Every major AI lab now ships something that can drive a web browser on your behalf: clicking buttons, filling in forms, and working through multi-step errands while you do something else. In 2026 the field has already gone through one round of consolidation. Google shut down its standalone “Project Mariner” research prototype in May. OpenAI discontinued its standalone Atlas browser in August, folding the technology back into ChatGPT. Only Anthropic’s Claude in Chrome is still shipped as a dedicated browser extension. Here is what each company’s current product actually does, who can use it, and what guardrails are documented on their own support pages — not what was announced a year ago and never updated.
At a Glance
| Product | Maker | What It Does | Availability / Tier |
| Claude in Chrome | Anthropic | Chrome extension that reads pages, clicks, types, fills forms, and runs multi-step and background tasks across tabs | Paid plans only: Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise. Chrome only, desktop only |
| ChatGPT agent mode | OpenAI | Runs multi-step tasks in a visual browser, terminal, and code environment inside ChatGPT; absorbed the old Operator and the shut-down Atlas browser | Pro, Plus, Business, Enterprise, Edu. Not yet in EEA/Switzerland for full features |
| Gemini in Chrome (“auto browse”) and Gemini Tasks | Completes shopping, booking, and research tasks in Chrome or a remote browser; Tasks absorbed much of the discontinued Project Mariner’s browsing engine | Google AI Pro or Ultra, personal account, 18+, US only for auto browse; Tasks excludes EEA, UK, Switzerland, Nigeria |
Claude in Chrome (Anthropic)
Anthropic’s support documentation now calls the product “Claude in Chrome” rather than the “Claude for Chrome” name used at its August 2025 research-preview launch. It is a browser extension that works alongside the person using it: Claude can read a page, click, type, navigate between tabs, and fill out forms. According to Anthropic’s own help article, it can also handle background work that keeps running while you switch tabs (as long as Chrome stays open), take on multiple tabs at once if you drag them into Claude’s tab group, run tasks on a recurring schedule, save prompts as reusable shortcuts, and read console output, network requests, and DOM state for debugging purposes. A beta integration with 1Password on macOS lets Claude request logins without ever seeing the password itself.
Access is restricted to paid Claude plans: Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise. There is no free tier and, per the documentation, no waitlist mentioned at this stage — it is simply gated by subscription. It only runs in Chrome itself, not other Chromium browsers, and it is not available on mobile. Enterprise and Team admins get the most granular control: they can enable or disable the extension outright, and set allowlists or blocklists that restrict which domains Claude is permitted to touch.
ChatGPT Agent Mode and the End of the Atlas Browser (OpenAI)
OpenAI’s browser-agent story has consolidated twice in the past year. First, in July 2025, OpenAI’s own announcement describes “ChatGPT agent” as a “natural evolution” that folded the earlier Operator research preview directly into ChatGPT — the standalone Operator site was sunset shortly after. Then, in 2026, OpenAI tried a second approach: a standalone Atlas desktop browser, launched in October 2025. That experiment was short-lived. OpenAI’s own help center article on the deprecation states plainly that the company is “deprecating Atlas and moving browser-based agentic capabilities into ChatGPT and Codex,” with Atlas stopping functioning on August 9, 2026 — about nine months after its debut. OpenAI pointed users toward the ChatGPT desktop app (which gained multi-tab support, downloads, and account-login handling) and a ChatGPT Chrome extension/sidebar for lighter in-browser assistance, while deeper agentic work lives in “agent mode” inside ChatGPT itself.
As it stands today, agent mode works from a visual browser, a text browser, a terminal, and direct API access, plus connectors to apps such as Gmail and GitHub. OpenAI’s documentation says it can browse and interact with websites, fill out forms, run code, analyze data, build slideshows and spreadsheets, and even make purchases — with a confirmation step first. Typical tasks take roughly 5 to 30 minutes. It is available on Pro, Plus, Business, Enterprise, and Edu plans (not the free tier), with monthly message caps of 40 for Plus/Business/Enterprise and 400 for Pro. Full availability has been rolling out gradually and was not yet complete in the EEA and Switzerland as of OpenAI’s published guidance.
