The news: Perplexity dropped the $200 monthly fee for its AI-native Comet browser, making it free worldwide but with rate limits. The change follows Google Chrome hitting a record 73.7% share of desktop browsing in September, per StatCounter.

“We want to build a better internet—one that’s accessible to everyone,” Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas told Business Insider.

Comet can summarize webpages, pull key details, and wade through links on a user’s behalf. It first debuted in July but was only available through Perplexity's pricey Max tier until now.

Why it matters: After making an unsolicited $34.5 billion cash bid for Google’s Chrome browser in August, Perplexity is now doubling down on its own browser strategy.

Browsers are the internet’s front door, controlling how people search, shop, and consume media. Chrome’s dominance as the advertising gateway gives it a head start in the AI battlefield. Comet offers a different pitch—less “slop,” more signal, and direct partnerships with publishers. 

Zooming out: Chrome has 3 billion users, while Comet’s waitlist is only in the millions. But the real competition is happening at the edges: AI assistants embedded in browsers, apps behaving like browsers, and chat interfaces absorbing search itself, which could accelerate user behavior away from traditional browsing.

• If chat-based search continues to rise, the definition of a “browser” may shift entirely, forcing marketers to rethink how customers choose to access information.
• Where intent originates—whether in a URL bar, a chatbot, or a multimodal assistant—will determine how ads are served and how discovery happens. 
• Instead of brands optimizing for web traffic, they may soon be focused on how well their content surfaces in AI-driven summaries and conversations.

Meanwhile, challengers are emerging from unexpected directions. OpenAI’s ChatGPT app is behaving like a mobile browser, with users opening it 7.8 times a day—more than Safari or Chrome, per SensorTower.

What this means for brands: Chrome remains the must-buy channel, but ChatGPT’s mobile stickiness and Comet’s positioning prove that audiences may increasingly flow through alternative gateways. 

The brands that experiment early across these varied environments will be better prepared when consumer behavior tilts away from legacy browsers.

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