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).
The Browser Company was acquired by Atlassian for $610M, where they will continue building both browsers (focusing on Dia) but with more financial backing to hire more. There were mentions of a potential new plan for Arc Browser in the coming months, we believe that Atlassian may see a path to monetize it for the B2B world. Although typically acquisitions by the likes of Atlassian have led to stagnation (e.g. Loom). We're cautiously optimistic about this one though since Arc Browser was already in some form of maintenance mode while the team focused on Dia.
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.
The new home for your internet on MacOS—One window. Many workspaces. All your tabs.
SigmaOS is a super interesting primary browser contender in the space. In the myriad of productivity-focused browsers out there, we believe that Arc vs SigmaOS are the two leaders in the space.
SigmaOS tried to re-think how a browser layout should be, and build in layers of productivity along the way (not too dissimilar to that of Arc).
The thing is, Sigma has quite minimal funding, and in the browser space, you're competing with companies that have billions of dollars to throw at improving the browser (Google Chrome, Edge, Safari), so when comparing it to those, it's tough to see how they'll manage to compete.
That said, even just comparing SigmaOS to that of Arc, Arc has raised over $100M to take on this incredibly competitive space, whereas SigmaOS is trying to fight having raised likely less than $2M. It's also tough to understand if people are actually willing to pay for a browser, and at $20/mo on the paid tiers for SigmaOS, it just feels like Arc is the more likely winner here.
SigmaOS does make some pretty different opinionated design decisions though, it's worth a shot checking out if you want to try something fresh and new, though not sure we'd bet on it ultimately taking up any meaningful browser marketshare.