We believe there are better options available in this category, read below to learn what this software does well, and what they could do better. ⤵
The future of the internet masked as a browser, built for productive teams.
Arc is a web browser made by the The Browser Company. And in-line with their name, they're actively maintaining Arc, while focusing their efforts on Dia Browser.
That said, Arc is what we use on the day-to-day (I'm writing this in Arc right now, and yes, I have access to both Dia and Comet). It's a productivity-focused browser built atop Chromium (so all your extensions still work if you're using Chrome).
If you've been feeling like Chrome and Safari haven't evolved to be more powerful when it comes to tab management, folder structure, and switching between different spaces (Google Profiles), then Arc was built exactly for you.
If you're someone that always opts for keyboard shortcuts, finding the quickest way to do things, separating personal and work, and just want more organization (e.g. you've tried many of those productivity extensions like Toby and Workona, but they just didn't make the cut, then my gosh, you'll love Arc.
If you're already using the best productivity tools like Motion and Superhuman, or love the customization capabilities of Notion, then Arc is the perfect addition to your stack.
If you're someone that couldn't care less about the browser you're using (erm... why are you even reading this?), and you don't like change, and have never been frustrated by Chrome or Safari, then you aren't likely to be blown away by Arc Browser.
Well, there's no more waiting list, so you can just give it a shot yourself to see if it sticks, whether you're on MacOS, Windows, iOS, or Android, so we'd say yes, Arc is worth it. That said, if you're won Windows, Arc doesn't have as much feature parity as MacOS, so while we highly recommend Arc on MacOS, we don't recommend it as much on Windows. Pay closer attention to when Comet or Dia make their way to Windows instead.
AI won’t exist as an app. Or a button. It’ll be an entirely new environment — built on top of a web browser.
Dia Browser is the latest project from The Browser Company (the same team behind Arc Browser), and while it’s an interesting experiment, it feels more like a stripped-down Chrome with an AI sidekick than an actual serious browser contender.
Dia is for those who are super excited about agentic browsers (think of a baked-in AI chat sidebar, that can co-pilot the browser with you at times).
If you're someone that likes the idea of being able to have pre-built prompts that can be ran that interact with and take into consideration the content on the page you're visiting, then you'll love their "Skills" functionality (this will either immediately click for you as to what's possible, or not):
Sorta. The main competition going on right now is between Perplexity's Comet vs Dia. And while I see some promise behind Dia, I am definitely finding myself only using it for some personal searching. Like going in the depths on researching to buy something. It hasn't been able to replace Arc Browser as my day-to-day work and productivity-focused browser.
It's also incredibly difficult for me to break the habit (or even want to) use ChatGPT less (I use the desktop app, triggering it with CTRL + spacebar), and it seems the team really wants you to embrace their AI chatbot in-place of ChatGPT to get the full benefits (of getting your browser to learn and understand you.
With all of that, if you’re someone who just wants a clean browser with built-in AI to summarize articles or answer questions, speak to your open tabs and YouTube videos to help with research, then sure, Dia might be worth giving a shot. But if you actually care about productivity, speed, and having real control over your setup, Arc still feels lightyears ahead (yes, even in maintenance mode). It's clear that Dia was built for a totally different audience (e.g. my parents or those who haven't taken to embracing AI just yet, then absolutely yes, Dia feels like a solid gateway into this).