Perplexity Comet, Arc, and Dia all promise to weave AI directly into how you browse the web instead of bolting a chatbot on top, but one important status update before anything else: Arc, and the Arc Search feature it introduced, is effectively frozen. The Browser Company stopped active development on Arc in May 2025 to focus entirely on Dia, and the company itself was acquired by Atlassian for $610 million in October 2025. Arc still runs and receives security patches, but no new features are coming. I used all three as my daily browser for three weeks each — research, article reading, and general browsing — since AI browser features matter most in the accumulated friction of everyday use rather than a quick demo.
The honest framing before the specifics: this ended up being less a clean three-way comparison and more a look at one actively developed leader, one actively developed challenger from the same company as a frozen predecessor, and that frozen predecessor itself, still worth understanding if you're currently using it.
Perplexity Comet: the most capable, and now free for almost everyone
Comet launched in mid-2025 as a $200-a-month product gated behind Perplexity's top subscription tier, but Perplexity dropped that paywall entirely on March 18, 2026, making the core browser free across Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. The free tier includes agentic search, voice mode, and Deep Research; a $20-a-month Pro tier and the original $200 Max tier remain for higher usage limits and background automation features. A distinctive Model Council feature runs GPT, Claude, and Gemini models in parallel and synthesizes their answers, which no competitor here currently offers.
In three weeks of daily use, the AI sidebar's page summarization and cross-tab awareness were consistently the most reliable of the three — asking it to compare information across several open tabs worked smoothly in a way that felt genuinely different from pasting content into a separate chat window. The honest limitation echoed across nearly every review I'd read beforehand: for developers who live in DevTools, Chrome's tooling remains ahead, and heavy multi-tab users reported real memory pressure during extended sessions. For most research- and writing-heavy browsing, though, this was the strongest of the three.
Arc: still usable, but you're on borrowed time
Arc remains genuinely pleasant to use day to day — the vertical sidebar, Spaces organization, and built-in ad blocking still feel ahead of most mainstream browsers, and full Chrome extension compatibility means there's no functionality gap in that respect. But the honest reality is unavoidable: nothing about Arc has changed since May 2025, and nothing will. Security patches keep arriving through the Chromium pipeline, but the AI features under the Arc Max banner aren't being extended, and The Browser Company has been vague about whether Arc will eventually be open-sourced, sold, or simply left to fade.
Using it for three weeks felt like visiting a well-maintained but abandoned house — everything still works, but nothing new is being built. For current Arc users, there's no urgent reason to leave today, and Arc's workflow can be recreated on other browsers when the time comes. For anyone starting fresh in 2026, though, building a new workflow around Arc specifically doesn't make sense anymore, since the team that built it has moved entirely to Dia.
Dia: The Browser Company's actual answer, still finding its footing
Dia is the same team's genuinely active successor — publicly launched on macOS in October 2025 and shipping updates roughly weekly since, with a free tier and a $20-a-month Pro plan that unlocks unlimited AI usage, custom "Skills," and a Memory system that pulls context from open tabs. The design philosophy is deliberately different from Arc: rather than a power-user layout built around Spaces, Dia looks close to a stripped-down Chrome with an AI sidebar as the central feature, aimed at people who want help without needing to learn a new browsing paradigm.
The honest limitations were real during testing: Dia is macOS-only as of this writing, with a Windows build still behind a waitlist and no iOS app at all, which is a genuine barrier if your setup isn't entirely Apple hardware. Dia also can't automate multi-step tasks the way Comet's agentic mode can — it answers questions and summarizes rather than actually clicking through a workflow for you. For Mac-based users who want a calmer, more conversational AI browsing experience without Arc's steeper learning curve, though, this is a genuinely polished starting point, even acknowledging it's still maturing under new ownership.
Perplexity Comet vs Arc vs Dia
| Category | Perplexity Comet | Arc | Dia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Development status | Actively developed | Frozen, security patches only | Actively developed |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android | macOS only, Windows in development |
| Price | Free; Pro $20/mo, Max $200/mo | Free | Free; Pro $20/mo |
| AI approach | Agentic, can complete multi-step tasks | Static (Arc Max features frozen) | Conversational, summarizes and answers |
| Best for | Research-heavy users wanting full automation | Current users not ready to migrate yet | Mac users wanting a calmer AI browsing experience |
Which one should you actually use?
If you want the most capable, actively developed AI browser and don't mind the memory overhead, Comet's free tier and agentic automation make it the strongest overall pick, especially now that the paywall is gone. If you're currently on Arc, there's no emergency to switch today, but treat it as a browser on borrowed time rather than something to build a new workflow around. And if you're on a Mac and want The Browser Company's genuine answer to what comes after Arc, Dia is worth trying, as long as macOS-only availability doesn't rule it out for your setup. For a deeper independent breakdown of Comet's features and how it stacks up against the competition, this 2026 Perplexity Comet review is a useful reference before making the switch.
FAQ
Is Arc browser shutting down?
Not officially, but it's effectively frozen — The Browser Company stopped active development in May 2025 and shifted focus entirely to Dia, though Arc continues receiving Chromium security patches with no announced sunset date.
Is Perplexity Comet free to use?
Yes, as of March 18, 2026, the core Comet browser is free across all platforms; paid Pro ($20/month) and Max ($200/month) tiers add higher usage limits and background automation features.
Does Dia work on Windows?
Not yet as of this writing. Dia is currently macOS-only on Apple Silicon hardware, with a Windows version in development behind a waitlist.
Which of these three can actually complete tasks automatically, not just answer questions?
Comet's agentic mode is built specifically for multi-step task automation like comparing products or filling forms; Dia's AI assistant currently focuses on answering questions and summarizing rather than automating actions.
Who owns Dia and Arc now?
Both come from The Browser Company, which was acquired by Atlassian for $610 million in a deal that closed on October 21, 2025; the company's development focus has shifted entirely to Dia.