The Sidebar
Persistent pinned tabs, folders, and favorites. The sidebar is your workspace, not a tab list that disappears.
Arc is in maintenance mode. We're not.
Arc Browser Alternative for Chrome
Get Arc's sidebar, Spaces, and vertical tabs — without switching browsers.
Leap is the Chrome extension built for Arc refugees who don't want to learn Firefox. Works in Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi — and any Chromium browser (outside Chrome, sign in with email to sync; Google sign-in is Chrome-only). Free.
Free on the Chrome Web Store
Arc Browser entered maintenance mode on May 27, 2025. The Browser Company was acquired by Atlassian in October 2025 for roughly $610M. No new Arc features have shipped since. Sources →
What Arc Did That Other Browsers Don't
The four features Arc users built workflows around — and the six famous extras.
Spaces
Separate contexts — Work, Personal, a specific project — each with its own pinned tabs and color.
Quick Search (Cmd+T)
One keystroke to search bookmarks, tabs, history, and actions — Arc's power-user launcher.
Air Traffic Control
Rules that auto-route links: "anything from notion.so opens in my Work Space."
Famous extras: Little Arc · Split View · Boosts · Easels · Auto-archive · Arc Search iOS
There Are Three Ways to Replace Arc. One Fits Chrome Users.
Switch browser
Zen, Brave, Vivaldi
For: people ready to relearn workflows, comfortable with Firefox or a new engine.
Trade-off: 1–3 hours of manual rebuild, lose Chrome extensions, lose Chromium-only sites.
Mac standalone app
SupaSidebar
For: macOS-only users who want a sidebar that floats across every browser.
Trade-off: Mac-only, paid for full features, a separate app to install and launch.
Chrome extension (Leap)
Chrome · Edge · Brave · Vivaldi
For: people who live in Chrome / Edge / Brave and want zero friction.
Trade-off: Chromium browsers only — no Safari, no Firefox. Google sign-in is Chrome-only; in Edge and Brave, sign in with email to sync across devices.
Everything Arc Got Right. Without Switching Browsers.
A Sidebar That Doesn't Disappear
Pin tabs, group them in folders, keep favorites visible across every window — the same persistent workflow Arc made famous.
Spaces — Your Contexts, Color-Coded
Switch between Work, Personal, and project Spaces in one click. Each Space has its own pins, folders, and theme color.
Saved Tabs That Stay
Most tab managers just group what's open. Leap saves it: put a tab in a Space or a folder, close it in Chrome, and it's still in the sidebar — one click reopens it. Keep the browser light without losing your context.
Save From Anywhere. Two Shortcuts.
Alt+S opens and closes the Leap sidebar. Alt+Shift+S saves the tab you are on without opening it — or right-click any page and pick "Save to Leap". Drag tabs between Spaces and folders to reorganize.
Side-by-Side — Leap vs Everything Else
| Feature | Arc | Leap | Zen | Brave | SupaSidebar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vertical sidebar | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Spaces / Workspaces | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | ✓ |
| Stays in Chrome | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | Partial |
| Chromium extension | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Cross-platform (Win/Mac/Linux) | Partial | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Active development | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free to use | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Partial |
Last updated October 2026. Notice an error? Email us.
Arc on Windows: what's left, and what to use instead
As of October 2026.
Arc for Windows
Arc for Windows can still be downloaded (Windows 10 19H1 or later), but it receives Chromium updates only — no new features.
Arc for Linux
Arc is offered for Windows, macOS and iOS. There is no Linux version.
What to use on Windows instead
Switch browser
Zen, Vivaldi
The closest standalone feel to Arc, with sidebars and workspaces. You leave Chrome and rebuild your setup in a new browser.
Built-in vertical tabs
Edge, Chrome
Both browsers can show tabs vertically now. That's a tab list, not spaces you come back to — close a tab and it's gone from the list.
Stay in Chrome with Leap
Windows · macOS · Linux
Arc-style spaces, saved tabs that stay after you close them and pinned daily sites, in Chrome's side panel. The same extension on every desktop Chrome — free.
Sources, checked October 2026: arc.net/download. Notice an error? Email us.
Leap at a glance
What Leap does and doesn't do, in plain words.
- What it is
- A Chrome extension that adds a vertical sidebar (Chrome’s side panel) with spaces, saved tabs, folders and pinned sites. Not a separate browser.
- Spaces
- Each space is built on a Chrome tab group in the same window. Switch spaces in one click from the bar at the bottom of the sidebar. Unlimited spaces.
- Saved tabs that stay
- Save a tab into a space or folder, close it in Chrome, and it stays in the sidebar — one click reopens it.
- Nested folders
- Folders inside folders, up to three levels deep.
- Pinned sites
- Pin the sites you open every day to the dock. A click focuses the tab you already have instead of opening a duplicate; if a site shows an unread count in its tab title, the count appears on the icon.
- Open tabs
- Your open tabs are listed below your saved ones, and the section can be collapsed.
- Make it yours
- Name, emoji, color and background for every space. Dark and light themes.
