Open source alternative to Perplexity Comet
Hey HN, we're a YC startup building an open-source, privacy-first alternative to Perplexity Comet. No invite system unlike bunch of others – you can download it today from our website or GitHub: https://github.com/browseros-ai/BrowserOS --- Why bother building an alternative? We believe browsers will become the new operating systems, where we offload much bunch of our work to AI agents. But these agents will have access to all your sensitive data – emails, docs, on top of your browser history. Open-source, privacy-first alternatives need to exist. We're not a search or ad…
Open source alternative to Perplexity Comet launched on July 10, 2025 with 291 votes, #105 of 9,224 launches that month and more than 99% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 1 year on.
In plain words
BrowserOS is an open-source, privacy-first AI agent alternative to Perplexity Comet. It runs locally in users' browsers rather than on external servers, keeping sensitive data like emails and browsing history on the user's machine. The tool supports local language models through Ollama and allows users to bring their own API keys, avoiding subscription fees. Available immediately on GitHub without an invite system, it is designed for users who want AI assistance while maintaining data privacy and control.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
BrowserOS neo is a web browser built NOT for you but for your AI agents. It runs on your machine and connects to Claude Code, Cowork, and Codex finishes real tasks on your behalf. It's magical!
BrowserOS neo, formerly BrowserClaw, is a local, open-source browser your AI agents (Claude, Cowork, Codex, Cursor) drive using your logged-in accounts. Watch every step, run agents in parallel, replay any session. Free.
BrowserOS neo is a free, open-source browser your agents drive with your logged-in accounts . One-click import your logins from Chrome, connect your agent (Claude Code, Cowork, Codex), and hand off your web tasks. Run many agents at once, and replay any session to see what they did. Every AI assistant sounds capable in chat, then falls apart the moment it needs to actually open a tab, log in, and click through. BrowserOS neo fixes that: be more productive with agents doing browser work in parallel, learn faster as it opens tabs for you, and trust the output by watching in real time with instant replay when it's done. Not a headless driver with no real logins. Not a cloud browser on someone…from browseros.com
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hey HN, we're a YC startup building an open-source, privacy-first alternative to Perplexity Comet. No invite system unlike bunch of others – you can download it today from our website or GitHub: https://github.com/browseros-ai/BrowserOS --- Why bother building an alternative? We believe browsers…
Does a similar job
all alternatives →
Open CometApr 2026 · opencomet.onrender.com · ▲117The autonomous AI browser agent for deep research & tasks
Perplexity Labs2025 · perplexity.ai · ▲638We built a search engine interface on top of OpenAI GPT 3.5 and Microsoft Bing that summarizes and cites top search results in response to natural language questions. By using search results, the AI is able to reference recent news and provide citations for specific facts. Our interface offers concise answers, without having to click through links, scroll past irrelevant content, or read ads. No login is required; no personal data is collected. We believe in the power of combining the intuitive UI of web search with the intelligence of large language models. The search engine does indexing…
BrowserOS – "Claude Cowork" in the browserJan 2026 · github.com · ▲88Hey HN! We're Nithin and Nikhil, twin brothers building BrowserOS (YC S24). We're an open-source, privacy-first alternative to the AI browsers from big labs. The big differentiator: on BrowserOS you can use local LLMs or BYOK and run the agent entirely on the client side, so your company/sensitive data stays on your machine! Today we're launching filesystem access... just like Claude Cowork, our browser agent can read files, write files, run shell commands! But honestly, we didn't plan for this. It turns out the privacy decision we made 9 months ago accidentally positioned us for this…
We packaged an MCP server inside Chromium2025 · github.com · ▲46Hey HN, we just shipped a browser with an inbuilt MCP server! We're a YC startup (S24) building BrowserOS — an open‑source Chromium fork. We're a privacy‑first alternative to the new wave of AI browsers like Dia, Perplexity Comet. Since launching ~3 months ago, the #1 request has been to expose our browser as an MCP server. -- Google beat us to launch with chrome-devtools-mcp (solid product btw), which lets you build/debug web apps by connecting Chrome to coding assistants. But we wanted to take this a step further: we packaged the MCP server directly into our browser binary. That gives…
A web browser agent in your Chrome side panel2025 · github.com · ▲153Hey HN, I'm excited to share BrowserBee, a privacy-first AI assistant in your browser that allows you to run and automate tasks using your LLM of choice (currently supports Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, and Ollama). Short demo here: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/209c7042-6d54-4fc... Inspired by projects like Browser Use and Playwright MCP, its main advantage is the browser extension form factor which makes it more convenient for day to day use, especially for less technical users. Its also a bit less cumbersome to use on websites that require you to be…
Notte Browser Agents2025 · notte.cc · ▲275Hey HN, We’ve been building browser agents for a while. In production, we kept converging on the same pattern: deterministic scripts for the happy path, agents only for edge cases. So we built Demonstrate Mode. The idea is simple: You perform your workflow once in a remote browser. Notte records the interactions and generates deterministic automation code. How it works: - Record clicks, inputs, navigations in a cloud browser - Compile them into deterministic code (no LLM at runtime) - Run and deploy on managed browser infrastructure Closest analog is Playwright codegen but: - Infrastructure…
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