Best tab manager extensions

Tab Session Manager, by the developer Sienori, saves the state of your browser windows and tabs and lets you bring them back later. It can save automatically as you browse, so a crash or an accidental window close does not cost you a research session, and you can name and save sessions by hand, for example one per project.

It is free, with its code on GitHub under MPL-2.0, and it runs on Chrome, Firefox and Edge. The Chrome build uses Manifest V3, and version 7.4.0 was published in July 2026. Firefox shows about 172,000 users and the Recommended badge. The developer takes sponsorship through Patreon and PayPal.

Privacy is straightforward. The privacy policy says sessions and settings stay on your device unless you turn on cloud sync, which is opt in and stores sessions in your Google Drive app folder, unreadable by other apps and the developer according to the policy. The policy dates from 2020, does not explain the permissions and mentions no analytics. This is a save and restore tool, so pair it with a suspender if memory is your problem. For a safety net under your tabs, it is the one to start with.

Sidebery is a Firefox sidebar that turns tabs into vertical panels, in a tree or flat layout, alongside bookmarks and history. Its README also lists search, a customisable context menu, custom styles and snapshots of saved windows, panels and tabs. Each panel is set up separately, so one can hold work tabs and another a container.

It is free, MIT licensed and developed in the open by one developer, mbnuqw. The Firefox listing shows about 55,000 users, a 4.7 average from about 1,100 ratings and the Recommended badge. Firefox shipped its own vertical tabs in version 136, and the README explains how to combine the two: turn on the native vertical tabs and shrink that sidebar to its minimum so the native tab strip takes little space.

The README warns that Sidebery may conflict with add-ons that handle where new tabs go or that sort tabs, such as Tree Style Tab, so disable those. The permissions list is long because it manages tabs, containers, cookies, sessions and bookmarks in one place, but it requests no site access. If you want one configurable sidebar for everything, this is the one. If the built-in layout works, or you only want a simple tab tree, skip it.

Auto Tab Discard saves memory by discarding tabs you have not used for a while. A discarded tab stays in the tab strip and reloads when you click it. The README calls the browser's native discard function more efficient and less buggy than extensions that replace the page, which is how The Great Suspender worked.

You can discard tabs automatically or by hand, keep a list of hostnames or regular expressions that are never discarded, and choose whether to discard pinned tabs, tabs playing media or tabs with unsaved input. It is free, MPL-2.0 licensed, and listed on Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Opera, with a Manifest V3 build on Chrome. Chrome shows about 100,000 users, Firefox about 101,000 and the Recommended badge.

Weigh the permissions. It asks to read all sites, which its listing page says is used to inject a monitoring script into tabs, though its privacy policy says it collects no user data. The stores also show different publisher names: joue.quroi, tlintspr and Bermet. The GitHub README links all four stores, so we treat them as one project, but we could not confirm the people are the same. Chrome's built-in Memory Saver covers the basics, so install this when you want rules and exceptions.

Tree Style Tab, often shortened to TST, is the original tab tree for Firefox. According to its README, new tabs opened from the current tab become its children, and branches fold with a click. Results opened from a search page stay grouped, and you can go back to the root tab to find your place.

It is by Piro and has been on Firefox since 2007. The code is on GitHub, with files under MPL 2.0 by default. The listing shows about 141,000 users, a 4.5 rating from about 2,300 ratings and the Recommended badge. Version 4.4.9 arrived on 30 September 2026 and needs a recent Firefox: the manifest sets 139 as the minimum.

The README says the author does not accept donations and that the extension does not automatically collect private data, noting that Firefox Sync may send options and the URLs of tabs you send to other devices to Mozilla's servers. TST is deliberately focused, and feature requests that do not fit the tree idea may be rejected. Pick it if the tree idea appeals. Pick Sidebery if you want bookmarks, history and snapshots in the same sidebar.

OneTab is the simplest tab saver in our picks, and the only one with a Safari option. Click its icon and every open tab in the window becomes an entry in a single list. The tabs close, and you can restore them one by one or all at once. The store listing claims this cuts memory use by up to 95 percent, because the pages are no longer loaded. That is the developer's figure and we did not test it.

The developer is OneTab Ltd, a UK company named on the Chrome listing, and the extension is free. Chrome shows about 2 million users and Firefox about 161,000. Safari users get a free OneTab app on the Mac App Store, version 1.87, last updated in November 2024.

The listing says tab URLs are never sent to the developers or anyone else, except through the optional share as a web page feature, which uploads a list. Chrome's store label says no data is collected. The code is closed, so none of this can be checked against source. OneTab suits occasional tidying. For automatic sessions or workspaces, look at Tab Session Manager or Workona.

Workona, from Workona Inc., is built around the tab. Instead of one long list, you create a space per project. Within a space, current work stays open as tabs and the rest is saved as resources. The Chrome listing also describes automatic backups, tab suspension to reduce memory use, search across open and past tabs, and sync between computers.

It is a business with paid plans, and it is closed source. Its pricing page lists Pro, Team and Enterprise, and says Workona is free to use, but we could not read what the free tier limits. Chrome shows about 200,000 users. The Firefox listing is far less used and was last updated in May 2025.

Know where your data goes. Workona keeps your spaces, including saved URLs, in its cloud. Its privacy policy says analytics and advertising partners may use cookies on its services, so read it before saving sensitive links. The pricing page lists encrypted data and the company announced a SOC 2 Type II audit in June 2022, but we found no current report, so treat that as its own claim. Choose it for the workflow, not for privacy: it is for people who switch between projects all day.