Agentic Index
OpenAI Atlas vs Perplexity Comet (2026)
The Atlas versus Comet question closed itself: OpenAI announced on July 9, 2026 that ChatGPT Atlas is deprecated and stops working on August 9, 2026, with browser agent capabilities moving into the ChatGPT desktop app and a Chrome extension. Perplexity Comet, by contrast, completed its cross platform rollout (Android in late 2025, iOS in early 2026) and remains free to download, with Pro at 20 dollars and Max at 200 dollars a month for deeper capability. For an agentic browser you can commit to, Comet is the one still standing; former Atlas users should export their data before the shutdown.
| At a glance | OpenAI Atlas | Perplexity Comet |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Browser / computer-use agent | Browser / computer-use agent |
| Entry price | Free | Free to download and use; Pro at twenty dollars per month, Max at two hundred dollars per month |
| Free / trial | Free tier | The browser is free on macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS with no account required for core agentic features |
| Pricing confidence | public exact | public |
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Action & orchestration | ||
|
Integrations & Tool Calling Ability to connect agents to real systems through native integrations, OAuth-authenticated actions, custom tools, APIs, webhooks, or MCP-compatible tools. |
Partial | Full / Explicit |
|
Workflow Orchestration Ability to sequence, branch, retry, route, and combine deterministic workflow nodes with autonomous agent steps. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
|
Triggers & Channel Coverage How agents wake up and where they work: schedules, webhooks, message events, CRM events, inbox events, chat, email, voice, and collaboration tools. |
Partial | Partial |
| Knowledge & context | ||
|
Knowledge Grounding & RAG Ability to ground agent behavior in company data through document ingestion, retrieval, external knowledge APIs, semantic search, or RAG layers. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
|
Memory & State Persistence Ability to persist context across a run, conversation, workflow, user, team, or longer-term memory layer. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
| Control & trust | ||
|
Human Oversight & Guardrails Approval steps, consent checkpoints, escalation rules, structured guardrails, policy constraints, and pause/resume controls. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
|
Security, Identity & Governance RBAC, SSO, auditability, encryption, least-privilege tool access, compliance posture, and data handling policy. |
Full / Explicit | No / Not documented |
|
Observability & Auditability Traces, logs, execution histories, metrics, audit events, and debugging detail for production agent behavior. |
Partial | Partial |
|
Deployment & Data Residency Deployment modes and options, including SaaS, dedicated cloud, VPC, on-prem, hybrid, local runtime, and self-hosting. |
Partial | No / Not documented |
| Solution readiness | ||
|
Prebuilt Agents, Templates & Packs Ready-made workflows, packaged employees, templates, blueprints, industry solutions, and role-specific agents that reduce time-to-value. |
Partial | Partial |
| Platform extensibility | ||
|
Model Flexibility & Routing Ability to work across multiple foundation models, route tasks to different models, or let buyers bring their own providers and keys. |
Partial | Full / Explicit |
|
APIs, SDKs & MCP Extensibility Composability layer: stable APIs, SDKs, MCP tool consumption/serving, custom tools, and integration into internal systems. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
|
Testing, Debugging & Optimization Testing, debugging, scoring, retries, fallbacks, quality gates, and optimization loops for improving agent workflows before and after deployment. |
Partial | No / Not documented |
| Specialist automation | ||
|
Browser & Computer Use Browser, desktop, or remote/local computer control for workflows that cannot be handled through stable APIs alone. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
Pricing snapshot
Sourced from the Index pricing dataset · open each vendor's profile for full detail.
| Pricing | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Entry price Lowest public entry point |
Free | Free to download and use; Pro at twenty dollars per month, Max at two hundred dollars per month |
|
Pricing confidence How public the numbers are |
Public — exact | Contact only |
|
Billing Primary billing axis |
seats | free browser; capability gated by flat Perplexity subscription tiers plus a small publisher add on |
|
Variable cost Workload / overage exposure |
Low variable cost | Low variable cost |
|
Free tier / trial Try before you buy |
Free tier
|
Free tierTrial
|
|
Buying motion Self-serve vs sales call |
Self-serve | Self-serve |
Choose OpenAI Atlas if
- There is no adoption case for Atlas; it stops working on August 9, 2026.
- If you are an existing Atlas user, your decision is migration, not renewal.
- Staying in the OpenAI ecosystem means the ChatGPT desktop app or Chrome extension going forward.
Choose Perplexity Comet if
- You want a dedicated agentic browser with an ongoing roadmap.
- Free apps across macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS cover all your devices.
- Flat subscription pricing at 20 dollars a month Pro fits predictable budgeting.
OpenAI announced Atlas deprecation on July 9, 2026, with a scheduled shutdown on August 9, 2026. This page reflects that announcement; the practical comparison is now Comet versus the browser capabilities inside ChatGPT itself.