What Reddit Switched To After Arc: 228 Threads Read (2026)

By Kshetez Vinayak, founder of SupaSidebar. Last updated November 4, 2026.

TL;DR

Reddit's answer to what replaces Arc is Zen. Across 228 Arc browser Reddit threads read on November 4, 2026, Zen was the top pick (the browser in a thread's highest-voted recommendation) in 58, far ahead of Vivaldi and Safari at 12 each. In the 83 threads posted since Arc's shutdown news on October 22, Zen led 27 of the 41 that recommended anything. For Arc users who would rather keep Safari, Reddit users describe a second route, Safari plus SupaSidebar, a Mac app that adds an Arc-style sidebar with Spaces next to the browser. Three October threads name that setup, with reviews that run from enthusiastic to lukewarm. The counts, the method and the before-and-after split are below.

Quick navigation

• After Reddit's pick for every Mac browser, not only Arc's replacements? → Best Mac Browser According to Reddit
• Comparing every Arc alternative feature by feature? → Arc Browser Alternative 2026: The Complete Guide
• Going with Zen and need to move your Spaces? → How to Import Arc to Zen Before December 22
• Moving to Safari and want to keep the sidebar? → Move Arc to Safari Before December 22 and Keep the Sidebar
• Keeping more than one browser after Arc? → Best Arc Alternatives If You Use More Than One Browser
• Want to know what Reddit actually picked, with the numbers? You are in the right place. Keep reading.

What 228 Arc browser Reddit threads recommend

"Named as an option" counts threads where the browser shows up anywhere in the post or its top comments as something to use. SupaSidebar is not a browser, so it sat outside the pick list and was counted on its own. It is named in 12 of the 228 threads, and 5 of those 12 are SupaSidebar's own posts or replies.

Why Zen wins the Arc alternative Reddit vote

Zen is the Arc alternative Reddit recommends most because it copies the part of Arc people miss most, a vertical sidebar with Spaces, in a browser that is free and open source. Zen was the top pick in 58 of the 128 threads that recommended a browser (45%), and it was named as an option in 92 of 228 (40%). No other browser reached even half of either number.

The tone of those recommendations is blunt. In an r/ArcBrowser thread titled "Life after Arc", the highest-voted reply (35 points) said "Just download Zen it's literally the same damn browser". Short, confident answers like that one are common in the October threads.

Zen also removed the biggest practical objection a week after the shutdown news. Zen 1.24b, released October 29, 2026, imports Spaces and Profiles from Arc and Dia. Before that, moving Arc Spaces into Zen meant a third-party converter or rebuilding them by hand, and that step is now built in. The Arc to Zen import guide walks through it, and Zen vs Arc covers the feature-by-feature differences.

How the 228 threads were read

This is the method behind every number in this post, so anyone can check or repeat it.

• Sources. 232 Reddit threads about Arc and what to use instead. Of the 228 that could still be read, 142 came from Google results, Google AI Overviews and AI-assistant answers for Arc-alternative searches checked on November 4, 2026 (US), 95 came from a Reddit-monitoring feed of recent and top-ranked Arc threads, and 9 came from both. Four threads had been removed or deleted.
• Date range. Threads were posted between June 2022 and November 3, 2026. 102 of them went up in October and early November 2026.
• Subreddits. r/ArcBrowser (131 threads), r/browsers (59), r/MacOS (8) and 30 threads across 12 smaller subreddits, including r/macapps, r/Safari and r/zen_browser.
• What was read. Each thread was read once on November 4, 2026. That covers the post and up to 10 top comments, with points as they stood that day.
• How "top pick" was judged. The top pick is the browser recommended in the highest-voted comment that recommends one, from a fixed list of 19 names (14 browsers plus five tab and sidebar tools). Threads where no comment recommended a listed name count as "no recommendation". SupaSidebar is a sidebar app rather than a browser, so it was left off the list and its mentions were counted separately.
• Who labeled it. Labels were applied against that written rubric with AI assistance. Ten threads were then read a second time, and all ten labels matched the rubric.

The method has real limits. The fixed list predates several newer browsers that show up in October threads, such as Crest, Yab and Ardia, so some genuine recommendations land in the "no recommendation" bucket. Only the top 10 comments were read, and long threads have more opinions below that. The sample is the set of threads that search engines and AI answers surface, not a random draw, and it leans heavily on r/ArcBrowser.

What changed after Arc's October 22 shutdown news

The Browser Company announced on arc.net on October 22, 2026 that Arc stops working on December 22, 2026. Reddit's answer narrowed sharply after that day.

Three shifts stand out. Zen went from the most common answer to the default one. Vivaldi, the long-time power-user pick, fell from 10 top picks to 2. Chrome climbed to second, and two of its four post-shutdown picks come from threads where the reason was extensions.

Dia barely moved, even though it is the browser The Browser Company itself points Arc users toward. Much of the October mood is anger at the company. In one "Life after Arc" reply, a user wrote "Notice no one's saying Dia. You see that, TBC?", and it drew 27 points. For the case for and against Dia, see Arc Browser vs Dia Browser.

