Alternatives to Zen Browser
A Firefox build with vertical tabs, workspaces and split view, aimed at people who found Arc appealing. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Zen Browser
A Firefox build with vertical tabs, workspaces and split view, aimed at people who found Arc appealing.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Zen Browser.
Arc
Chromium browser organised around spaces, a sidebar and split views.
Arc is the Chromium browser this layout follows, with spaces, a sidebar and split view, but it is closed source, has no Linux build and receives limited feature work.
Floorp
A Firefox build from Japan with vertical tabs, workspaces, split view and web panels already wired in.
Floorp is another Firefox build with vertical tabs, workspaces, split view and web panels, packaged for Homebrew, Flathub and Snap, and customisable without editing userChrome.css.
Firefox
The main browser not built on Chromium, with tracking protection turned on by default.
Firefox is the upstream with tab groups, containers and a configurable interface, plus Android and iOS builds, maintained by Mozilla rather than a small team.
Vivaldi
A Chromium browser for people who want tab stacks, split screen and a mail client in the same window.
Vivaldi offers vertical tabs, tab stacking and tiling on Chromium with built-in mail and calendar, but it is not fully open source.
SigmaOS
macOS browser that organises tabs into workspaces and treats them as tasks.
SigmaOS organises tabs into workspaces treated as tasks, but it is closed source, macOS only, and its free tier pushes regular users toward a paid plan.
Waterfox
A Firefox build with telemetry stripped out, ad blocking and encrypted DNS turned on from the start.
Waterfox keeps Firefox extensions and profiles with telemetry removed and ad blocking on by default, focusing on privacy defaults rather than an Arc-style layout.
Helium
An open-source Chromium browser that blocks ads, trackers and cookie banners by default without telemetry.
Helium is an open-source Chromium browser with vertical tabs, split view and default ad and tracker blocking, switching from Firefox extensions to Chromium extensions.
LibreWolf
A Firefox build with the privacy settings already turned up and uBlock Origin included.
LibreWolf keeps the Firefox engine and focuses on strict privacy defaults with uBlock Origin included, rather than Zen's vertical tabs, workspaces and split view layout.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Zen Browser as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Mercury
A Firefox fork with compiler optimizations and privacy patches taken from LibreWolf, Waterfox and GNU IceCat.
Zen Browser is a Firefox build focused on an Arc-style layout with vertical tabs, workspaces and split view, including ARM64 builds, rather than on compiler optimizations.
Min
Browse with a minimal interface and grouped tabs.
Zen Browser is a Firefox build with vertical tabs, workspaces and split view built in, offering Firefox extensions instead of Min's userscripts.
Orion
WebKit browser from Kagi that runs Safari, Chrome and Firefox extensions.
Zen Browser is an open-source Firefox build with vertical tabs, workspaces and split view, using Gecko and Firefox extensions instead of WebKit.
Shift
Workspace browser for juggling several email and SaaS accounts.
Zen Browser is free and open source, pairing workspaces with Firefox containers for separate logins, but it is a young project whose interface changes between releases.
Wavebox
Workspace browser for juggling many web apps and multiple accounts of the same service.
Zen Browser is free and open source, pairing workspaces with Firefox containers for separate logins, but it is a young project whose interface changes between releases.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Dia
AI-first browser with a chat sidebar that works across your tabs.
Perplexity Comet
Agentic browser with a built-in research assistant and task automation.
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft's Chromium-based browser, bundled with Windows.