- Saving
- Right-click any page → “Save to Leap”. Two shortcuts: Alt+S opens or closes the sidebar, Alt+Shift+S saves the current tab.
- Sync and sign-in
- No sign-up to start. Spaces, saved tabs, folders, pins and settings sync to Leap’s server whether you sign in or not. Sign in with email in any supported browser, or with Google in Chrome, to get the same spaces on another computer.
- Browsers
- Chrome and other Chromium browsers such as Edge, Brave and Vivaldi. Google sign-in works only in Chrome; elsewhere sign in with email. No Firefox or Safari.
- Price
- Free. Every feature, for everyone — no trial, no credit card.
- Privacy
- Only tabs you explicitly save are synced; your browsing history is not. Leap does not sell your data. Deleting your account removes sign-in immediately and synced data within 30 days.
What Leap can't do
- Hide Chrome’s tab bar
- Chrome doesn’t let extensions hide its horizontal tab bar. Leap lives next to it, in the side panel.
- Separate logins per space
- Spaces share one window and one set of cookies. Separate logins need separate Chrome profiles.
- Import from Arc, OneTab or Workona
- Not yet — spaces from other tools are rebuilt by hand.
- Tab search or a command palette
- Neither. Leap has two shortcuts: Alt+S and Alt+Shift+S.
- Automatic grouping
- None — you decide what goes where.
Install in Under 60 Seconds
Open Chrome Web Store
Click the button below — opens in a new tab.
Add to Chrome
One click. No signup, no payment.
Pin to Sidebar
Click Leap's icon in the Chrome toolbar, then pin to sidebar.
Migrating from Arc Browser
- Bookmarks: Arc → Settings → Export Bookmarks → import into Chrome's own bookmarks.
- Spaces: Recreate manually — Leap doesn't read Arc's sidebar file yet (feature on roadmap).
- Workflow: Pin your most-used tabs to a new Leap Space. Most people are back to full speed within minutes.
Honest disclosure: Leap doesn't auto-import Arc Spaces yet. If you have 5+ Spaces and 50+ pinned tabs, expect 10–15 minutes of manual setup. A direct importer is on the roadmap — tell us you want it via Feedback in the sidebar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not exactly dead, but in maintenance mode. The Browser Company announced in May 2025 that engineering focus would shift to a new product. Atlassian acquired them in October 2025 for around $610M. Existing Arc installs keep working, but no new Arc features have shipped since. The roadmap is frozen.
Yes, but frozen. Arc for Windows can still be downloaded (Windows 10 19H1 or later), but it receives Chromium updates only — no new features. Arc is offered for Windows, macOS and iOS. There is no Linux version. (As of October 2026.)
If staying in Chrome is the requirement, you have one realistic path: a Chrome extension that adds Arc-style sidebar, Spaces, and vertical tabs. Leap is built specifically for that, and works in Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, and any other Chromium browser (outside Chrome, sign in with email to sync across devices; Google sign-in is Chrome-only). Standalone alternatives like Zen or Brave require switching browsers; Mac apps like SupaSidebar only run on macOS.
Stay in Chrome or Edge and add a sidebar extension. Both browsers now have built-in vertical tabs, but not spaces you come back to. Leap adds Arc-style spaces, saved tabs that stay after you close them and pinned daily sites to the browser you already use on Windows — free. If you are willing to switch browsers, Zen and Vivaldi are the closest standalone options.
Yes. Leap is a Chrome extension, so it runs wherever desktop Chrome runs — Windows, macOS and Linux — with no separate app and no extra installer. It also works in Edge, Brave, Vivaldi and other Chromium browsers; there, sign in with email to sync across devices; Google sign-in is Chrome-only. Leap is a Chrome extension, so it should run on a personal Chromebook with a current Chrome — we haven’t tested ChromeOS ourselves yet. On a school-managed Chromebook, your IT admin decides which extensions you can install.
Not yet — Spaces need to be recreated by hand: open the tabs you need and save them into Leap spaces. If you have 5+ Spaces and 50+ pinned tabs, expect 10–15 minutes of setup. A direct importer is on the roadmap — tell us you want it via Feedback in the sidebar.
Boosts aren't on the Leap roadmap — they were a niche feature, and dedicated extensions like Stylus handle per-site CSS more flexibly. Leap focuses on Arc's daily-use core: the sidebar, Spaces, and saved tabs and folders that stay put.
Chrome added a built-in vertical tab strip in 2026, and it is off by default. To go back to normal tabs, right-click an empty spot on Chrome's vertical tab strip and choose "Show Tabs Horizontally" — your tabs and tab groups stay exactly as they are. The same toggle lives under Chrome's ⋮ menu → More Tools, and in the View menu on Mac. Edge, Brave, and Vivaldi have their own separate vertical-tab settings, which this does not affect.
Yes, Leap is completely free. Unlimited Spaces, folders, tab management, cloud sync, and per-space themes — all included, no sign-up needed to get started.
Get Arc's Workflow Back. In Chrome.
Free forever. Install in one click.
Free on the Chrome Web Store
Browsing other comparisons? See all Leap alternatives → · Made for product managers →