The biggest thread of all, the October 22 shutdown post on r/ArcBrowser, shows the same pattern. Its top comments (865, 608 and 341 points) are reactions, not recommendations. The highest-voted reply that recommends a browser (147 points) is from someone who can't use Dia at work and says they will have to switch to Zen.

SupaSidebar's own small number moved too. Independent mentions of SupaSidebar went from 3 in the 145 earlier threads to 4 in the 83 threads since October 22, all of them from users.

Where Reddit pushes back on Zen

Zen's lead comes with a steady counter-argument, and the same one keeps coming up. Zen is built on Firefox, and some people can't or won't leave Chromium.

In an October thread titled "I moved back to Safari.", the highest-voted reply (60 points) came from a user who liked Zen but went back to Chrome because extensions they rely on are missing or outdated in Zen. In a "time to say goodbye to Arc" thread, another user who tried every alternative they could find, SupaSidebar included, rated Zen the most Arc-like but settled on Dia because Zen isn't Chromium.

A third objection is trust. In a thread about Dia being blocked by a company's security team, a user described Crest and Zen as lovely but mostly "hobby side projects" that might go the way of Arc. That worry pushes some Arc users back to a browser from Apple, Google or Microsoft.

Safari and Vivaldi, the 12-thread runners-up

Safari and Vivaldi tie for second with 12 top picks each, but they win different arguments. Vivaldi has been a steady power-user answer for years, with top picks from January 2023 to November 2026, and 10 of its 12 come from before October 22. It is still named as an option in 42 threads, second only to Zen. The Vivaldi vs Arc comparison covers its tab stacks and workspaces in detail.

Safari wins the "stop switching browsers" argument. It is the pick for people who care about battery life, Apple Passwords and iCloud tab sync more than Arc's layout, and the October replies sound resigned rather than excited. The third-highest reply in "Life after Arc" (15 points) was simply "Safari, with a very heavy heart."

The heavy heart has a specific cause. Safari has no Spaces the way Arc had them, and its own sidebar lists tabs next to a tab bar that stays on screen. A reply in an r/Safari thread titled "Will safari ever have vertical tabs" explained the tab-bar part, which is why Arc users who pick Safari keep looking for a sidebar to add on top.

SupaSidebar, the keep-your-browser route Reddit users describe

SupaSidebar is a route Reddit's Safari switchers name when they want Arc's sidebar without changing browsers again. It is a native Mac app, not a browser or an extension, that sits beside Safari with Arc-style Spaces, pinned links and live tabs, and it showed up next to Safari in 3 October threads.

The reviews in those threads are mixed, and they are quoted here as written.

• "I went to Safari + SupaSidebar and it's amazing." (r/ArcBrowser, "I moved back to Safari.", October 23)
• "I'm testing Safari with Supasidebar currently. Not a perfect replacement, but I'm desperate." (r/ArcBrowser, Dia not being an option, October 23)
• "I'm trying Safari with supasidebar for now. So far it's meh..." (r/ArcBrowser, "Life after Arc", October 24)

Two earlier comments fill in the picture. In January, an r/ArcBrowser user called SupaSidebar "the most similar to the way Arc handles things" across Chrome, Safari and other browsers. In July, an r/Safari user wrote "It's okay. Still a bit buggy for me." One SupaSidebar user made the work case in an email. Zen had the interface closest to Arc, but it wasn't allowed at work, so Safari with SupaSidebar became the setup.

Two more comments sit outside the 228 threads, one in an r/ArcBrowser thread the sample didn't include and one on Hacker News. On October 27, under a post about a Safari extension, a user going back to Safari with SupaSidebar gave the reason as "Just don’t want another browser which will disappear." On Hacker News on October 22, a commenter who had left Arc four months earlier for Safari, with SupaSidebar for Spaces and vertical tabs and OpenIn for Air Traffic Control, wrote "I'm pretty happy with it!" A reply under that comment came from someone who tried SupaSidebar for about a week, then moved to Helium.

With Safari, SupaSidebar shows Live Tabs, the open Safari tabs listed in the sidebar, and each Space can be linked to a Safari profile, so a Work Space opens its links in the Work profile. Arc's sidebar moves over in three clicks, Preferences → Import and Export → Arc → Import, and SupaSidebar's import guide shows how to preview and pick which Arc Spaces come across. Folders and pinned links arrive with their structure intact.

Here is what that looks like for an Arc user moving to Safari who imported three Arc Spaces.

Switching Spaces with a click or a shortcut swaps the sidebar's saved links, and Live Tabs then lists only the tabs from that Space's Safari profile.

SupaSidebar's scope is specific. Safari's own tab bar stays at the top of the window, because SupaSidebar sits next to the browser rather than changing it. Spaces organize links and don't keep separate logins on their own, so separate sign-ins still come from Safari profiles. Arc's Boosts and Easels have no equivalent. SupaSidebar runs on macOS 14 and later, and with Zen it saves pages and opens links but doesn't list Zen's tabs yet. The Safari sidebar setup guide covers the Safari side step by step.

