Side-by-side comparison · AI Browsers & Agents
Hermes Agent vs Microsoft Edge vs Comet
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Technically confident founders and tinkerers who want a personal agent on their own hardware that gets better the more they use it.
Pick it if: Windows and Microsoft 365 users who want AI help with reading, comparing and researching in the browser they already have.
Pick it if: Anyone who researches, compares or reads a lot online and wants an AI helper in the browser without paying for it.
Overview
| Attribute | Hermes Agent | Microsoft Edge | Comet |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Free, open-source personal agent from Nous Research that remembers and learns as it works. | Microsoft's free browser with Copilot built in to read pages, compare tabs and do tasks. | Perplexity's free web browser with an assistant that reads your tabs and does tasks. |
| Pricing model | Free | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $20/mo | $19.99/mo | $5/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | No | No |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Hermes Agent | Microsoft Edge | Comet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 3.5 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 2.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 3.0 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Hermes Agent | Microsoft Edge | Comet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Browser extension | No | Yes | Yes |
| API access | No | No | No |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | No | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | – | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | Yes | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Understands images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Makes images | Yes | Yes | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | Yes | No | No |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | Yes | No | No |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 11/ 17 | 12/ 17 | 11/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Hermes Agent | Microsoft Edge | Comet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Self-hostedOur pick Free Anyone happy to bring their own AI model key. | FreeOur pick Free Most people: summaries, tab comparisons and Journeys. | FreeOur pick Free Everyday browsing with an assistant for summaries and questions. |
Nous Portal Plus $20/mo People who want one bill for models and tools. | Microsoft 365 Premium $19.99/mo, or $199.99/yr US households and sole traders who want the agent and Office apps in one bill. | Comet Plus $5/mo Readers who want partner publishers' paywalled articles. | |
Nous Portal Super $100/mo Heavy users or an agent hosted around the clock. | Microsoft 365 Copilot (business) See website Companies on Microsoft 365 business plans. | Perplexity Pro $20/mo, or $200/yr Anyone who wants the agent to do tasks for them. | |
Nous Portal Ultra $200/mo Agents running big jobs all day. | Perplexity Max $200/mo, or $2,000/yr Heavy users running many tasks in the background. | ||
| Which plan to pick | Hermes itself costs nothing. If you already pay for an AI model's API, plug that in. If you'd rather not collect separate keys for models, search and browsing, Nous Portal Plus at $20 a month covers light use. There's also a free Portal tier limited to free models. | Stay on free. The side panel, tab comparisons and Journeys cover what most business owners need, and they cost nothing. Microsoft 365 Premium is only worth it if you're in the US and already want Office for the household; don't buy it just for the browser agent, which Microsoft still calls experimental. | Use it free: the sidebar assistant alone is worth having, and most people never need more. Pro makes sense if you want Perplexity's research tools anyway, but don't buy it just for the browser agent, since Pro's credits are a one-off bundle. Nobody needs Max just for the browser. |
Key features
| Attribute | Hermes Agent | Microsoft Edge | Comet |
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Hermes Agent | Microsoft Edge | Comet |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Hermes Agent | Microsoft Edge | Comet |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Hermes Agent, Microsoft Edge or Comet?
They tie on our overall rating (Hermes Agent 3.5/5, Microsoft Edge 3.9/5 and Comet 3.9/5). Hermes Agent is best for A personal assistant you message on Telegram or WhatsApp and scheduled reports and briefings that run unattended. Microsoft Edge is best for summarising long pages and PDFs and comparing products or quotes across open tabs. Comet is best for summarising long pages, PDFs and videos and comparing products or suppliers across tabs.
Which is cheaper, Hermes Agent, Microsoft Edge or Comet?
Hermes Agent: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. Microsoft Edge: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $19.99/mo. Comet: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $5/mo.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
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