A Chromium-based web browser released in 2022 by the US company The Browser Company. Its defining trait is a vertical sidebar on the left that holds your tabs, combined with Spaces (purpose-specific workspaces) and Split View for keeping multiple projects apart. Its AI features, bundled as Arc Max, provide page summaries and question answering at no extra cost. However, the company ended active development of Arc in 2025 and shifted its resources to Dia, an AI-first successor browser. The official site now carries a notice to the effect that Arc receives Chromium updates only, and that users who need ongoing security patches should download Dia instead. Keep that situation in mind when deciding whether to adopt it.
Key Features
- Vertical sidebar with automatic tab tidying: Tabs live in a vertical list on the left rather than across the top. Tabs you have not touched for a while are archived automatically, which structurally curbs the endless tab pile-up
- Spaces for separating contexts: Create workspaces for work, research, personal use, and switch between them. Assign separate profiles and bookmarks and logins stay isolated too, making it easy to move between clients or projects
- Split View for side-by-side work: Show several tabs at once in a single window. Useful for writing while reading source material, or comparing a document with its preview
- Arc Max AI features: Page summaries and on-page question answering (Ask on Page), 5-Second Previews that summarize a linked page on hover, and Tidy Tabs / Tidy Downloads that assign clearer names to tabs and downloaded files. Arc Max is positioned as experimental and can be switched off in settings at any time
- Boosts for custom appearance: Change colors and fonts on a specific site, or hide elements you do not need, so the services you use most look the way you want
- Now in maintenance mode: No new features are being added; updates mainly consist of upstream Chromium changes. The official guidance is to move to the successor, Dia
Pricing
| Plan | Monthly price | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | All browser features. Arc Max AI features included at no extra cost |
Pricing is current as of August 2026. Check the official site for the latest information.
Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Directly addresses the classic browser problem of losing track of too many tabs
- Spaces combined with profiles cleanly separates work from personal use, or client A from client B
- AI features are included in the free tier, so summaries and Q&A cost nothing extra to try
- Being Chromium-based, it runs Chrome extensions as-is
- Split View, Boosts, and similar features leave plenty of room to shape the screen around your habits
⚠️ Cons
- Active development has ended, so no further feature additions can be expected
- The official site itself recommends the successor, Dia, for users who need ongoing security patches. Long-term business use calls for careful judgment
- Supported on Mac and Windows only; there is no Linux build
- The distinctive UI takes some getting used to, and switching from a conventional browser can feel disorienting at first
- Dia is not a product that carries Arc’s features over unchanged, so migrating does not reproduce the same experience
Comparison with Similar Services
| Criteria | Arc Browser | Dia | Comet | Zen Browser |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provider | The Browser Company | The Browser Company | Perplexity | Zen Browser community |
| Positioning | Browser focused on tab organization | AI-first successor to Arc | Search- and AI-integrated browser | Open-source browser with Arc-like UI |
| Engine base | Chromium | Chromium | Chromium | Firefox |
| AI features | Arc Max (summaries, Q&A, and more) | Designed around an AI assistant | AI-assisted search and tasks | None by default |
| Development status | New feature work ended | Ongoing | Ongoing | Ongoing |
| Platforms | Mac / Windows | Mac | Mac / Windows | Mac / Windows / Linux |
Who Is It For
- People who habitually keep 20 or more tabs open and lose real time hunting for the right page
- Freelancers and multi-project workers who want browser contents separated per client or theme
- Anyone who frequently works with reference material and a document side by side
- People who want summaries and question answering folded into everyday browsing at no extra cost
- Anyone curious about a vertical-sidebar-first UI who is willing to try it knowing development has ended
That said, if the goal is to pick a browser for the long term, it is safer to consider Dia or another browser still under active development rather than Arc.
Summary
Arc Browser broke with the assumption that tabs belong in a horizontal row, offering instead a vertical sidebar, Spaces, and Split View that sort the work itself. Arc Max brought summaries and question answering into the free tier, making it one of the earlier products to show what in-browser AI could feel like. Development has since ended, and the official recommendation is to move to Dia. Existing users can keep going for now, but when choosing a browser to build daily work around, favor one that is still receiving updates.