The Best Arc Alternatives Before Arc Shuts Down

Arc stops working on 22 December 2026. If you live in its sidebar, here are the browsers that come closest, and the ones that can bring your Spaces with you.

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The Browser Company is shutting Arc down. New accounts closed on 22 October, Arc Search on iPhone and Android loses sign-in, sync and AI on 23 November, and on 22 December the Mac and Windows apps stop opening at all. That includes getting to the data stored on your own computer. Our timeline and data guide covers the dates in detail.

So the question isn't whether to move, but where. The good news is that, since late October, more browsers than ever can read Arc's sidebar directly, so you don't have to rebuild your Spaces by hand.

What to look for in an Arc replacement

Arc did four things that most browsers still don't do together. Rank these by how much you used them:

• A vertical sidebar with pinned tabs that behave like apps.
• Spaces, separate sets of tabs for work and personal life, each with its own look.
• Split View, two or more pages side by side in one window.
• An Arc importer. Arc's sidebar is not stored as normal bookmarks, so a browser that reads it directly saves you an evening of copying links.

One more thing decides a lot: extensions. Arc ran Chrome extensions. Chromium-based browsers (Dia, Vivaldi, Helium, Edge) run the same ones. Firefox-based browsers (Zen, Floorp) need the Firefox version of each add-on, which exists for most popular extensions but not all.

Arc alternatives at a glance

1. Zen Browser: the closest thing to Arc

Zen is what many Arc users have been moving to for a year, and as of version 1.24b (28 October 2026) it is the easiest move too. Its new importer reads Arc's sidebar file directly: each Arc Space becomes a Zen Space with its name, emoji and colours, your Favorites become Zen's Essentials (the icon row at the top), and pinned tabs and folders land where you'd expect. Bookmarks, history and passwords come across through the same importer.

The rest will feel familiar. Vertical tabs are the default, Glance previews a link on top of the current page much like Arc's Peek, Split View tiles up to four tabs, and Compact Mode hides the sidebar until you hover. Zen even has its own Boosts feature now, though your Arc Boosts can't be carried over (Arc never let you export them).

The catch: Zen is built on Firefox, so your Chrome extensions don't come with you. You'll need the Firefox versions from addons.mozilla.org. It is also still labelled beta.

Best for: people who loved Arc's sidebar and Spaces more than its AI. Full guide: moving from Arc to Zen.

2. Dia: the official successor

Dia comes from the same team, and it is where The Browser Company is pointing Arc users. It has the most complete importer: Spaces become Profiles in the same order and colours, Favorites become icon-only pinned tabs, folders become pinned tab groups, and bookmarks, history, passwords, cookies (so you stay signed in) and extensions all come across. Split View, the Command Bar and Live Folders (as Live Groups) survive too.

What's missing is the playful side of Arc: there's no Little Arc, Peek, Boosts, Easels or Air Traffic Control. Dia also opens with tabs along the top; the Arc-style sidebar is a setting, switched on automatically when you import from Arc.

The catch: Dia is an AI-first browser. The browser itself is free and the AI is optional, but the assistant features sit behind paid plans for new Mac users. On Mac it needs Apple Silicon and macOS 14 or later.

Best for: people who want the least disruption, or who used Arc's AI features. Full guide: moving from Arc to Dia. See also our Arc vs Dia comparison.

3. Vivaldi: the most features, everywhere

Vivaldi doesn't try to look like Arc, but it can do nearly everything Arc did and a great deal more. Put the tab bar on the left and you have vertical tabs; Workspaces split your tabs by project; Tab Stacks group them; and Tab Tiling puts as many pages side by side as you like. It also runs on every platform, including iPhone and Android, with end-to-end encrypted sync.

The catch: Vivaldi can't import Arc's Spaces or folders. Its importer brings history, passwords and extensions from Arc, but the sidebar has to come across as a bookmarks file. Vivaldi's density of settings also takes some getting used to after Arc's minimalism.

Best for: power users who want one browser on every device. Full guide: moving from Arc to Vivaldi, or compare them directly in Arc vs Vivaldi.

4. Helium: the lightweight, private option

Helium is a minimal, privacy-focused Chromium browser with uBlock Origin built in. It added vertical tabs and split view this year, and it has an Arc importer that turns your Favorites into bookmarks-bar items and each Space into a bookmark folder.

The catch: Helium has no Spaces or workspaces, only Chromium's tab groups, and its importer deliberately skips passwords, so you move those with a CSV file. There's no sync between devices either.

Best for: people who want a fast, quiet Chromium browser and only used one or two Spaces. Full guide: moving from Arc to Helium.

5. Orion: the Mac-native choice

Orion, from the makers of Kagi search, is built on Safari's WebKit engine, which makes it noticeably easier on a MacBook battery than Chromium browsers. It has a native vertical tab sidebar, it lists Arc as an import source on macOS (bookmarks, history, passwords and Spaces), and it runs both Chrome and Firefox extensions, with varying compatibility.

Best for: Mac users who care about battery life. Note that it has no Windows version.

6. Microsoft Edge and Floorp: honourable mentions

Microsoft Edge has had vertical tabs since 2021 and now groups tabs into per-project Workspaces, with split screen built in. It's the mainstream option if you'd rather not depend on a small company again, though it can't import from Arc and leans hard on Microsoft services.

Floorp is a Firefox-based browser from Japan with Workspaces (each tied to a Firefox container), split view of up to four pages and a web-panel sidebar. It's a good fit if you want Zen's engine with more configuration.

SigmaOS has an official Arc migration guide, but it has had no update since early 2025, so we'd hesitate to move to it now.

How to choose

• You want Arc back, as close as possible: Zen Browser.
• You want the least work and don't mind AI: Dia.
• You want the most features and a phone app: Vivaldi.
• You want minimal and private: Helium.
• You're on a Mac and care about battery: Orion.

Whatever you pick, do two things before 22 December: export your passwords from Arc as a CSV, and run your new browser's importer while Arc still opens. The data guide has the exact steps.

Sources

• The Browser Company: Arc Sunset: Key Dates and What to Expect and Move from Arc to Dia
• Zen Browser: release notes for 1.24b and the Arc importer source
• Helium: 0.10.3 release notes
• Vivaldi: import help and team reply on Arc import
• Orion: importing help