Andi AI Search vs Arc Search vs Comet by Perplexity vs Perplexity AI
A side-by-side look at scores, pricing and features — with RECATOOLS' ASEAN-aware verdict for each.
Andi AI Search
Free, ad-free conversational search, plus a search API for AI agents
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Arc Search
Free mobile browser that reads the web and builds one answer page
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Comet by Perplexity
Perplexity's free AI browser with an assistant that acts on pages
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Perplexity AI
Answer engine that cites its sources, now with a browser and an agent
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| RECATOOLS Score | 5.5 / 10 | 6 / 10 | 7.3 / 10 | 8.4 / 10 |
| Capability | ||||
| Value for money | ||||
| Ease of use | ||||
| ASEAN readiness | ||||
| API quality | ||||
| Pricing | Freemium | Free | Freemium | Freemium |
| Free tier | Search app free with no account: unlimited searches, read, summarise and explain, AI text generation. The API starts with free credit | Free on iOS, iPadOS and Android: Browse for Me, Pinch to Summarize, voice search and ad and tracker blocking | Comet browser and Comet Assistant free on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android; some agent features (e.g. Background Assistants) launched Max-only | Free plan: answers with citations and basic AI models, for limited daily usage |
| Paid from | $49/month for the Search API Team plan, with usage credits included | — | Comet Plus $5/mo publisher-content add-on (included with Perplexity Pro and Max) | $20/month or $200/year (Pro); Max $200/month or $2,000/year |
| Has API | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Open source | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free to use | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Users | — | — | — | 30M+ standalone monthly active users (100M+ across all products, 2026) |
| Founded | 2022 | 2024 | 2025 | 2022 |
| Maker | LazyWeb Inc. | The Browser Company of New York (Atlassian) | Perplexity AI, Inc. | Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, Andy Konwinski |
| Verdict | Andi remains one of the more pleasant free answer engines: no account, no ads, a sourced answer above a clean list of results, and one-click reading, summaries and explanations. PCMag's current roundup names it the best... |
Browse for Me is still the reason to install it: ask a question and Arc Search reads several pages, then builds one tidy summary page instead of a list of links. For quick mobile lookups it beats a search-results loop, a... |
Comet is the most complete agentic browser available for free: an assistant that understands your open tabs and can navigate and act on sites, across desktop and mobile, with an Enterprise edition for managed rollouts. T... |
Perplexity is still the quickest way to get a sourced answer: each reply links to the pages behind it, so verification takes seconds. Pro at $20 a month adds Deep Research, model choice and Computer credits; Max at $200... |
| Full review → | Full review → | Directory listing → | Full review → |
Comparisons cover up to 4 tools. Scores are RECATOOLS editorial assessments; verify current pricing on each vendor's site.