Arc browser alternatives for a Mac, ranked by how you work

Arc still installs and still runs on a Mac, but its own homepage now says it receives Chromium updates only and points readers to Dia for active security patches. That banner is why people are looking for Arc browser alternatives. The useful question is not which browser is best, but which part of Arc a person actually relied on: the vertical sidebar, Spaces, Split View, or simply a calm window. Each of those has a different best replacement, and the sections below go through them one at a time, with prices and system requirements checked on each vendor's site on 18 October 2026.

This site is run by the developer of SpaceDeck, one of the app aggregation browsers mentioned near the end.

Where Arc stands today

The facts are short and all public.

FYI: Arc receives Chromium updates only. For active security patches and enterprise-grade protection, download Dia instead. Source: arc.net

The same homepage introduces Dia as "the next evolution of Arc", with weekly security updates and SOC 2 certification listed as what it adds. On 4 September 2025, Atlassian announced an agreement to acquire The Browser Company of New York, describing it as "the team behind the incredible Dia and Arc browsers", in a post titled Welcoming The Browser Company to Atlassian. The post frames Dia as a browser built for knowledge workers.

What this means in practice:

• Arc is not gone. Download links for Mac and Windows are still on arc.net, and an existing setup keeps working.
• Arc is not the vendor's focus. The company's own banner sends new users and security-minded users elsewhere.
• The decision is about timing. On a personal machine, waiting is a reasonable choice. On a machine that holds client data, or one covered by a security policy that asks who patches the browser, "Chromium updates only" is the sentence that will be read aloud in a review.

So the real task is to pick a replacement before it becomes urgent, and to pick it based on what the day actually depends on.

The Arc feature that matters most decides the shortlist

Arc bundled several ideas into one window. Most people used two or three of them heavily and ignored the rest. Spending one working day noting which of these gets used without thinking is the fastest way to cut a long list to two candidates.

• The vertical sidebar and pinned tabs. Tabs down the left, a set of pinned sites that never close, and a top area for favourites.
• Spaces with their own profiles. Work and personal kept apart, each with its own sign-ins, switched with a swipe or a shortcut.
• Split View. Two or more pages side by side in one window.
• A quiet interface. Little chrome, no toolbar clutter, and tabs that tidy themselves.
• Web apps that behave like apps. Gmail, Slack, and Notion pinned and always signed in, used more like desktop programs than like pages.

These are different problems. The first three are tab and window management, which most modern browsers now cover. The fourth is a design preference. The fifth is a session and notification problem, and it is the one most lists of Arc alternatives skip, because general browsers do not solve it on their own.

Candidates matched to what Arc users miss

Each of these was checked on its official page.

Zen is a Firefox-based browser released under the MPL-2.0 licence, according to its GitHub repository, which states that the current release is built on Firefox 158.0. The Zen site lists Workspaces, Compact Mode for hiding the tab bar, Glance for jumping between frequently used tabs, and Split View. Development is funded by donations and sponsors. Of everything here, it is the closest match for the sidebar, Spaces, and Split View trio. The trade-off is engine: extensions come from the Firefox add-on catalogue, not the Chrome Web Store.

Dia is the vendor's suggested successor. Its plans page lists a free "Better Browser" tier with profiles, tab groups, split view, a built-in ad and tracking blocker, and cross-device sync, with no AI features. Paid tiers add AI features, with the top "Better Days" plan at $100 per month. New users get a 14-day trial of that plan without a card, and the browser keeps working for free afterwards. Dia is Chromium-based and available for macOS and Windows.

Vivaldi is Chromium-based. Its site lists Tab Stacking with two-level stacks, Tab Tiling for split screen, Workspaces, and Web Panels that dock any website in the sidebar, plus a built-in mail client, calendar, and feed reader. The download page lists a build for macOS 13 and later. No paid tier is listed. It suits people who liked Arc's power more than its restraint, and who are willing to spend time on settings.

Orion is built on WebKit, the engine behind Safari, by Kagi. Its homepage says it supports Safari, Chrome, and Firefox extensions, with a curated set of 20 extensions it guarantees to work. The browser is free, and the optional Orion+ membership is listed from $5 per month plus sales tax, with yearly and lifetime options. It fits people who want Safari's engine with more customisation.

Helium is an open source, Chromium-based browser. Its site lists vertical tabs, split view, tab groups, web app installs, and support for Chromium extensions, and says ads and trackers are blocked by default. It answers "free" to its own question about price.

