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AI browsers compared: how ChatGPT Atlas, Neon and Comet revolutionise web browsing

We tested Atlas, Neon and Comet the three most advanced browsers to see if they can really challenge the dominance of Google Chrome

by Marco Trabucchi

24 November 2025

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

In October, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, effectively entering the AI browser war. With over 800 million weekly users, the move directly challenges a giant like Google Chrome, which dominates the market with 64.86%. In parallel, Perplexity made the Comet browser free of charge and Opera launched Neon for $20 per month. Only in the US are also Dia from Browser Company and the integration of Gemini in Chrome. The goal is clear: to change the ingrained habits of users, bringing language patterns everywhere - searching, booking, shopping and reading - turning LLM into the new gateway to the web.

Atlas: when ChatGPT becomes a browser

Available only for Mac, Atlas puts ChatGPT at the centre of the experience. The distinctive feature is 'Browser memories', which allows ChatGPT to remember sites visited and use them as context for searches and summaries, such as 'Find all the job ads I was looking at last week and create a summary'. The sidebar eliminates copy-paste between tabs, while 'agent mode' - available to subscribers - allows automated actions such as finding a restaurant or booking a table. Convenient, but with a trade-off: Atlas wants permission to see and store virtually everything you do online. OpenAI ensures that the data is not used to train models, but the user can choose to share it. And not everyone will agree.

Opera Neon: the most ambitious and expensive

Neon costs about $20 per month, focuses on original features and actually requires a little more experience to juggle the various options. The killer feature are the autonomous 'Tasks' workspaces in which the AI understands the context and analyses several sources simultaneously. For instance, it is possible to open several news sites in a Task and ask the AI to summarise articles or highlight similarities and differences between sources. Cards', on the other hand, are reusable prompts, also downloadable from the community. A practical example: a 'summarise-content' Card allows one to summarise a YouTube video of any length in a few lines, without having to watch it. The 'Neon Do' mode gives the AI the freedom to navigate, close cards, fill in forms and compare info, with the user free to intervene at any time.

Comet: the underdog focusing on simplicity

Initially launched in July, Comet became free with the aim of quickly gaining users. Based on Chromium, it does not disrupt habits but introduces a side assistant that reads pages in real time and proposes actions. It is simple, fluid and powerful: it summarises emails, manages tabs, navigates autonomously and exploits history and calendar. By linking Gmail and Google Calendar, it can summarise the day, find urgent communications and write replies. Comet's strength is its immediacy.

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The three browsers at the agent test

Atlas is fascinating to watch as it moves the cursor itself and verbalises the steps ('I must close the cookie window'), but it has obvious limitations: OpenAI itself has included a 'Take control' button. In the test of filling an Amazon shopping cart with a toothbrush and Brita filter, Atlas chose the correct toothbrush but got the filter wrong. In the practical test - filling an Amazon shopping cart with an electric toothbrush and a replacement cartridge for a Brita tap water purifier - Atlas chose the correct toothbrush but got the filter wrong.o Given access to the personal account, the agent could, in theory, have completed the order and proceeded to payment independently.

Comet, on the other hand, was the most precise: it found the right filter immediately using the history and then, on request, located a mini guitar amplifier on Amazon and the same model on Aliexpress. In the flight search it provided prices and options and generated a direct link to Skyscanner on its own. Even with Gmail it was flawless, listing urgent messages and offering to show the content or help with replies.

Neon has advanced functions but remains more cumbersome. With the 'Neon Do' mode, we asked for a good-value front and a Leonard Cohen record. It took a few minutes, but the products were selected and added correctly. Google Mail did not show senders, only generic categories, slowing down the experience. Its real strengths are order and depth: Tasks and Cards help to analyse large volumes of data and to switch smoothly from the search engine to the chatbot.

Privacy risks? Still many

The danger around the corner is called prompt injection: techniques through which cyber criminals hide malicious commands within seemingly harmless content. Nicole Nguyen of the Wall Street Journal summarised the issue effectively: 'With an AI-based browser, much more information is shared than with a simple chatbot, as entire sections of web pages are sent to external servers for processing. Although companies attempt to obscure personal data, the process has flaws. The general rule is to avoid sharing confidential medical, financial or business information while interacting with these tools'. OpenAI allows one to disable history, block access to email and home banking, or hide pages from AI, but a compromised browser-agent remains a serious threat to banking data, corporate mail, and sensitive accounts.

And then there is the risk to information: according to the Columbia Journalism Review, these browsers could circumvent paywalls, reading confidential articles without the publishers knowing. A huge flaw, which calls into question the economic viability of the media. A further shock for a system already compromised by Google's AI Overviews.