Gemini in Chrome and the Shutdown of Project Mariner (Google)
Google’s path has been the most fragmented of the three. Project Mariner launched as a DeepMind research prototype in December 2024 and reached a stable release for Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US in May 2025, with plans to expand into the Gemini API, Vertex AI, and Search’s AI Mode. Multiple reports — corroborated by Google’s own Project Mariner page as cited in its Wikipedia history — confirm the standalone experiment was discontinued on May 4, 2026, with its underlying browsing technology folded into other Google products rather than continued as its own brand.
Two live Google products now carry that technology forward, and both are documented on Google’s own support site. The first is “auto browse” inside Gemini in Chrome, an experimental feature that lets Gemini “complete multi-step tasks for you on the web,” including comparing products, adding items to a cart, booking travel and restaurant reservations, buying event tickets, and drafting messages. It requires a Google AI Pro or Ultra plan, a personal Google account (not work/school, not Incognito), the latest Chrome build, and residency in the US while 18 or older; it is desktop-only and still rolling out gradually. Usage is capped at 20 multi-step tasks per day on AI Pro and 200 per day on AI Ultra. The second is “Tasks” within the broader Gemini app (mobile, Mac, and web), which can assign Gemini a goal to work on in the background or on a schedule — including web shopping and bookings through either the local Chrome browser or a remote browser Gemini controls itself. Tasks requires a Pro or Ultra subscription, a personal account, and is not available in the EEA, UK, Switzerland, or Nigeria; up to 15 tasks can run at once.
Feature Comparison
| Capability | Claude in Chrome | ChatGPT Agent Mode | Gemini in Chrome / Tasks |
| Navigates sites & clicks/types | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fills out web forms | Yes | Yes (listed as a confirmed action) | Yes (requires confirmation) |
| Multi-step / long-running tasks | Yes, including background work across tabs | Yes, 5-30 minute typical tasks | Yes, scheduled or background Tasks; Chrome auto browse is session-based |
| Can complete a purchase | Not emphasized in documentation | Yes, with confirmation first | Yes, with confirmation; user bears responsibility for outcomes |
| Runs on a schedule | Yes, scheduled tasks and shortcuts | Yes, daily/weekly/monthly recurring tasks | Yes, Tasks can run on schedule or trigger on events |
| Org-level domain controls | Allowlist/blocklist for Team & Enterprise | Enterprise owners can block domains | Admin opt-in/out at domain or group level (Workspace) |
| Lowest qualifying paid tier | Claude Pro | ChatGPT Plus | Google AI Pro |
Safety Guardrails Compared
All three vendors converge on a similar basic shape of safeguard, even though they describe it in different language. Anthropic’s support article says Claude in Chrome is “enhanced with our safety classifiers but is still risky,” and recommends reading its separate safety guide before use; the extension reviews each action and pauses to ask for approval when needed, and organizations can restrict it to specific domains via allowlists and blocklists, or disable it entirely. OpenAI’s documentation for ChatGPT agent mode describes a “takeover mode” that hands control of the virtual browser back to the user for logins (screenshots stop being captured while the user is in control), a “watch mode” that requires active supervision on certain sites, a confirmation step before high-impact actions, and an enterprise-configurable domain blocklist; the company also cites refusal patterns for disallowed tasks and ongoing monitoring for prompt-injection attempts.
Google’s support pages for both Gemini in Chrome’s auto browse and the broader Gemini Tasks feature are the most explicit about financial exposure: Gemini is required to ask for confirmation before sending communications, modifying data, submitting forms, making a purchase, or accessing sites with sensitive financial, health, or government-ID data — and that confirmation step applies even if a user has set permissions to “Always allow.” For sign-ins and payments, Gemini must hand control back to the user rather than entering credentials itself, and Google’s own guidance explicitly tells users not to type passwords or card numbers directly into a task thread. All three companies state, in their own words, that these measures reduce but do not eliminate risk, and that users remain responsible for monitoring the agent’s actions — particularly anything involving money, legal matters, or health information.
