Comet vs Microsoft Edge in 2026

Comet and Microsoft Edge are both Chromium browsers with an AI assistant built into the side of every page, and both score 5 for AI features in our ratings. They come at it from opposite ends. Comet is an AI product that happens to be a browser. Edge is a mature browser that Microsoft has spent years filling with Copilot.

How each one does AI

Comet is Perplexity's answer engine in browser form. Questions typed into the address bar return a synthesised answer with citations, and the assistant beside each page summarises, compares sources and takes follow-ups. It can also act on websites for you, from drafting an email to filling a shopping cart, and it does that on the free plan: Comet has agentic mode in our feature table. Perplexity Max subscribers also get a background assistant that keeps working while you do something else.

Microsoft launched Copilot Mode in July 2025 as an opt-in experiment, then retired it in May 2026 and built its features into Edge itself. Every Edge user can now let Copilot use open tabs as context, on desktop and mobile, and with your permission it can draw on your browsing history. Journeys, which groups past browsing into topic cards you can pick up again, is free on desktop in English-speaking markets. The agent is the part you pay for. Copilot Actions became Browse with Copilot, available on Edge for desktop to Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers in the US only, with usage limits; that plan costs $19.99 a month and replaced Copilot Pro. That is why Edge's agentic mode is marked as paid in our table. Businesses with Microsoft 365 Copilot licences can try it in a limited preview outside the European Economic Area.

Privacy, data and agent risks

Both score 3 for privacy, for different reasons. Comet blocks ads, trackers and fingerprinting scripts by default, but its business is Perplexity's AI, and its CEO said in April 2025 that the browser would help Perplexity understand users beyond its own app to sell better-targeted ads. Edge blocks trackers and fingerprinting too, but sends diagnostic data to Microsoft, some of which you cannot switch off, and keeps pulling you toward Bing and a Microsoft account. Microsoft says Copilot only uses your history with your permission and shows a visual cue whenever it is acting.

Agents add risk wherever they run. In August 2025 Brave's security team showed hidden text on a page steering Comet's assistant into leaking a user's email address and a one-time login code, and in October 2025 it did the same with instructions hidden in screenshots. Perplexity fixed those flaws, and has said prompt injection is still unsolved industry-wide. Edge's agent is newer and reaches fewer people, which limits its exposure but does not make it immune.

The browser underneath

As a browser, Edge has more to offer. It scores 5 for speed against Comet's 4, 5 for extensions against 4 because it adds Microsoft's own add-ons store, and 4 for customizability against 3. It has vertical tabs, which Comet lacks, plus Sleeping Tabs to save memory and a paid VPN. Edge runs on Linux as well as Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. Comet runs on the latter four. Both score 4 for ease of use and both sync across devices.

Which should you choose?

Choose Comet if AI is the main reason you are changing browsers: you want cited answers by default, research heavily, and want an agent without a subscription. Keep it away from accounts you would not trust a fallible assistant with.

Choose Microsoft Edge if you work in Windows and Microsoft 365, want a strong everyday browser with Copilot reading your tabs for free, and either already pay for Microsoft 365 Premium or are content to skip the agent. It is the better browser; Comet is the more ambitious AI.