Vertical Tabs on Mac: Every Option Compared (2026)

By Kshetez Vinayak, founder of SupaSidebar. Last updated November 6, 2026.

Key Takeaways:

Every major Mac browser now has native vertical tabs or is about to. Chrome added them in April 2026, Firefox in version 136 (March 2025), Edge in 2021 and Brave in version 1.52, and Safari adds them in 27.3, in beta now with the final release expected in December. Each one lists only its own browser's tabs. If you use more than one browser, SupaSidebar (a free version is available) is the only option here that gives you one vertical sidebar across 32+ browsers, Safari and Chrome included.

Looking for something specific?

• Comparing every Arc alternative? → Arc Browser alternative guide (the pillar comparison)
• Only use Safari? → Safari Vertical Tabs
• Only use Chrome? → How to Get Vertical Tabs in Chrome on Mac
• Looking for Sidebery on Chrome? → Sidebery for Chrome: Why It Doesn't Exist
• Want every option side by side? → Keep reading.

Horizontal tabs made sense when people had 5 tabs open. With 30 or more, the strip shrinks every title until you can't read a single one.

Vertical tabs fix this. Instead of a horizontal row that gets more useless with every new tab, you get a sidebar list where every tab shows its full title, favicon, and maybe even a preview. You can actually find things.

The problem on Mac is that every browser handles this differently, and each one only handles its own tabs. Below is every option, browser by browser, then the one that works across all of them.

Firefox: Native Vertical Tabs That Work Well

Firefox added native vertical tabs in Firefox 136 on March 4, 2025, and it's solid. No extensions needed. Go to Settings > General > Browser Layout and choose Vertical tabs, or right-click the tab strip and choose Turn on Vertical Tabs, per Mozilla's guide.

What you get:

• A collapsible sidebar showing all your tabs vertically
• Tab grouping built in
• The horizontal tab bar automatically hides
• Works with Firefox's container tabs (nice for separating work/personal)

The catch? It's Firefox-only. If you also use Chrome for web dev or Safari for battery life, your vertical tabs don't follow you. And plenty of Mac users split their day between Safari and Chrome, not Firefox.

Firefox is also home to Sidebery, the best-known tree-style tab add-on. It nests tabs under the page that opened them and adds panels. Firefox does not let add-ons hide the horizontal tab bar, so Sidebery users hide it with a userChrome.css tweak, per Sidebery's listing.

For Firefox-only users, native vertical tabs are hard to beat. For everyone else, keep reading.

Chrome on Mac: Native Vertical Tabs Arrived in 2026

Chrome added native vertical tabs on desktop in April 2026. Right-click any Chrome window and choose "Show Tabs Vertically" to move tabs into a sidebar.

The native option is the best starting point for Chrome-only users. It shows full page titles in a side layout and works with Chrome's tab groups. The catch is the same as every browser-native solution: it's Chrome-only. If you also use Safari for battery life, Firefox for research, or Brave for another profile, Chrome's sidebar doesn't follow you.

Extensions are the other route, with a catch. A Chrome extension can show a tab list in Chrome's side panel, but it cannot hide Chrome's own tab strip, so you get a second list next to the first. Sidebery, the extension most people ask about, is a Firefox add-on with no Chrome version (Mozilla Add-ons). There is a longer look at what Chrome users can use instead in Sidebery for Chrome: Why It Doesn't Exist. Extensions also only work inside Chrome, so they do not solve cross-browser tab management.

Safari: Native Vertical Tabs Arrive in 27.3

Safari gets native vertical tabs in Safari 27.3. Apple added them in the Safari 27.3 beta on November 3, 2026, and the final release is expected in December, per Six Colors. Turn them on with View > Tab Layout > Vertical. Tabs move to a column on the left, shown as icons by default and with titles when you drag the column wider. Before 27.3 there is no vertical tab option, and no extension can add one, because Safari's extension API doesn't allow the kind of deep UI modifications that a vertical tab sidebar requires.

Until 27.3, Apple's Tab Groups feature helps organize tabs, but it's still a horizontal layout. You're still squinting at tiny tab favicons when you have 15+ tabs open.

This is the biggest gap in Safari's feature set for power users. As one Reddit user put it:

"I was using zen before but i abandon it due to high ram usage. But i miss its vertical tab very much" - r/Safari, My Vertical Tab Setup In Safari

Safari's own vertical tabs list only Safari's tabs, and Macs not yet on 27.3 have none. For one sidebar that also holds saved links and tabs from other browsers, use an external app alongside Safari. That's where standalone Mac sidebar apps come in.

Brave, Edge, and Other Chromium Browsers

The Real Problem: What If You Use Multiple Browsers?

Here's what nobody talks about in "best vertical tabs" articles.

Many Mac power users don't live in one browser. A common split is Safari for personal browsing and battery life, Chrome for work accounts, dev tools and extensions, and sometimes Firefox for privacy. One SupaSidebar user summed up the usual reason in an email to support.

"I use different browsers to separate work and personal usage."

None of the per-browser vertical tab solutions help here. Firefox's native sidebar doesn't know about your Chrome tabs. Chrome's vertical tabs can't see your Safari tabs. You end up with fragmented tab management across 2-3 separate systems.

Another user described what that does to finding anything, also by email.

"I was getting tired of trying to find things, which browser? Which window? Which tab? Did I bookmark it?"

This fragmentation is the gap SupaSidebar fills, as a standalone Mac app that sits alongside any browser rather than a browser extension. A reviewer on r/macapps called it "built for exactly this use case: people who use multiple browsers and need a way to consolidate browser context without paying a constant productivity tax every time they switch."

SupaSidebar: One Vertical Sidebar for Every Browser

SupaSidebar is a macOS app (not a browser extension) that gives you a persistent vertical sidebar for tabs, bookmarks, files, and apps across 32+ browsers, including Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Brave, and Edge.

How it's different from per-browser solutions:

• Cross-browser: One sidebar shows tabs from whatever browser you're using. Switch from Safari to Chrome and your sidebar stays.
• Not an extension: It's a native Mac app using Accessibility APIs. Nothing to install in the browser, just a one-time macOS Accessibility and Automation permission. Works even with Safari, which blocks sidebar extensions.
• Persistent: Your sidebar doesn't disappear when you close a browser. Saved tabs, bookmarks, and files stay organized in Spaces.
• More than tabs: Add local files, folders, and apps to your sidebar. It's a workspace launcher, not just a tab list.

Thousands of Mac users have tried SupaSidebar, and a free version is available. Most tab management extensions are free too, but each one works in a single browser.

SupaSidebar has limits worth knowing. It doesn't integrate as deeply with each browser's internals as a native solution like Firefox's sidebar does. You won't get tree-style tab nesting or container tab integration. It's designed for the cross-browser use case, not to replace a browser's built-in tab UI.

The comparison table below puts every option side by side.

Comparison Table: Vertical Tabs on Mac

Which Should You Pick?

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, Arc, Zen, Vivaldi, Brave, Helium, and Dia. Every browser on this page now has, or is getting, its own vertical tabs, and each list stops at that browser's edge. SupaSidebar keeps Live Tabs from 20+ browsers, saved links and Spaces in one sidebar next to whichever browser is in front.

Frequently Asked Questions

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By Kshetez Vinayak, founder of SupaSidebar. Last updated November 6, 2026.