Safari is already on every Mac. Profiles live under Safari, Settings, Profiles, as described in Apple's guide to creating profiles. Apple notes that passwords saved in iCloud Keychain are available in every profile.

The same options side by side

Option	Engine	Price on the official site	Closest Arc feature it replaces
Zen	Firefox	Free, donation funded	Sidebar, Workspaces, Split View
Dia	Chromium	Free browser tier, AI plans up to $100/month	Profiles, split view, vendor continuity
Vivaldi	Chromium	No paid tier listed	Tab stacks, panels, deep settings
Orion	WebKit	Free, Orion+ from $5/month	Safari engine with extensions
Helium	Chromium	Free, open source	Vertical tabs, quiet interface
Safari	WebKit	Included with macOS	Profiles for work and personal

Read this by the last column. Two browsers in different rows can both be well made and still be the wrong answer, because they solve different parts of what Arc did. Someone whose day is two research threads and a writing tab will be happy with Zen or Helium. Someone whose day is three client Gmail accounts will not be fully helped by any row in this table, for the reason in the next section.

When the real need was web apps, not tabs

A large share of Arc users treated pinned tabs as apps. Gmail at the top, Slack below it, Linear and Notion under that, all signed in permanently. For that way of working, a general browser replacement covers only half the job.

Profiles and workspaces separate cookies, so accounts do not collide. They do not change two other things. First, notifications still come from the browser as a whole, so an alert does not say which account or which client it belongs to. Second, using the same service with two accounts usually means two profiles in two windows, because one profile shares one cookie jar.

A separate category exists for this: the app aggregation browser, which gives each web app its own fixed place and its own isolated session. One such macOS app lets a user import bookmarks from Arc, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera, Safari, or Firefox, then add apps from a list of 311 services or by URL. Right-clicking an app and choosing "Add as Another Account (separate session)" creates a second copy, such as "Gmail 2", with its own sign-in. Its free plan covers 1 workspace with up to 3 apps after a 14-day trial, and the paid plan lifts those limits, as listed on its pricing page. Other products in the category are compared on pages such as Compared with Ferdium.

Many people end up with both: a general browser for reading and research, and an app window for the five services that are open all day.

A one-week test that settles the choice

Reading comparisons rarely ends the decision, because the problems that matter only show up during real work. A short, structured trial is quicker.

Day one: rebuild only the essentials. Recreate the pinned sites and the two or three Spaces or profiles that are used daily. Do not import everything. A partial setup makes it obvious which parts were actually needed.

Days two to four: work normally and keep a list. Every time something is slower or missing, write one line. "Could not find the tab from this morning." "Signed into the wrong Google account." "Split view closed when the window was resized." After three days the list usually has five to ten items.

Day five: sort the list into two columns. One column for things a setting or an extension can fix, and one for things built into how the browser works. A missing keyboard shortcut belongs in the first column. Notifications that cannot be told apart by account belong in the second.

If the second column is empty, the candidate is a good fit and the move can be finished. If it holds one or two items that touch the core of the day, the next candidate in the table is worth a week of its own. If the same items appear for every general browser tried, the gap is likely the web-app problem described above rather than a choice between browsers.

On a managed work Mac, it is also worth asking IT which browsers are already approved before the trial starts. A browser that cannot be installed on the work machine is not an option, however well it tests at home.

What the move actually costs

Most switches fail in the second week, not the first. Planning for four costs avoids most of that.

• Extensions follow the engine. Zen uses Firefox add-ons. Dia, Vivaldi, and Helium use Chromium extensions. Orion supports all three formats but guarantees only its curated list. Before moving, take the two or three extensions the day depends on, such as a password manager, and confirm each one works in the candidate.
• Pinned tabs are not bookmarks. Arc's sidebar items do not always map to a bookmark folder. Check what the new browser imports from Arc, and keep a plain list of the pinned URLs as a fallback.
• Passwords should live in one place. Moving to a new browser often leaves credentials split between the old browser's store and the new one. Choosing one manager on the first day avoids that.
• Two-factor prompts take time, not skill. Every protected service will ask again. Doing the move on a day when the authenticator device is at hand turns a lost afternoon into twenty minutes.

Arc can stay installed during the move. Keeping it for a week as a fallback costs nothing and makes it easy to find the setting that did not come across.

What to change first

Write down the one Arc feature that gets used without thinking, then install the single candidate from the table that matches it and use it for a full working week. If the honest answer is "pinned web apps that stay signed in", put those apps in their own window with SpaceDeck and keep a general browser for everything else.