Trade-offs
- Claude in Chrome is the most developer-leaning of the three, with console/network/DOM access built in for debugging, but it is Chrome-only, desktop-only, and gated entirely behind a paid plan with no lightweight free tier to try first.
- ChatGPT agent mode has the broadest task surface (code execution, file analysis, app connectors, plus browsing) and the clearest purchase-confirmation flow, but it inherited two product pivots in twelve months — Operator folded in, then the standalone Atlas browser shut down after nine months — which is worth factoring in if you build a workflow around it.
- Gemini in Chrome / Tasks has the tightest documented daily usage caps (20-200 tasks a day depending on tier) and the narrowest geographic availability of the three, restricted largely to the US for Chrome auto browse and excluding the EEA, UK, Switzerland, and Nigeria for the broader Tasks feature — a result of Project Mariner’s technology being redistributed into regionally gated products rather than a single global one.
Bottom Line
Browser-controlling AI agents are real and shipping today, but none of the three majors has settled on a final form yet. Anthropic has the most stable, single-product offering in Claude in Chrome, aimed at people already paying for Claude and comfortable with a developer-flavored tool. OpenAI has the most capable all-in-one agent once you’re inside ChatGPT, after abandoning the idea of a separate browser entirely. Google has split the old Project Mariner’s capabilities across two different surfaces — Chrome’s auto browse and the Gemini app’s Tasks — each gated by its own narrower eligibility rules. For teams evaluating these tools for productivity, QA, or site-scanning use cases, the practical advice is the same across all three: start with low-stakes, reversible tasks, keep an eye on the confirmation prompts rather than clicking through them, and expect the product you pick today to look different in six months. For a broader look at the agent landscape beyond browsers, see our explainers on what AI coding agents are and how the leading AI agent frameworks compare.
FAQ
Is OpenAI’s Atlas browser still available?
No. OpenAI’s own help center confirms Atlas was deprecated, with the browser stopping functioning on August 9, 2026, roughly nine months after launch. Its agentic capabilities moved into ChatGPT’s agent mode and Codex, and lighter browsing help is available through a ChatGPT Chrome extension/sidebar.
What happened to Google’s Project Mariner?
The standalone research prototype was discontinued on May 4, 2026. Its browsing technology was folded into Gemini in Chrome’s “auto browse” feature and into the broader “Tasks” capability inside the Gemini app, rather than continuing as its own branded product.
Can any of these agents make purchases on their own?
ChatGPT agent mode and Gemini’s Tasks/auto browse both document the ability to complete purchases, but both require an explicit confirmation step first and place responsibility for unexpected charges on the user. Anthropic’s documentation for Claude in Chrome does not emphasize purchasing as a core capability.
Do I need a paid subscription to use any of these?
Yes, for all three. Claude in Chrome requires a paid Claude plan (Pro and up), ChatGPT agent mode requires Plus and up, and Gemini in Chrome’s auto browse and Tasks both require a Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription.
Are these available outside the US?
Coverage varies and is still expanding. Gemini in Chrome’s auto browse is documented as US-only at this stage; Gemini Tasks excludes the EEA, UK, Switzerland, and Nigeria; ChatGPT agent mode’s full rollout had not yet reached the EEA and Switzerland as of OpenAI’s published guidance. Claude in Chrome’s own documentation does not state a country restriction but is limited to paid-plan Chrome users.
Sources
- Anthropic — Get started with Claude in Chrome (support.claude.com)
- OpenAI — Introducing ChatGPT agent (openai.com)
- OpenAI — ChatGPT agent help article (help.openai.com)
- OpenAI — Evolving Atlas into ChatGPT for browser-based agentic work (help.openai.com)
- Google — Ask Gemini in Chrome to complete tasks for you with auto browse (support.google.com)
- Google — Use Gemini Agent / Tasks for multi-step tasks in Gemini Apps (support.google.com)
- Wikipedia — Project Mariner (citing Google’s Project Mariner page on the May 2026 discontinuation)
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