Tab Session Manager: How to Save & Restore Browser Sessions (Chrome & Firefox)

By Kshetez Vinayak, founder of SupaSidebar. Last updated 2026-05-18.

TL;DR:

Tab Session Manager (v7.3.0) is the best free session manager extension for both Chrome and Firefox - it auto-saves sessions on a configurable schedule, supports tab groups, and exports to JSON for backup. Session Buddy (v4.1.1) is the best Chrome-only alternative with a cleaner UI for manual saves. For users juggling multiple browsers, neither extension works cross-browser - SupaSidebar is a macOS app that auto-saves tabs from 25 browsers into one persistent sidebar without any manual session management.

What is a browser session manager?

A browser session manager saves and restores the state of open windows and tabs - the exact URLs, their order, which tabs are pinned, and (in newer versions) which tab groups they belong to. The use case is straightforward: crash recovery, context switching between projects, or picking up exactly where things left off after a restart.

Chrome and Firefox both have built-in session restore (chrome://settings > "Continue where you left off" / Firefox about:preferences > "Open previous windows and tabs"), but the native options are limited to a single session. There is no way to save multiple named sessions, switch between project contexts, or export a session as a backup file using browser settings alone.

That gap is where session manager extensions come in. Tab Session Manager by sienori is the most widely-used cross-browser session extension, available on both Chrome Web Store and Firefox Add-ons. This guide covers how to use it, what alternatives exist, and where session managers hit their limits.

Tab Session Manager: features and setup

Tab Session Manager is a free, open-source extension maintained by sienori. Version 7.3.0 (released February 23, 2026) runs on Manifest V3 for Chrome and supports Firefox Android in addition to desktop.

Core features

• Auto-save on a schedule. Default: every 15 minutes, storing up to 10 sessions. Both the interval and retention count are configurable.
• Tab group support (Chrome). Since v7.2, Tab Session Manager saves Chrome tab group names, colors, and collapsed/expanded states alongside regular tabs. (For tab groups specifically, see the Chrome tab groups save guide.)
• Manual save with naming. One-click save of current windows with a custom label. Useful for project contexts ("Work - Q2 planning", "Research - competitor analysis").
• Export/import as JSON. Sessions can be exported to a local .json file and re-imported later. This is the only reliable backup method - extension storage can be wiped by browser updates.
• Cloud sync via Google Drive. Optional sync keeps sessions available across devices. Requires Google account authorization inside the extension.
• Lazy loading on restore. Tabs load only when clicked, preventing a RAM spike when restoring a 40-tab session.
• Tag-based organization. Sessions can be tagged for filtering (e.g., "work", "personal", "research").

How to install and configure

Chrome:

1. Install from Chrome Web Store
2. Click the extension icon > gear icon for settings
3. Set auto-save interval (recommended: 10-15 minutes for active use)
4. Enable "Save tab groups" under Advanced
5. Optional: connect Google Drive for sync

Firefox:

1. Install from Firefox Add-ons
2. Click the extension icon > Options
3. Configure auto-save interval and max sessions to keep
4. Note: tab group saving is Chrome-only (Firefox does not have native tab groups as of May 2026)

Crash recovery with Tab Session Manager

The most common use case: a browser crash wipes all open tabs. Chrome's built-in recovery works about 80% of the time, but fails silently when:

• The browser was force-quit (Activity Monitor or power loss)
• Multiple windows were open (Chrome restores only the last-focused window reliably)
• A Chrome update restarted the browser while session data was mid-write

Tab Session Manager's auto-save acts as a secondary backup. Even if Chrome's native restore fails, the last auto-saved session is available in the extension popup. One click restores everything.

Session Buddy: the Chrome-only alternative

Session Buddy (v4.1.1, updated February 13, 2026) takes a different approach. Where Tab Session Manager focuses on automatic background saving, Session Buddy is manual-first: click "Save", name the session, restore when needed.

Key differences from Tab Session Manager

When to pick which

• Firefox is the primary or secondary browser
• Automatic backup is important (crash paranoia)
• Google Drive sync across devices is needed
• Tab groups need preserving

• Chrome-only workflow
• Preference for manual, intentional saves over auto-accumulation
• Cleaner, less cluttered UI matters (Session Buddy's design is more polished)
• HTML export is useful (shareable session snapshots)

Other session manager extensions worth knowing

Beyond the two leaders, several alternatives fill specific gaps. For a broader roundup of tab-saving extensions across browsers, see the best tab saver extension comparison.

Tablerone

A tab manager that doubles as a session manager. Designed around visual card-based layout rather than lists. Chrome-only. Free tier covers basic session saving; paid tier ($3/month) adds cloud sync and unlimited sessions.

TabGroup Vault

Built specifically around Chrome's tab groups feature. Preserves group names, colors, collapsed states, and tab order within groups. Chrome-only. The narrowest tool on this list - does one thing well, ignores everything else.

