Here Are the Best Alternatives to Arc Browser, Now That It’s Shutting Down.

Well, it’s happened: Browser Company has finally announced it will end support for the Arc browser by the end of 2026. This has been clear for over a year: Arc has been frozen, receiving only maintenance updates, after Browser Company shifted its focus to Dia, an AI-powered browser that uses the same platform as Arc but lacks the great interface features that made Arc so easy to use .

This is sad news for dedicated Arc users. If you’re one of them or looking for an alternative to traditional browsers like Safari and Chrome, don’t despair. Export your Arc data and try one of these Arc-like alternatives.

Zen Browser is the best alternative to Arc.

Zen has become the de facto preferred choice for anyone looking for something that looks and works like Arc. In some ways, it’s better than Arc; in others, it’s inferior.

It perfectly captures both the look and functionality. Zen has the same vertical sidebar with customizable workspaces and pinned tabs at the top. And, like Arc, Zen has mods for customizing the browser’s user interface (plus a ton of ready-to-use community-developed mods). Zen is also free and open source. The icing on the cake? There are no artificial intelligence features. None. No upsells, no VPNs, no scams, nothing. It’s built on top of Firefox and is privacy-focused.

I’ve been using Zen for several months now and am quite happy with it. The only drawback I see is the Firefox web engine; although Gecko has improved significantly, it still sometimes falls short of Chromium, mainly because Google Chrome is a very popular browser, and most websites work best on it. When I have problems with a website, I usually switch to Chrome for a while. Zen can also be a memory hog, but once I learned to manage tabs better (automatically closing old tabs and keeping a close eye on my workspace), things got much better.

Yes, and there’s extension support: anything that works in Firefox will work here. Firefox supports most important extensions, and it’s the only major browser that still supports the fully functional uBlock Origin ad blocker (which also works great in Zen).

Vivaldi takes a maximalist approach to web browsing.

Alternatively, you could take the opposite route and try a maximalist approach to web browsing: for a while, Microsoft Edge was the cleaner, faster, and better version of Chrome, but now that title belongs to Vivaldi . Vivaldi uses the same Chromium engine as Google Chrome, so all your websites will work as expected, and all your extensions will be familiar. But Vivaldi is a highly customizable browser, and for certain types of users, it may be perfect.

The app has many built-in features. It includes an ad blocker and integrates with ProtonVPN for free, limited VPN access. You can add a free ebook reader, email accounts, notes, and a calendar to the sidebar. Using the web panel feature, you can also pin any website to the sidebar (this works well for media sites and messaging apps).

Vivaldi also has powerful tab management features: you can use two websites in split-screen mode (like Zen and Arc) and organize tabs into workspaces. You can also group related tabs in Tab Stacks, Vivaldi’s unique two-tier tab management system. The only thing Vivaldi doesn’t have by default is a vertical sidebar, which even Firefox and Chrome now support, though it can be added with a mod .

If you want a Chromium-based browser with advanced customization options, choose Vivaldi. It’s built on a powerful, fast, and reliable browser that you can gradually customize to your liking.

Other alternatives worth considering.

• Brave : If you want a simple browser preconfigured for privacy and speed, choose Brave . It doesn’t have every possible setting, but it does an impressive job of blocking pop-ups and trackers. All artificial intelligence features can be disabled, leaving you free to use your Chrome extensions.

• Helium : Imagine a minimalist version of Google Chrome. It uses the same Chromium engine, but without Google trackers, pop-ups, ads, or additional features.

• Dia : If you really want to use something developed by the same team as Arc and don’t mind the AI ​​features, you might want to give the Dia browser a try. It’s not an exact replacement, but Dia now features a vertical sidebar and pinned apps.

• Quiche : If you’ve used Arc on your iPhone or iPad, try Quiche, our favorite iPhone browser . It’s a stylish, standalone browser with a fully customizable interface.

More…