Not all AI browsers are built the same. So, which one should you opt for between ChatGPT Atlas, Comet, and Dia?
ChatGPT Atlas was launched by OpenAI on October 21
The era of artificial intelligence (AI) browsers is upon us. In the last six months, The Browser Company, Perplexity, and now OpenAI have all launched their own takes on what an AI browser should look like and function. On the surface, one might feel that all of these browsers are the same, given that they all feature a sidebar assistant, a chatbot-like home page, and similar basic features. However, a closer inspection quickly reveals that all three of these browsers are quite different and cater to different use cases. Let us take a look.
Before comparing ChatGPT Atlas, Comet, and Dia browsers, it is important to understand what exactly an AI browser is. Powered by generative AI technology, an AI browser is a reimagination of the traditional browser from just a window to web pages to a conversational assistant. With the conversational interface, it acts as a partner that summarises web pages, searches for information, and acts upon the information. AI is also used to personalise the assistant's responses, perform agentic actions, and even analyse complex data.
An AI browser converts the one-way manual workflow into a natural-language, interactive experience, making the browsing experience seamless and eliminating mechanical actions.
OpenAI bundles ChatGPT tightly into the browsing surface with features for task-oriented “agents”; Perplexity treats the browser as a research companion that helps you chase curiosity; and The Browser Company has leaned into a conversational, tab-centred “personal intelligence layer.” All three aim to reduce the friction of finding, summarising and acting on web information, but they make different trade-offs on how much AI does for you, contextual awareness, agentic applications, and more.
When it comes to the fundamentals —opening tabs, managing bookmarks, and navigating the web —Perplexity's Comet feels closest to a conventional browser experience, albeit with an AI assistant baked in. In our testing, we found it to be the fastest (despite all three being built on Chromium), and it has the best management of bookmarks and extensions.
Browsing on ChatGPT Atlas
ChatGPT Atlas comes in a close second, thanks to its polished interface and minimalist design. However, OpenAI's search engine is quite limited, as we have already explained in our first impressions, which somewhat impacts what users can do. While it operates very smoothly, it is less full-featured in traditional browsing terms.
Dia, on the other hand, reimagines the browser shell entirely. Built by The Browser Company, it treats tabs, notes, and conversations as part of one interface. It's beautiful and fluid, but it can feel less complete for traditional web management tasks, such as tab syncing or extensions.
Atlas is built around OpenAI's latest ChatGPT models, so its AI capabilities are broad. It can generate text, summarise content, extract data, and even interpret what's on a page. The homepage experience, although a ChatGPT wrapper, works as intended and is sufficient. The sidebar is easy to access and comes with all the features one can need (more on this below). Unless you are on the free tier — in which case you can get locked out of the sidebar chat — the overall AI experience is good.
Dia is more design-oriented, positioning its AI as a companion rather than an oracle. It uses orchestration to choose the right AI tool or model for a given request, focusing on tone, clarity, and task flow rather than raw generative power. The result is an assistant that feels less “chatbot-like” and more like a contextual collaborator. This is a great implementation for those who are familiar with the technology, but new users can quickly feel overwhelmed.
Comet relies on Perplexity's retrieval-augmented engine, which specialises in concise, citation-rich responses and source transparency, making it strong for information lookup, but less creative in output. For research-based tasks, it still serves the purpose, but for more general-purpose requirements, it can feel inadequate.
All three browsers integrate AI through a sidebar or chat panel, but the experience differs in focus. Comet feels the most polished among the others. It is the only AI browser which offers unlimited agentic actions free of cost, which is great when you want the AI to complete tasks. In our testing, it was able to find a product, add it to the cart, add an address, and hand over the reins on the checkout page. It is also the only assistant that comes with the contextual awareness of all the open tabs. Functionality-wise, it is way ahead of the competition.
Comet's sidebar assistant
Atlas's sidebar acts as an extension of ChatGPT, letting you ask questions about the page, summarise content, or pull in context seamlessly. It's polished and easy to use, though it leans heavily on ChatGPT's style of interaction. In our testing, it was not able to draw context from other open tabs, making the experience isolated. Additionally, even for paid subscribers, the agentic actions are locked at 40 per day, making relying on it for more complex tasks a hassle.
Dia's sidebar, or rather, its conversational layer, blends into the interface. It opens up automatically with a new tab, and instead of feeling like a separate panel, it's more like an ambient chat that follows you from tab to tab. But the same lack of contextual awareness and agentic actions plague this browser as well. From a utility point of view, it has the weakest assistant.
As mentioned above, different browsers serve different functions, and the same holds true for AI browsers. Currently, Comet offers the best experience if you want an assistant that can do it all on your behalf while you wait for it to finish the task. It is also a good option for those who use their browsers for research-focused work.
ChatGPT Atlas, on the other hand, is ideal for those who prefer the ChatGPT experience and are looking for a browser to serve their general workflow. However, we would not recommend it unless you have an active paid subscription to the platform.
Dia will appeal to those who prefer a conversational experience and personalisation over productive tools. The browser's skill automation and local data processing also make it a good choice for those who want more control of the browsing experience but do not want their data to be stored in the cloud.
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