Comet vs Genspark for Australians in 2026: Agentic Browser or AI Super Agent?

Pricing figures updated 6 September 2026: USD prices are converted at the current rate (1 USD ≈ 1.40 AUD, verified 5 September 2026) and shown ex-GST, replacing the retired 1.55 + GST basis. A GST-registered Australian business that supplies its ABN is not charged GST on an imported digital service; other buyers should allow ~10% on top (Methodology).

Winner: Comet for most people — it's free to start, cross-platform, and a strong research companion. Pick Genspark if you want one ambitious tool to build decks, run deep research and place real phone calls — and you'll supervise it. Both ask you to watch them closely.

Last reviewed: 20 September 2026 by Adam.

Quick comparison

What both tools actually do

Both chase the same idea — an AI that does the task, not just answers a question — from opposite ends. Comet is a web browser with Perplexity's AI built into its core. The assistant travels with you on every page (ask about what you're reading, summarise, pull facts), and it's agentic: tell it to do something and it opens tabs, clicks, fills forms and works across sites to finish a job. On the top tier it runs scheduled background agents. Its distinguishing move is reach — it shipped free, on every major platform, while its obvious rival ChatGPT Atlas stayed Mac-only until OpenAI discontinued it on 9 August 2026.

Genspark is an all-in-one workspace built around a Super Agent. Instead of routing your prompt to one model, it fires the request across nine large language models and 80-plus tools, then assembles the result — a pitch deck with generated cover art, a research spreadsheet, a deep-research report, even a restaurant booking placed by an actual phone call. It's one of the most ambitious agents on the market, and when it works it feels like the future.

The shape difference: Comet is an environment you browse and research inside, with agentic help on tap. Genspark is a machine you point at a complex, multi-step task and let run.

Pricing in Australia

Neither bills in Australian dollars. Both are cheaper than they first look at the entry tier and brutal at the top.

Comet the browser is genuinely free on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android — it went free worldwide on 23 March 2026, no account needed for basic browsing. What you pay for is how far the AI goes: the full agent rides a Perplexity subscription, so Pro at US$20/month (~A$28 ex-GST) unlocks the real agent, and the autonomous background agents need Max at US$200/month (~A$280+).

Genspark bills in USD on a credit model: Free, Plus at US$19.99/month (~A$28 ex-GST) from 10,000 credits, and Pro at US$199.99/month (~A$280) from 125,000 credits. A genuinely useful wrinkle: through December 2026, AI chat and image generation cost zero credits on paid plans, preserving your balance for the expensive work — video, deep research and long agent runs, which is where credits actually drain.

So both start around A$28/month for the serious tier. Comet's browser-plus-sidecar is free in a way Genspark's core agent isn't, which lowers Comet's real entry cost.

Where Comet wins

• Free, and on every platform. The browser costs nothing and runs on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android — broader reach than Atlas ever managed, or than a web-only agent.
• Strong research companion. Perplexity's search heritage shows: cited, search-first answers about whatever page you're on.
• Lower real entry cost. You get the sidecar assistant for free; you only pay when you want the full agent.
• It fits how you already work. It's a browser. There's no new workspace to learn.

Where Genspark wins

• It does more in one shot. Deck, cover art, research spreadsheet, deep-research report — assembled from a single instruction across nine models.
• It can place phone calls. The Super Agent will ring a restaurant or service on your behalf — genuinely novel, if not yet reliable.
• Multi-model cross-checking. Routing sub-tasks to whichever model suits and cross-checking outputs cuts some errors a single model would make.
• Free chat and images through 2026. That promotion makes day-to-day use on a paid plan cheaper than the credit headline suggests.

Which to pick — decision framework

If you want a better way to research and browse with agentic help on tap, pick Comet — free, cross-platform, and useful from day one.

If you want one tool to crank out a deck, a research report or a one-off automation and you're willing to check its work, Genspark is the more ambitious machine.

On trust, both demand caution. Comet's agent has been repeatedly shown to be hijackable by hidden instructions on a web page; Genspark's phone calls succeed only about 83% of the time. Neither should be pointed at a logged-in bank account or anything you can't afford to get wrong unsupervised.

The verdict

For most Australians, Comet edges it — and at 16/25 against 15/25, the scorecard agrees, narrowly. It's free, it's on every platform, it slots into how you already browse, and Perplexity's research pedigree makes the everyday experience genuinely useful. The catch is the worst security story in the category: outside researchers have repeatedly hijacked its agent through hidden page instructions, and Perplexity initially waved away a disclosed data-exfiltration flaw. Use it for low-stakes research and light agentic work, not for anything sensitive.

Genspark is the more dazzling tool, and for someone who regularly needs decks, deep research or a one-off automation, its Super Agent earns a place in the kit. But ambition is also its problem: it burns credits fast, you pay for the misses as well as the hits, and a roughly one-in-six phone-call failure rate means it's not something to rely on unwatched. That's why it lands at 15/25 — powerful, but not yet dependable.

Both share the same Australian gap: USD pricing, US-region hosting, no local support. Pick on the job you're doing — research-and-browse (Comet) or build-and-automate (Genspark) — and keep a hand on the wheel either way.

Frequently asked questions

Is Comet or Genspark better for Australians?

Comet for most — it's free, cross-platform and a strong research companion (16/25). Genspark is the more ambitious Super Agent that builds decks and makes phone calls (15/25), but it burns credits and needs supervision.

Is Comet really free?

The Comet browser is free worldwide on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. The sidecar assistant is free; the full agent and scheduled background agents require a paid Perplexity plan (Pro US$20/mo, Max US$200/mo).

Are these tools safe to use for important tasks?

Use both with caution. Comet's agent can be hijacked by hidden instructions on web pages, and Genspark's phone calls succeed only about 83% of the time. Don't point either at a logged-in bank account or unsupervised high-stakes work.

Sources

• Comet — Perplexity pricing and Comet product/security pages; independent security disclosures. See our full Comet review for primary citations and Wayback snapshots.
• Genspark — Genspark pricing and help pages; independent reliability testing. See our full Genspark review for primary citations and Wayback snapshots.

The AI Directory Australia is an independent editorial publication. Read our Methodology.