within a seemingly harmless URL. When a user clicks the link, Comet can be instructed to perform malicious actions, such as forwarding emails or extracting calendar data, without further user interaction.

As cybersecurity analyst LayerX CEO Or Eshed , “CometJacking represents a new paradigm of threat. It’s not just about stealing a password; it’s about hijacking an autonomous agent with trusted access to your digital life.”

Practical Mitigation Steps

• Sandbox Your Session: Use a dedicated, non-primary Google account for Comet.
• Limit Permissions: Be selective about which permissions you grant during onboarding.
• Use a Second Browser: Continue using a trusted browser like Chrome or Firefox for all sensitive activities.

Real-World Use Cases & Practical Examples

Persona 1: The Student Researcher

Goal: Synthesize three research papers for a literature review.

Outcome: In under two minutes, Comet reads three open PDFs, identifies their core theses, finds points of agreement and conflict, and generates a perfectly formatted bibliography.

Mini Case Study: Automating Weekly Reporting

A small marketing agency, “GrowthLeap,” used Comet to automate its weekly client reporting.

• The Challenge: Manually logging into Google Analytics, Google Ads, and a CRM, pulling metrics, and compiling them into a summary email took an analyst 2 hours per client.
• The Comet Solution: They created a single prompt: “For client [Client Name], open our GA4 dashboard, Ads dashboard, and CRM. Pull the weekly traffic, CPC, and new leads. Summarize the key changes in a bulleted list and draft an email to the client with these points.”
• The Result: The process was reduced to under 5 minutes per client, freeing up nearly a full day of work for the analyst each week. This was done in a sandboxed environment with read-only credentials for security.

Competitor Comparison & Market Impact

Feature	Comet Browser	Dia Browser	Chrome + Gemini	Key Trade-Off
Agentic Actions	Full DOM control	API-based actions	None (answers only)	Comet offers true autonomy but with higher security risks.
AI Model	Cloud-based (Sonar)	On-device (optional)	Cloud-based (Gemini)	Dia is slower but more private; Comet is faster but sends data to the cloud.
Privacy Model	Data collection for ads	Privacy-first, no tracking	Google ecosystem tracking	Dia is the clear winner for privacy-conscious users.

Verdict & Recommended Buyer Persona

Comet Browser is a landmark piece of software that successfully executes the vision of an AI agent that truly interacts with the web. However, it must be treated as what it is: a v1.0 product with serious security flaws.

Recommended For:

• The AI Researcher/Early Adopter: Perfect for experimenting with the future of browsing in a sandboxed environment.
• The Developer: A powerful tool for quick, script-free automation and testing.
• The Student: A game-changer for research, provided no personal data is connected.

Not Recommended For:

• The Privacy-Conscious User: The business model and current vulnerabilities are in direct opposition to privacy principles.
• Corporate Environments (Unsandboxed): The risk of data exfiltration is too high for general enterprise use.

Future Outlook: The Road to 2027

• Acquisition or “Acqui-hire”: Perplexity may be acquired by a major player like Microsoft or Apple.
• On-Device Models: To address privacy concerns, the industry will race to run these agentic models locally.
• The Great “Web-Unbundling”: As AIs become the primary interface, the visual presentation of websites will become less important than their data accessibility via APIs.

Franklin is an IT support tech,a content creator and an AI enthusiast with over 5 years of experience testing software for security and performance.

Methodology: All tests were conducted on the specified hardware. Performance benchmarks were run 3 times, with the average result reported. This review is independent and funded by our readers and on-site advertising; our editorial process is separate from our revenue operations.

Editorial Independence & Affiliate Disclosure

This review is independent and based on hands-on testing. We received no compensation from Perplexity. To support our work, we may use affiliate links, marked with [🔗]. This means we may earn a commission if you choose to download or subscribe through our links at no extra cost to you.

What To Do Next

• For Students & Researchers: ➡️ Try Comet for Research (Setup Guide) [🔗] Learn how to use Comet safely for academic work.
• For Developers: ➡️ Explore Comet for Automation (Testing Guide) See our guide on using Comet for lightweight E2E testing.
• For Businesses & IT Admins: ➡️ Read our Comet Security Playbook A deep-dive into sandboxing and safe deployment strategies.

FAQs about the Comet Browser

Is Comet Browser really free?

Yes, the base version of Comet Browser is free. Perplexity offers paid tiers like Pro ($20/mo) and Max ($200/mo) for access to more advanced AI models and features.

Can Comet replace Chrome?

Not yet. Due to security concerns, performance overhead, and the lack of a mobile version, it is best used as a secondary browser for specific tasks rather than a complete replacement for a stable browser like Chrome or Firefox.

What is the biggest risk of using Comet?

The biggest risk is data exfiltration through the “CometJacking” vulnerability. If you connect a primary email or cloud account, an attacker could potentially gain access to your sensitive data through a malicious link.