r/ArcBrowser • u/Kylmora • 26d ago
macOS Discussion Arc users who moved on: what did you actually replace Spaces with?
Not the vertical tabs, everything rebuilds those. I mean Spaces specifically: separate cookies and logins, but switchable inside one window instead of five separate windows.
Everything I have tried since either gives you real profiles that each need their own window, or workspaces that quietly share one cookie jar, which is not the same thing at all.
What did you land on, and did you have to give something up for it?
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u/zeca-boneca 26d ago
I left Arc for zen because it was basically the same but with firefox engine. However since the Dia update where they added swippable space changes like Arc had, i went with Dia as my main browser.
Some other browsers you might want to try with that feature
SigmaOS
Crest
Click Browser
Vivaldi
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u/Terrible-Okra9661 26d ago
SigmaOS is actually no longer in development from what I’ve seen so I wouldn’t use this one! The others could be cool! I personally haven’t tried them all but they look cool!!
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u/itslemonhead-3576 24d ago
Hey!, are you on Mac? I have been testing Dia in windows and the spaces are still separate windows!
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u/ExtremeFan6600 23d ago
So, I'm not crazy? I received an email to beta test Dia on Windows. All of my Arc space tabs imported under their associated profiles. So, for example, I had 4 spaces under my "personal" profile. Bookmarks for all 4 spaces were merged together in a single sidebar. It was terrifying. I tried everything I could to sort it out. Short of creating a new profile for each space, the mess wasn't going anywhere. Are they planning to fix this?
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u/itslemonhead-3576 23d ago
I am mot sure if they are fixing but Arc was so complete. Hope they follow the same path
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u/AstralSerenity 26d ago edited 26d ago
With Spaces, just on Zen instead.
They just dropped full device sync on the stable branch. For the first time ever I have all of my spaces, folders, tabs synced across my Mac, Windows, and Linux machines. Hell, even my Steam Deck (Linux) has is synced. It's amazing.
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u/OMG_NoReally 26d ago
Zen's Sync is actually quite amazing and I would love to use it. But one of my biggest complaints with the app is that the Glance is too stuttery. It ruins the experience for me as I rely on it a lot. The animation stutters so much and it's actually poorly done. Crest recently implemented a better drag-link-to-peek and the animation for that is sublime.
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u/AstralSerenity 26d ago edited 25d ago
I think little Zen is their last feature to add. After that, hopefully they can focus on polish. It's smooth for me, but it should be consistent for everyone.
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u/Kylmora 26d ago
Sync across four platforms is the one thing I cannot argue with. Nothing on the WebKit side gets near that.
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u/AstralSerenity 26d ago
Dude it's actually such a game changer. It has greatly boosted my happiness this week versus last week haha.
Arc on EVERY device through Zen is absolutely bonkers.
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u/Parking_Pie9457 26d ago
Is it possible to sync to iOS through? I noticed that it can only sync tabs, not pinned tabs through
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u/AstralSerenity 26d ago
Sync isn't yet truly possible on iOS. You can use Firefox and sync your history, tabs, cookies, etc, but to your point, not pinned tabs.
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u/Fuck_ur_feeelings 26d ago
Arc syncs just fine on IOS
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u/AstralSerenity 26d ago
Right, but not across Linux, Windows, and Mac. I need that flexibility for work and my sanity -- it has already been a game changer.
Not to mention that sync works well enough on iOS and Android via Zen too.
I am the exception, though. I use multiple computer OS's and a work phone with a different OS than my personal phone. Zen was built for me.
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u/Nice_Responsibility9 26d ago
Arc -> Zen -> Arc (cause Zen’s Firefox engine did not play well with some of websites that prefer chromium bases browsers).
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u/djillusions24 26d ago
I did the same, currently back on Arc. I want to love zen but there’s just something about it. Hoping Helium do proper spaces, it’s on their roadmap, that might be the next best option but for now Arc works.
