Comet is the better app overall, scoring 8.2 to 7.5. Comet wins on 4 of the 5 scores, DeepSeek on 1.
Researchers and heavy web users who want AI help beside every tab
Students and developers who want strong reasoning help for free
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Comet | DeepSeek |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Assistants | AI Assistants |
| Category rank | #10 of 16 | #16 of 16 |
| Developer | Perplexity AI | DeepSeek |
| Pricing | Free + paid plans | Free |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mac | ✓ | — |
| Windows | ✓ | — |
| Web | — | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Comet better than DeepSeek?
Comet is the better app overall, scoring 8.2 to 7.5. Comet wins on 4 of the 5 scores, DeepSeek on 1.
Which is cheaper, Comet or DeepSeek?
Comet: Free on every platform; Perplexity Pro ($20 a month) and Max raise the limits. DeepSeek: Free app and website; developers pay separately for the API. On value for money, DeepSeek scores higher.
Do Comet and DeepSeek work on the same devices?
Only Comet runs on Mac, Windows. Only DeepSeek runs on Web.
Which is more private, Comet or DeepSeek?
Comet scores higher on privacy (5.8/10). Perplexity says Comet keeps browsing data on your device, but with a synced account it may record your history and use data to improve its AI. Its privacy notice also allows some ad sharing.
Strengths and weaknesses
Comet
- Free on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android
- Can act on pages, not just sum them up
- Your sessions sync between phone and computer
- A synced account lets Perplexity record your browsing history
- The helper has to read the pages you visit
- No Linux version
Comet is Perplexity's web browser, with an AI helper beside every tab. It can sum up a page or compare products across sites. It can even work through a multi-step task while you browse. Bigger jobs go to Perplexity Computer. It's free on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, and your sessions sync between them. The trade-off is privacy. The helper has to read your pages, and a synced account lets Perplexity record your history.
Full Comet review
DeepSeek
- Strong reasoning and coding help for free
- Reads pictures and very long documents
- Open models you can run yourself
- Your data is stored on servers in China
- Can't make images, and has few extras beyond chat
DeepSeek gives you strong reasoning and coding help for free. Its open-weight models use the MIT license, so anyone can run them. Expert mode takes on harder problems, and web search is built in. The app now reads photos and very long documents. It's still basic next to paid rivals and can't make images. Its privacy policy says data is stored in China, and several governments limit it on official devices.
Full DeepSeek review
