Opera launches Neon, its AI-first browser to take on Perplexity Comet

Opera Neon

Opera has launched Neon, its AI-first browser that aims to make “agentic browsing” more than just a buzzword. Available now in invite-only access at $19.99 a month, Neon is designed for people who already lean heavily on AI in their daily workflow.

“We built Opera Neon for ourselves — and for everyone who uses AI extensively in their day-to-day,” said Krystian Kolondra, EVP of Browsers at Opera. “Today, we’re welcoming the first users who will help shape the future of agentic browsing with us.”

Beyond Chatbots

At its simplest, Neon ships with a built-in AI chatbot that can answer questions. But the more ambitious pitch is Neon Do — a system that acts like a digital assistant layered on top of the browser. It can summarise a Substack post and drop it straight into Slack, or pull details from a YouTube video you watched last week. By tying into your browsing history, Neon aims to act less like a search engine and more like a memory-augmented aide.

The browser can also generate code snippets to create visual reports with tables and charts. Opera hints at the ability to build small, app-like tools this way, though it’s unclear whether they’ll be shareable at launch.

Cards: IFTTT for Prompts

The standout feature is Cards — Opera’s answer to reusable AI workflows. Much like The Browser Company’s “Skills” in Dia, Cards let you save prompts that act like mini-apps. For example, combining “pull-details” with “comparison-table” could generate a cross-tab product comparison. Users can build their own Cards or borrow from the community, making Neon feel like an IFTTT-style playground for AI prompting.

Organising the Chaos

Opera is also borrowing a page from Arc’s Spaces and Chrome’s Tab Groups with Tasks, a workspace feature that bundles AI chats and browser tabs into self-contained units. It’s meant to bring order to tab sprawl while keeping the AI context intact.

The Bigger Picture

With Neon, Opera joins Perplexity and The Browser Company in chasing the agentic browser trend — a browser that doesn’t just show the web, but acts on it. Whether users will pay $20 a month for that vision is the real test.