According to 9to5Mac, Opera has lifted the waitlist for its experimental AI browser, Neon, making it generally available to anyone as of today. The browser, first launched a few months ago for users comfortable with AI-driven navigation, is now accessible via subscription for $19.90 per month. Opera’s Executive Vice-President of Browsers, Krystian Kolondra, calls it a product for people who like to be first to new AI tech, with significant weekly updates. The “agentic” browser uses AI agents to perform tasks and code web apps, integrating top-tier models like Gemini 3 Pro and GPT 5.1. The monthly fee also grants access to a dedicated Discord community for users.
The $20 browser question
So, Opera wants you to pay roughly $240 a year for a browser. That’s the immediate, glaring takeaway. In a world where Chrome, Safari, and Firefox are not only free but deeply entrenched, this is a massive bet. They’re not selling just an ad-blocker or a VPN; they’re selling early, unfettered access to the most powerful AI models as a core part of the browsing experience. The pitch is that Neon doesn’t just display pages—it automates, organizes, and codes with them. But here’s the thing: is the average power user, or even a developer, ready to pay a monthly fee for that? It feels like a niche play, targeting a very specific group of AI enthusiasts and early adopters who treat accessing GPT-5.1 as a competitive advantage.
Shifting the battlefield
This move is fascinating because it changes the competitive landscape. Right now, the big browser wars are fought over privacy, speed, and built-in freebies. Opera Neon throws a new variable into the mix: premium AI as a service. If it gains traction, it pressures other players to consider how they monetize their own AI integrations. Will Google start charging for Gemini Advanced features baked directly into Chrome? Will Microsoft explore new tiers for Copilot in Edge? Opera might be small, but with this move, they’re effectively testing the price ceiling for an AI-native browsing experience. The losers, at least initially, might be other standalone AI assistant apps that now have to compete with a browser that aims to do it all in one place.
Is anyone gonna buy it?
Look, $20 a month is a lot. It’s more than Netflix. It’s in the ballpark of many full software suites. The value proposition has to be incredibly clear and the execution flawless. Opera says they’re updating it weekly based on feedback, which is good, because it’ll need to evolve rapidly. The inclusion of a Discord community is smart—it builds a walled garden for these “founders” and creates a feedback loop. But I’m skeptical. For this to work, Neon can’t just be a browser with a fancy AI sidebar; the agentic capabilities have to be so transformative that they save users hours of work, reliably. If it can truly automate complex web tasks or generate functional code for web apps, then maybe, just maybe, developers and businesses will see the ROI. For everyone else? It’s probably a curiosity they’ll admire from the free shores of their current browser.