How often Reddit names SupaSidebar, and how many of those are its own

SupaSidebar is named in 12 of the 228 threads (5%), against 92 for Zen. Five of the 12 are SupaSidebar's own posts or replies, so they are not independent recommendations. That leaves 7 independent mentions, or 3% of threads.

The October rows matter most. Since the shutdown news, SupaSidebar came up in 4 of the 83 threads, all from users rather than SupaSidebar itself, and 3 of those 4 were people running it with Safari. That is a small share next to Zen, which was named in 39 of the same 83 threads.

Which post-Arc setup should you pick?

• If you want Arc's layout in a single browser and don't depend on Chrome-only extensions, pick Zen, Reddit's clear favorite, and import your Arc Spaces with Zen 1.24b or later before December 22.
• If you need Chromium for extensions or a work policy, Reddit's picks scatter across Vivaldi, Chrome, Edge, Brave and Dia. Vivaldi has the most top picks of the group, and the 7 Mac apps that replace Arc lays out the trade-offs.
• If you want Safari's battery life and Apple sync, go Safari plus SupaSidebar, the route three October threads describe, and import Arc's sidebar into SupaSidebar while Arc still opens. The Arc to Safari guide walks through the move.
• If you use two or more browsers every day, keep the sidebar outside the browser so the same Spaces follow you. Arc alternatives for multi-browser users compares the options.
• If you are still weighing every option, the step-by-step Arc migration guide covers Dia, Safari, Chrome and Zen side by side.

What Arc users should do in November 2026

Reddit's verdict on life after Arc is Zen. It was the top pick in 58 of 228 threads and in 27 of the 41 threads since October 22 that recommended anything, and its new Arc importer removes the biggest chore. Vivaldi and Safari tie for a distant second with 12 top picks each, and Dia, the browser Arc's own team built, managed 5.

The right answer still depends on what you can't give up. Firefox-based Zen suits people who want Arc's look and don't need Chrome extensions. Chromium loyalists split between Vivaldi, Chrome, Edge and Brave. People who want to stop switching browsers go to Safari, and the ones who miss Arc's sidebar there add SupaSidebar, with reviews that range from "amazing" to "meh".

Whatever the pick, export or import the Arc sidebar before December 22, 2026, when Arc stops working. For anyone keeping Safari or another browser they already use, try SupaSidebar (free version available).

Why we recommend SupaSidebar

SupaSidebar is a macOS app that brings Arc's sidebar to every browser - one sidebar for tabs, bookmarks, files, and apps across 32+ browsers including Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Dia, Helium and Orion. With Safari it shows live tabs and links each Space to a Safari profile, and it imports an Arc sidebar in three clicks. 3,000+ Mac users have tried SupaSidebar, and for Arc users who would rather keep Safari than learn another browser, it brings back the sidebar Reddit's Safari switchers miss most.

FAQ

What does Reddit recommend instead of Arc browser?

Zen. In 228 Reddit threads about leaving Arc, read on November 4, 2026, Zen was the browser in the highest-voted recommendation in 58 threads, against 12 each for Vivaldi and Safari. Zen is a free, Firefox-based browser with an Arc-style sidebar and Spaces, and since version 1.24b (October 29, 2026) it imports Spaces from Arc.

What are Arc users switching to after the December 22 shutdown?

Mostly Zen. In the 83 Reddit threads posted between October 22 and November 3, 2026, Zen was the top pick in 27 of the 41 threads that recommended a browser. Chrome came second with 4, Safari had 3, and Vivaldi and Dia had 2 each. Arc stops working on December 22, 2026.

What does Reddit say about Zen vs Arc?

Reddit treats Zen as the closest thing to Arc, with replies calling it almost the same browser. The recurring complaint is that Zen is built on Firefox, so some Chrome extensions and work setups don't carry over, and a few users went back to Chrome or Dia for that reason.

Does Reddit recommend Dia after Arc?

Rarely. Dia, built by Arc's own team, was the top pick in only 5 of 228 threads and 2 of the 41 post-shutdown threads that recommended a browser. Much of the October discussion is anger at The Browser Company, and some users can't run Dia at work because of its AI features or data terms.

Can I keep Safari and still get Arc's sidebar?

Yes, with a separate sidebar app. SupaSidebar is a Mac app that sits next to Safari with Arc-style Spaces, pinned links and live tabs, and it imports an existing Arc sidebar in three clicks. Three October 2026 Reddit threads describe Arc users running Safari with SupaSidebar, with reviews ranging from enthusiastic to lukewarm.

How was this Reddit data collected?

228 readable Reddit threads about leaving Arc were read on November 4, 2026, each with its post and up to 10 top comments. The threads came from Google results, AI answers and a Reddit-monitoring feed, and span June 2022 to November 3, 2026. A thread's top pick is the browser in its highest-voted recommending comment, from a fixed list of 19 names.

What is Reddit's top Chromium-based Arc alternative?

Vivaldi, with 12 top picks in 228 threads, followed by Chrome with 9, Edge with 7, and Brave and Dia with 5 each. No Chromium browser comes close to Zen's 58, and Reddit users who need Chromium tend to describe their pick as a compromise rather than a replacement.

By Kshetez Vinayak, founder of SupaSidebar. Last updated November 4, 2026.