Save Tabs - Browser Session Manager (Firefox)

A Firefox-specific alternative to Tab Session Manager. Saves all tabs from current window, other windows, or all windows. Simpler UI, fewer features, but handles the core save/restore flow without configuration overhead.

Native session restore: what Chrome and Firefox do without extensions

Before installing anything, the browsers themselves handle basic session persistence.

Chrome's built-in session restore

Settings > On startup > Continue where you left off saves the last session state and restores it on launch. Limitations:

• Only stores ONE session (no naming, no multiple project contexts)
• Restores only the last-closed window if multiple windows were open
• No export capability
• Tab groups are preserved on normal restart but sometimes lost on crash

Chrome also keeps recent tabs accessible via Ctrl+Shift+T (reopen closed tabs) and chrome://history (full history). But neither is a session manager - they are browser history, not named session states.

Firefox's built-in session restore

Settings > General > Startup > Open previous windows and tabs does the same thing. Firefox's implementation is slightly more robust: it maintains sessionstore.jsonlz4 in the profile folder, which can be manually extracted with tools like sessionstore-recover if the UI restore fails. (For day-to-day Firefox tab saving without crash recovery, see the Firefox save tabs guide.)

Firefox also has a hidden about:sessionrestore page that shows the last session state when restore fails on startup. This catches cases where Firefox's normal restore silently skips tabs.

Where session managers hit their limits

Session manager extensions solve the single-browser problem well. The unsolved problems:

1. Cross-browser sessions are impossible

Tab Session Manager works in Chrome and Firefox - but separately. A session saved in Chrome cannot be restored in Firefox, and vice versa. There is no shared session format between browsers. Users running Chrome for work (corporate SSO) and Firefox for personal browsing maintain two separate, unconnected session managers.

2. Extension storage is fragile

Both Tab Session Manager and Session Buddy store data in chrome.storage.local - a database file inside the browser profile folder. This storage:

• Gets wiped if the browser profile resets
• Cannot be accessed by other applications
• Has no backup except manual JSON export
• Is invisible to system backup tools (Time Machine backs up the profile folder, but restoring individual extension data from a backup is non-trivial)

3. Sessions are snapshots, not live state

A saved session is frozen - it captures URLs at the moment of save. If a tab changes (new page loaded, form filled in), the session snapshot does not update until the next save. Auto-save mitigates this, but there is always a gap between last save and current state.

4. No session management across devices without cloud

Tab Session Manager offers Google Drive sync. Session Buddy does not sync at all. Neither integrates with iCloud, which means Mac users managing sessions across a MacBook and iMac need Google Drive specifically for this purpose - even if everything else syncs via iCloud.

The cross-browser alternative: SupaSidebar

For Mac users running multiple browsers, session management extensions have a structural limitation: they only see one browser at a time. A Chrome session manager cannot see Firefox tabs, and a Firefox session manager cannot see Safari tabs.

SupaSidebar takes a different approach. Instead of saving session snapshots, SupaSidebar maintains a persistent sidebar that shows live tabs from all open browsers simultaneously - Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Arc, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Zen, and 17 others. Tabs are always there in the sidebar. There is no "save" step because nothing is lost.

How SupaSidebar replaces manual session management

The tradeoff: SupaSidebar is macOS-only (requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later) and is a separate app, not a browser extension. Session manager extensions run inside the browser with zero setup beyond installation. SupaSidebar requires a one-time setup to grant Automation permissions for each browser.

"I've been wanting a way to manage my multiple browsers from a single source."

- Reddit user on r/macapps

Conclusion: picking the right session tool

Tab Session Manager is the best free option for anyone who needs automatic session backup in Chrome or Firefox. Session Buddy is the better choice for Chrome users who prefer clean, manual session management.

For single-browser users, either extension handles the core workflow: save sessions, name them, restore when needed. The decision is auto-save vs manual-save, and whether Firefox support matters.

For multi-browser Mac users - running Chrome for work and Safari or Firefox for personal use - session manager extensions leave a structural gap. Each browser's sessions live in isolation. SupaSidebar bridges that gap with a persistent sidebar that sees all browsers at once and syncs via iCloud. See how SupaSidebar compares to similar tools in the tab managers comparison, or try SupaSidebar (free tier) to see if a unified sidebar fits the multi-browser workflow better than juggling separate session managers.

Why SupaSidebar is recommended for cross-browser session management

SupaSidebar is a macOS app that brings Arc's sidebar to every browser - one sidebar for tabs, bookmarks, files, and apps across 25 browsers including Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Arc, Zen, Vivaldi, Brave, and Edge. It replaces the manual save-restore cycle of session managers with a persistent, always-accessible sidebar that auto-saves tabs from every browser into organized Spaces with iCloud sync.

Frequently Asked Questions

By Kshetez Vinayak, founder of SupaSidebar. Last updated 2026-05-18.