Why Perplexity's new Comet Plus browser feels like a rethink of the internet

Comet Plus blends AI assistance, licensed premium content, and a user-first design to reimagine browsing as purposeful, clutter-free, and fair to publishers.

- By Shrikanth G

The browser battlefield is hotting up. For decades, browsers have been our windows to the web. But let’s be honest, not much has really changed. You open a browser, type a query, and you're bombarded with ads, popups, and an array of links that don’t always get you to what you want. That's the old model.

And now, the new kid on the block, Perplexity, is trying to challenge the status quo and even had the audacity to bid for Google Chrome recently. Close on the heels of launching its Al-native browser, Perplexity Al is shaking things up again with Comet Plus. And it’s not just “another browser feature.” It’s almost a provocation. It’s an attempt to ask: what if your browser didn’t just show you the web, but actually worked with you to make sense of it?

A BROWSER THAT WANTS TO BE YOUR RESEARCH PARTNER

That’s what Comet Plus pitches itself as. It blends premium access with AI research tools and revenue-sharing, aiming to reshape browsing into a purposeful, user-friendly, and fair web experience. Frustrating, right? Google can show you a snippet, maybe a paragraph if you're lucky, but the real story is often hidden.

It is in this context that Perplexity Comet Plus takes a different approach. Because it’s built on actual deals with publishers, it can surface the full article or research paper right there in your search flow. Perplexity says: “No endless sign-ups. No dead ends.” You get the story, the context, the data. And here's the deal: publishers aren’t being shortchanged. They’re getting paid for your access.

IS COMET PLUS A RESEARCH PARTNER SITTING IN YOUR BROWSER?