Why Are People Returning to Brave After Trying Perplexity's AI Browser Comet?

The Perplexity team recently launched Comet, an AI-powered browser that aims to compete directly with giants like Google Chrome , Microsoft Edge , and Brave . To try it out, you'll need to be a Perplexity Max subscriber or join the early access waitlist. After trying it out, the verdict is definitely out there, and you're better off sticking with Brave.

 

What is Comet?

Comet is an agent-based AI browser being developed by Perplexity. It is not the first of its kind, as The Browser Company previously released a similar browser with Dia , their second browser. If you have never used either of these browsers, here is some explanation.

This new browser is a combination of a browser and an AI assistant, allowing you to do more than just browse the web or chat with AI. You can access the Perplexity assistant from Comet at any time and ask it to perform tasks on your behalf.

Although Comet is based on Chromium, it is more than just an AI-powered web browser. Comet is designed from the ground up to use AI to automate tasks and improve your workflow.

 

The entire browser is built around an AI assistant that lives in the sidebar. From there, it can interact with the content of any active web page. For example, you can ask it a question about a YouTube video, analyze a Google Doc, or summarize an article without leaving the current page or other open tabs. You can also use it to perform tasks like scheduling a meeting, making a purchase, or signing up for a service.

Favorite Features of Comet Browser

After spending some time with Perplexity AI 's Comet browser , you can tell that it's not a bad browser. In fact, some of its features are really impressive. The built-in AI assistant is the highlight of the program. It can interact with tabs, calendars, emails, and even navigate the web or perform tasks automatically.

I asked it to compare keyboard prices on Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and it did. The same goes for common tasks like booking, sending an email, or unsubscribing from a newsletter.

 

Conversational search is another useful feature. It provides instant answers, pulling from sources and summarizing them so you don't have to search multiple sites. It can even summarize YouTube videos, articles, or entire websites, and the results are always contextual.

One thing people really like is how it remembers the context of all the tabs you have open. Plus, the voice feature is surprisingly accurate, and you can talk to it naturally to get things done faster. Comet also supports all Chrome extensions, importing bookmarks and settings without any hassle.

The interface is clean and distraction-free, with a built-in ad blocker, privacy controls, and even a restricted mode to sync sensitive information. Zero-click search in the address bar is convenient, offering direct answers and personalized suggestions based on your browsing habits.

 

Why is Brave or other traditional browsers still better?

You might be thinking, 'if you like so many things, what's the point?'. The thing is, you can already do all of this with existing AI tools in a traditional browser like Brave.

OpenAI has its own agentic mode, Google is developing a similar tool with Project Mariner, and since you're already paying for these services, there's not much reason to switch to Comet. Plus, the results from these dedicated AI tools are better than what Comet offers.

Comet is still in its early stages. The idea of having your browser do things for you sounds great, but in practice it's cumbersome. The keyboard price comparison I mentioned earlier was interesting in theory, but it took about 5 minutes to run. You could do the same search on Brave in less time.

AI features aside, Comet is basically just Google Chrome with a different interface. None of that is a big deal, but privacy concerns are.

Perplexity doesn't just want to compete with Google. Based on what CEO Aravind Srinivas said on the TBPN podcast, they want to be Google. He admitted that one of the reasons they built the browser was to collect data about everything you do so they can sell premium ads.

He later clarified in a Reddit Q&A that browsing data, including activity, technical details, extensions, and logins, is stored locally on the device. But Comet's privacy page describes this vaguely, which is a red flag.

This is exactly where Brave excels. Brave's entire platform is built around protecting user data, with clear policies that ensure your browsing history, search queries, and personal information never leave your device without your consent. Brave has a proven track record of preventing data collection, and its ad-blocking and tracking-blocking features work right out of the box with no hidden conditions.

If you don't want to stick with browsers like Brave or Chrome, there are plenty of other options to try. If you're not sure where to start, consider looking into some of the underrated niche browsers.