I’m young enough that throughout my adult life, I’ve only really used Chrome as my default browser. It dominated the browser landscape through the 2010s, until people began to sour on it for its insatiable appetite for RAM – and like most people, I stuck with it.
But things have changed. I’ve been using Arc since before it was launched, so I’ve seen it grow from a promise to a real product. In that time, I’ve tried to go back to Chrome, and I’ve also tried everything from Microsoft Edge with Copilot, SigmaOS, Sidekick, and ultimately settled on Arc. Here is why you might want to do so too.
Content
- Chrome’s time has come and gone
- The Arc experience
- Arc AI just saved you a click
- A browser that browses for you?
- Other browsers to consider
Chrome’s time has come and gone
Chrome is a bit long in the tooth, having first launched in 2008. It was fast, powerful, and offered a streamlined experience built on the foundation of Google’s search services, unlike any other browser at the time.
And of course, don’t forget Chrome extensions. Many users’ work lives are genuinely made easier thanks to nifty little extension utilities. But over the years, new features and redesigns made Chrome bulkier than ever. This led to more RAM usage and battery usage, as well as performance issues – all of which added up to a decline in user experience.
However, if you’re switching to one of the next-gen browsers, you’re good: most of them work on the same Chromium engine that powers Chrome. In my experience, Arc handles Chrome extensions really well, so you won’t lose out on any of the custom functionality that you’ve added to your browser.
The Arc experience
The reason I’ve stuck to Arc since September 2022, is because of how it ties together every novel feature it brings to the browser game.
Firstly, it looks genuinely good. The design is thoughtful, sharp, and rounded at the same time. It looks like its own product, with its own coherent design language.
Next, the way you interact with it is especially intuitive. You start by using a keyboard shortcut to bring up the Command Palette. From here, you can fire up any and every function in Arc: open web pages, search your history, look up bookmarks, launch extensions, and more.
The way Arc handles tabs was enough to sell me on the whole thing. It has a vertical tab bar design (something old-school Firefox fans might remember), that shows your pinned tabs on top, along with ephemeral collections called Spaces, in a sidebar.
Spaces are easy to swipe between, and each comes with its name, theme, and Emoji icon. Opening, tracking, and moving tabs between Spaces is as easy as dragging and dropping them.
The tabs in Spaces disappear automatically by default: any tab that hasn’t been used for 12 hours simply vanishes, unless it’s pinned to the top of the Space. This means when you wake up in the morning, and it’s a new day, none of the baggage from yesterday makes it into your browser.
This might be a tab hoarder’s nightmare, and if that’s you, you can extend Spaces’ tab cleanup schedule to 30 days.
There are other clever features that make Arc great at handling tabs. You can drag a tab onto another to quickly view them side by side.
Read more: if you are using Edge, learn how to split screens in Edge for multitasking
Plus, when you click a link from a different app, it will open in a little preview window in Arc that you can then open in any Space you want. I typically peek at what the fuss is about, and simply close the preview window then and there, saving me time and avoiding tab clutter.
Combine all this, and you have a browser that helps you work better. My productivity has climbed in the last year, and I can credit Arc in large part for that. The ease that it brings to your browsing habit, where you feel like you’re working with the web instead of fighting it, is hard to put a price on.
Sure, many of Arc’s handy features, like automatically clearing tabs and freezing tabs in the background, can be added to Chrome using third-party extensions. However, they lack the finesse that Arc’s in-built functions offer. On top of that, there’s the overall experience of using all of the browser’s features in tandem that simply can’t be replicated by adding extensions to Chrome.
Arc is Chrome underneath, though one that’s tuned so that it doesn’t end up causing your fans to spin frantically every so often. In my experience, Arc does a good enough job managing its RAM and power usage that I don’t see my laptop slowing to a crawl or running out of battery in a jiffy.
Arc AI just saved you a click
Arc was late to the party, but it has implemented AI in quite an interesting manner. You’ll find a bunch of little sprinkles of AI, if you will, across the browser.
While it can automatically rename pinned tabs, and give recognizable names to downloaded files, my favorite is the AI search feature that is integrated in the site search. If you use Command + F and then enter a search query, Arc will give you an answer like ChatGPT would, while restricting itself to referring to the information on the current page. As with most generative AI products, it’s not perfectly free of hallucinations, but it works well for the most part.
5-second Previews are another AI feature I use all the time. You hover over a link for a couple of seconds, and Arc will save you a click and give you a summary of the page right there.
A new addition that I’m trying to integrate into my workflow is the Instant Links feature. Hit Shift + Enter in the Command Palette, and Arc uses AI to figure out what you want and directly opens it for you. It’s doing more than just picking the first Google result; if it can’t find something it’s certain of, it will revert to Google (or your default search engine).
A browser that browses for you?
On the iPhone, there’s an Arc Search app that has a unique feature called Browse For Me, which is going to roll out in a bigger way on desktop soon.
When you search for something using Browse for Me, Arc will go through the top six results, compile the best information, and present it to you in the form of a concise, easy-to-read web page (of course, with source links).
The developers behind Arc also plan to blend in search results, AI, and a browser, into one experience they’re calling Explore. Say you search for a recipe for making soup: Arc will give you various options to choose from, an ingredient list, a recipe, and a YouTube video to follow along as you cook.
Other browsers to consider
While I have waxed poetic about Arc above, I realize it’s not for everyone. When I was on the crusade to move over to a new browser, I tried many established and new competitors to understand what else was out there. Here’s what you can expect:
1. Microsoft Edge with Copilot
I jumped between Microsoft Edge and Chrome for the longest time. I actually liked using Edge, until Microsoft started to stuff it with Microsoft Bing, and later on, its Copilot AI features. As a browser, Edge is still fast, and lightweight compared to Chrome, but is now bloated with features that I don’t want.
I rarely use AI chat assistants, so the Copilot sidebar and the big Copilot button are more of a distraction than a useful feature. If you enjoy using AI tools and are happy with an otherwise basic Chromium-powered browser, Edge is a good choice.
2. Sidekick
In all my browser testing, Sidekick comes closest to Arc in terms of user experience. It has a vertical sidebar, spaces, and nested tabs. It, too, has a great split-screen view and supports Chrome extensions all while being faster than Chrome. Ultimately, it lacks the finesse that makes Arc stand out. However, if you’re on Windows, and want something like Arc right now, try Sidekick.
3. SigmaOS
SigmaOS is another macOS-only browser that’s designed for personal work and teamwork. You can create and share multiple workspaces, and organize tabs intuitively. SigmaOS now has its own AI companion too, so it should prove helpful with work and research.
4. Opera
Opera is a great browser for maximalists who like to customize every single part of the experience. It has every browser feature you can imagine, including a free built-in VPN, a customizable start page, tab groups, and sidebar apps. Opera can also run Chrome extensions, and it has its own AI companion to boot.
Too bad it sometimes feels overwhelming, especially compared to the more thoughtfully designed Arc.
For parents, check out these kid-friendly web browsers you can trust.
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Khamosh Pathak
Khamosh Pathak is a freelance technology writer. He’s always trying out new apps, tools and services. He is platform agnostic. You’ll find an iPhone 5 and a OnePlus One on him at (almost) all times.
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