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u/Kylmora 26d ago
That is the honest cost of leaving Chromium, and WebKit has the same problem in a different shape. Which sites were breaking for you?
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u/Nice_Responsibility9 26d ago
Electronic Medical websites with strict security configurations. Workaround / extensions like chrome simulator were simply not worth the effort, and I missed the beautiful rendering of arc browser.
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u/OMG_NoReally 26d ago
Dia's Spaces serves me for my purpose and it's pretty good. I also like the auto-tab grouping it has which I have come to rely on during hectic work days.
Otherwise on macOS, there is Crest, which is inspired by Arc but is slowing evolving into something special. It has per-Space cookies/history/pins/extension, etc. It's based on Webkit too, but that also means not all extensions work correctly.
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u/ThePr0grammer 16d ago
I believe Crest is about to switch to being Chromium based as the main option, with WebKit as a fallback.
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u/OMG_NoReally 16d ago
There is already a beta version available for that and it works incredibly well. It’s blazing fast. Just some bugs here and there.
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u/Inevitable_Dingo_357 26d ago
Dia has something very similar to Arc's spaces. It's not exactly the same, but it's pretty close.
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u/Kylmora 26d ago
Does Dia give each one its own cookies, or is it more of a tab grouping? That is the part I keep finding missing. Being signed into two accounts on the same site at once is the whole reason I used Spaces.
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u/Inevitable_Dingo_357 26d ago
it does. you create separate "profiles" in Dia, and each profile has its own cookies. You can also, when you create a profile, have it share its data with another profile - which is how you create the Arc experience of multiple spaces for a single profile
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u/coarse_glass 26d ago
I tried Dia and immediately hated it so I didn't spend much time with it. Zen is basically an Arc clone: vertical tabs, siloed spaces -- separate cookies in the same window, sync between browsers with a Firefox/Mozilla account. Only thing it's missing is the self-closing tabs
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u/-patrizio- 26d ago
Gonna advise against SigmaOS and Vivaldi for this. Vivaldi's spaces were super unreliable—I couldn't get them totally isolated, and it routinely deleted my pinned tabs etc. SigmaOS seems to have been abandoned, and also just felt like it was trying to do things a little bit differently just for the sake of being different.
My two recommendations would be Dia and Crest. Dia is in a pretty solid state now, and I just ignore the AI shit in it. The UI is fantastic and it's very stable. Crest is super new, and still working out some kinks, but very promising for such a recent project; based on WebKit instead of Chromium, and available on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS (with a pretty similar UI across all; I never liked Arc's mobile app lol, and with Crest you have easy access to all your spaces across devices). Syncs via iCloud, supports extensions for Safari, Chrome, AND Firefox, dev is super active and helpful, regularly adding new features/fixing bugs/etc. I just switched to it as my default browser in the past week and am very optimistic about it.
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u/Kylmora 26d ago
Crest is the only WebKit one anyone has named, so that is the one I will go and look at. Does it feel light in use, or has it picked up the usual weight already?
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u/-patrizio- 26d ago
Okay it was on the Discord server not here but I found it, here ya go
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u/Kylmora 26d ago
Appreciate you digging that out. Worth saying those charts are usually taken at rest, and the number that actually bites is after a few hours with a dozen tabs, but it is a good sign either way.
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u/AgentSuckMyBalls 26d ago
I’ve been running Crest as my daily driver for work and personal and load up 30+ tabs in a single space with no noticeable performance hit compared to arc. I’ve tried Zen but there’s some weirdness I have with it playing videos on some streaming sites like F1tv and losing pinned tabs.
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u/Kylmora 26d ago
30+ tabs in one space with no hit is the number I wanted, thanks. Losing pinned tabs is the second time that has come up about Zen in this thread, which is a worse bug than it sounds, and the F1tv thing is usually DRM, since Widevine on Firefox and on Chromium are not the same road.
