Opera Launches Neon an AI-Centric Browser for Power Users

Opera has officially released Neon, its newly minted AI-driven browser, targeting users who are majorly dependent on artificial intelligence in their daily operations. A few months ago in May, Neon was announced but was first being previewed in closed preview; now, it's opening access via an invite-only model. There's a catch, though Opera is touting Neon as a premium offering with a subscription price of $19.99 per month, distinguishing itself from conventional browsers that are offered gratis.

What Makes Opera Neon Stand Out?

Opera Neon is more than a browser with a chatbot grafted on top of it it's designed from scratch with AI as its foundation. Although it does have an ordinary AI chatbot for effortless interactions and responses, its true strength lies in features such as Neon Do and Cards, which revolutionize how users engage with the internet.

The Neon Do feature enables the browser to carry out agentic functions, like summarizing a Substack post and sharing it directly into a Slack channel, or pulling information out of a YouTube video you viewed last week. By utilizing your browsing history and context, it makes AI interactions much more practical and more customized than usual assistants. For data professionals and developers, Neon even creates code snippets and visual reports with tables and charts cutting down on the back-and-forth among various apps.

Cards: The IFTTT of AI Prompts

One of Neon's standout features is Cards, which allows users to create reusable AI prompts. Imagine Cards as the AI version of IFTTT (If This Then That). You are able to stack Cards such as "pull-details" and "comparison-table" to create robust, repeatable commands for actions like comparing products between tabs. Similar to The Browser Company's Dia and its "Skills" ability, Neon's Cards can be constructed specifically or found from a community of users making them very flexible and extensible.

This feature places Neon in a role beyond that of a browser; it's nearly a platform for miniature apps constructed entirely of AI prompts. If you need to automate tedious workflows, summarize long papers, or create quick tools without the need for coding experience, Neon makes this right within the browsing environment.

Tasks: Smarter Tab Management

Opera Neon also brings in a new system of organization termed Tasks. Tasks are self-contained working spaces that integrate tabs and AI conversations into a well-organized framework for various projects. You could be writing an essay with several sources open, all under the same Task, while the AI assistant assists you in writing summaries, comparisons, or even ordering food in the middle of it all.

This configuration is a nod towards Tab Groups and Arc Browser's Workspaces, albeit with the benefit of added AI integration. It's meant to assist advanced users in simplifying intricate workflows without the bloat of having countless open tabs.

Competition and Market Position

With the launch of Neon, Opera is entering a crowded space of AI-first browsers. Competitors such as Perplexity's Comet and The Browser Company's Dia have already begun exploring agentic browsing experiences. Meanwhile, the major tech giants like Google and Microsoft are continuously adding more AI capabilities to Chrome and Edge.

Opera's approach is different, though—it is going after power users who are willing to pay a subscription price for sophisticated AI-based workflows, rather than competing for occasional users. With repeatable AI automation, deep context awareness, and workspace-level structure, Opera Neon is defining a niche in the emerging market of AI-based browsers.

Although Opera's demos paint bright futures like AI making online shopping orders on your behalf, it is still unclear how well these features will perform in everyday use. Most AI products have a tendency to fall short of demo promises in everyday practicality. If Neon is able to live up to its boasts, it will raise the bar for what an agentic browser should be.

Opera Neon is currently available by invitation, for $19.99/month, and hopes to create a community of early adopters to refine and extend its capabilities. As AI becomes a ubiquitous tool for productivity, Neon could be the beginning of a new paradigm in browsing.