When I wrote about Perplexity’s Comet browser earlier this 12 months, I referred to as it “a glimpse into the way forward for AI-powered net browsers.” After utilizing Opera Neon for a few days, I believe the following part has already begun: creating our personal net expertise.
Neon is not only a place to open tabs or seek for solutions; It’s a spot to create issues and take your net looking expertise to the following stage. I used Opera’s new AI-powered net browser to make two easy tasks: a customized RSS feed that aggregates TechRadar tales that curiosity me, and a compact listing of the very best PC RPGs in accordance with the overview web site Metacritic.
Neither can be sophisticated to construct wherever else, however the important thing distinction is that I constructed them inside my browser, with out opening one other app. That small shift in the direction of the flexibility to do extra on the net seems like the beginning of one thing a lot greater, and if you happen to weren’t already satisfied that the way forward for AI lies in the way in which we devour the web, I positively am now.
Chat, do, do
Opera says Neon is an online browser “designed to carry out.” That’s advertising converse, nevertheless it’s not dangerous. The interface revolves round three central concepts: Chat, Do and Create. Chat handles your conversations with built-in AI, Do lets the browser carry out actions for you, and Make provides you an area to create and publish small net tasks that stay on Opera’s servers.
Think of Chat as your typical AI chatbot expertise, just like ChatGPT Search, whereas Do is extra like Perplexity’s Comet, the place Neon will browse the net for you, finishing duties in a tab when you do different, extra pressing issues. Make, then again, is like having a easy coding program accessible always and, higher but, it may well extract info from the tabs you present it to finish what you are making an attempt to do.
While most browsers are designed round consumption, Neon’s design and philosophy pushes you in the direction of creation. It provides you “Tasks” as an alternative of easy teams of tabs, and “Cards” as an alternative of bookmarks, each designed that will help you take into consideration tasks as an alternative of pages.
When you begin utilizing it, the change feels delicate. You open Neon like every other browser, however you quickly provide you with concepts about find out how to greatest use AI instruments to get essentially the most out of the Internet.
Creating my very own curated TechRadar feed
When fascinated by my first challenge for Neon, I made a decision to maintain it in-house and create a easy web site that exhibits the TechRadar information that pursuits me most: AI, Apple stuff, and TechRadar Gaming tales.
In Neon’s Create mode, I merely informed the browser what I wished. He took some pattern templates and generated a construction that he may edit in actual time. In about 10 minutes, I had a clear little web page itemizing the most recent TechRadar tales, with headlines, summaries, and hyperlinks. You can see it right here: LaComparacion RSS Channel.
It’s a easy construct, nevertheless it does precisely what I would like: curate my favourite TechRadar sections into one and permit me to rapidly overview the very best articles to get a common thought of ​​what’s taking place on the earth of AI, Apple, and gaming.
Neon may be very straightforward to make use of and that is the place it actually stands out from its much less clever competitors. In Chrome or Safari, you would want third-party extensions, scripts, or instruments to have an RSS feed built-in into my bookmarks. Here, it is a part of the Neon browser expertise and, better of all, you are not compelled to create something if you happen to do not need to. AI is on the market if you want it, however that does not imply it needs to be a part of each on-line interplay you may have via Neon.
A easy listing to trace video video games
after studying The 100 greatest PC video games of 2025 in accordance with PC GamerI wished to create a easy listing of essentially the most acclaimed RPGs (role-playing video games) of the previous few many years. I not too long ago constructed a gaming PC, and as I enterprise into the overwhelming world of Steam, I assumed it could be cool to have a easy net web page with necessary info multi functional.
I made a decision to ask Neon to make a listing that took the 20 best-reviewed PC RPGs primarily based on their Metacritic mixture, added info from HowLongToBeat so I may get an thought of ​​how massive every sport was, after which gave me the present value on the Steam Store.
While it is a quite simple listing, it’s my listing and I’ll replace it over time as I full video games or need to play new ones. Neon’s capacity to create and host net pages seems like a superpower, permitting you to create as many bookmarks as you see match with snippets of knowledge which might be necessary to you.
Interestingly, making a easy web site via Neon is just like creating my first Bebo over twenty years in the past, the place I may have my very own house on the web and make it look precisely how I noticed match. With Neon I can write down any concept that involves thoughts and, very quickly, the AI ​​browser could have created my very own private house with the data I’ve determined to provide it.
Neon is just not good by any means. For instance, each time my pc went to sleep whereas I used to be away from my desk throughout a process, it could disconnect from the server and I must begin over, remembering to not put it to sleep or rise up from my desk. And it is fairly gradual, actually, I’d say it lags behind Comet Perplexity in that regard, simply due to how briskly it’s at finishing duties for you.
The distinction between Comet and Neon is that Opera has delved deeper into the idea of the browser as a device. Where Comet built-in an AI assistant, Neon provides a whole ecosystem for creation. It’s making an attempt to switch half of the productiveness apps you already use by incorporating these capabilities into the looking expertise itself.
The two tasks I examined via Neon are small in scope, however they spotlight an necessary shift within the evolution of browsers. The conventional browser is a window into different folks’s worlds, whereas Agentic browsers like Neon are beginning to flip that window right into a workspace.
The future could possibly be Neon
It’s nonetheless early days for Opera’s new AI browser. Neon has its quirks and never all options appear prepared for widespread use. Make’s interface may be complicated and you may attain limits if you’d like extra advanced layouts or stay information. But even with these caveats, the core expertise feels thrilling and new.
When I used Perplexity’s Comet earlier this 12 months, I used to be satisfied that AI-enabled net browsers had been the following frontier. After spending time with Opera Neon, I now consider they’re solely a part of the story. The subsequent massive leap will come when browsers cease performing like home windows and begin performing like workbenches.
Neon is not good, nevertheless it’s the primary browser that made me really feel just like the Web was a spot the place I may construct once more. I did not want any coding expertise or plugins to do something helpful; I simply wanted an thought and some minutes of curiosity.
Opera Neon is in early entry and isn’t a free expertise both. In truth, Opera desires you to pay $20/£20 a month to switch your normal net browser like Google Chrome. At that value, I do not assume Neon will succeed, nevertheless it may lay the groundwork for a future the place the app we already spend most of our digital lives on turns into the place the place we construct it, too.