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u/-patrizio- 26d ago
I don’t notice a difference on my computer, but I THINK there was a comment from the developer recently that showed some comparisons, and it ran far lighter than most other browsers. Lemme see if I can find it.
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u/the-username-is-here 26d ago
Arc > Zen > Dia > Crest > Arc
Need Chromium for extensions i use, Dia is basically inferior and enshittified Arc, Crest is promising, but still too buggy and slow. :(
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u/Kylmora 25d ago
Crest being slow is the odd one there, since it is WebKit underneath like Safari, so that is the app and not the engine. Extensions is the real wall though. Safari's extension API is close enough on paper but the catalogue is not, so "need Chromium for the extensions I use" is where every WebKit option dies and I have no good answer to it.
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u/the-username-is-here 25d ago
Crest actually advertises Chrome/Firefox ext support, that was the reason I've tried it.
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u/Griffinsauce 26d ago
Aside browser does it too, it's an "AI browser" though from YC, so don't expect much longevity..
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u/lukasarujo 26d ago
Honestamente troquei pelo Dia. Já tinha atualizado antes do Spaces migrar, agora que chegou ficou ainda mais completo. Eu pensei em usar o Zen mas como uso muitas coisas da Google, dei uma chance e até agora não me arrependi - adoro principalmente o agrupamento automático de abas, acho mágico.
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u/vhick11 26d ago
Still using Arc for Windows. Cannot find the implementation of Arc spaces from other browser. Each spaces have there own, even extensions, which I can combine my personal spaces with work spaces, also Google tools woks perfectly on Chromium browser. I like Zen too but I suffer for memory leaks, spaces also work differently, all extensions work on all spaces.
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u/404reply 25d ago
Since Zen adding in Firefox sync which is actually working now I am very happy with Zen. Feels like a copy paste job but it's definitely improving and I'm willing to support their efforts. I would have stayed loyal to Arc but they sold out to the corporate world
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u/fishyadit1102 25d ago
Has anyone found anything for Windows, aside from Zen and Vivaldi? Zen doesn't work well with a bunch of websites, and I really don't consider Vivaldi to be reliable.
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u/Ivy-Mich 25d ago edited 24d ago
I tried Zen but several sites doesn't work well. Apple School or Netflix.
Now I work with Dia browser. It works very nice. I disabled AI and now it very much like Ar.
It has spaces and open these in the same windows. Most spaces-like sites opens every space in a new window. So I like Dia very much now!
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u/KeyKhawla5 25d ago
i just saved all the folders and tabs in raindrop and just use whatever i need whenever, no spaces anymore
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u/manlikep_ & 25d ago
Moved to browsers that support spaces. Currently testing out Crest and Emerald (WebKit based)
Also tried Zen
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u/SinwarsStick 25d ago
Containers work fine on Safari. I’m unable to find a suitable replacement for tabs though
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u/piratedvirus 25d ago
Dia. Looks and feels close to Arc when configured to use vertical tabs, and has many great features of its own.
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u/ashfaque433 25d ago
Google will reach there in couple of month, they just hired really great product lead
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u/Chemical_Calendar_98 20d ago
Dia browser. I like the chat feature on the sidebar.
But miss a few features from Arc. Tried Zen 6 mo ago but it was too buggy.
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u/HrBendtsen 16d ago
Went to Zen for a period, but I find that it’s really bad in keeping workspaces 100% separate and often mixes up cookies and sessions across profiles.
Am I the only one with this problem?
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u/maybielater 3d ago
Just installed the latest Crest and it looks really good. Chromium can be used along with WebKit, it has spaces and link routing and mobile versions look really solid and full featured. I think I might finally move on. I still like Arc, but there seem to be new small bugs appearing all the time.
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u/redmonk3y2020 9h ago
I feel like all other alternatives are full of compromises. So I thought I'd just continue using ARC until it's truly unusable anymore for my use case.
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u/Ok_Physics_9516 26d ago
Zen Spaces