According to XDA-Developers, Opera has officially opened public access to its AI-centric Neon browser, removing the waitlist that was part of its “Founders” phase which began on September 30th. The browser is now a subscription-based service, retailing for $19.90 per month. It operates through three distinct modes: Chat for conversations, Do for agentic task completion, and Make for creating projects like games or websites. Under the hood, it provides access to top-tier AI models including Gemini 3 Pro, GPT-5.1, Veo 3.1, and Nano Banana Pro. The reviewer notes that despite testing many competitors like Perplexity’s Comet and ChatGPT’s Atlas, Neon has remained their primary browser due to its capable agentic AI.
The premium browser dilemma
Here’s the thing: paying for a browser feels weird. We’ve been conditioned for decades that the gateway to the internet is free. So Opera is asking a fundamental question—can a browser be a premium software product? The tech is undeniably impressive, especially the “Do” mode that can actually do things for you. But that $240 annual price tag is a massive psychological barrier. It’s not just competing with free browsers; it’s competing with the entire suite of standalone AI subscriptions people might already have. Why pay for Neon’s GPT-5.1 access when you might already be a ChatGPT Plus subscriber? The value has to be overwhelmingly in the integration and the agentic actions, not just the model access.
Who actually needs this?
This launch really clarifies the target audience. It’s not for the casual user checking email and social media. For basic browsing, this is complete overkill. The real stake is for power users, researchers, developers, and maybe certain enterprise workflows where time saved on automation directly translates to money. If Neon’s “Make” mode can reliably spin up a functional app prototype, that’s a business expense, not a leisure subscription. But for the average person? The value proposition gets murky fast. How many playlists do you need AI to make, really? The success of Neon hinges on proving its AI isn’t just a fancy feature, but a core productivity engine that replaces other tools.
The crowded AI landscape
And let’s talk about that competition. The article mentions that free browsers already pack in similar AI features. Microsoft Edge has Copilot deeply baked in. Arc has its own assistant. This is the real challenge for Opera. When the baseline is “free + AI,” charging a premium requires a monumental leap in capability. Neon’s bet is that its agentic AI—the stuff that books your trip instead of just finding flight prices—is that leap. It’s a bet on AI moving from an information assistant to an actual digital employee. But it’s a risky one. If other browsers quickly license similar agentic tech and offer it for free (supported by ads or data), Neon’s first-mover advantage could evaporate.
A subscription to the future?
Look, I get it. Developing and running this level of AI isn’t cheap. The subscription model likely reflects the real costs of API calls to those top-tier models. Opera is basically asking users to pay for the raw computational expense of convenience. In a way, Neon feels like a testbed for the future of all software. What if everything moved to a direct utility-pay model? For now, though, it feels like a niche product searching for a mass-market justification. It’s incredibly cool tech that I’d love to use. But convincing people to open their wallets for it, when the free alternatives are so good? That’s the hardest task of all.
