Shift Browser vs Chromium

Shift is a tool that I've tried incredibly hard to like over the past 7+ years. The day I first found it, I was so stoked with it, until learning that it didn't have all of the Chromium extension support.

They've since made major strides on that front and have most extensions now supported, but it's beginning to feel a bit like a relic from the past, and pales in comparison to that of the more recent entrants into the space like Arc Browser and SigmaOS. In-fact, comparing Shift alongside Sidekick Browser and you'll be sure to confuse them with one another.

I just have a tough time recommending them at this point, they really just allow for your favorite apps to be pinned on the sidebar and easy account switching with some quick action features.

They'd like to focus on the productivity users, but we feel like you can get most of the positives of Shift in your existing browser by utilizing a tool like Workona or Toby.

If you're unwilling to install a new browser, stopping to use your beloved Chrome, Safari, or Firefox, well, you'd be hard-pressed to even give this browser a shot. We just don't feel like it innovates enough to actually take over your primary browser replacement, especially when looking at Shift vs Arc Browser for example.

Chromium is something you're likely using right now without even realizing it. Are you using Arc Browser, Chrome, Brave, or even Microsoft Edge right now? Okay, then you're using Chromium.

You know those extensions you have in the top-right corner? Yep, those are Chromium extensions (often referred to as "Chrome Extensions"). Little do people know, Google built an open-source foundation to the browser, for which most of the top browsers on the market use as their foundation.

I mean you're not exactly looking at traditional competition here, but Apple does use a competing standard called Webkit. So if you're using Safari on your computer, that's running on Webkit instead of Chromium.

The super interesting part here though is if you're using iOS, any browser you're using is actually built atop Webkit—even Google Chrome. Apple requires Webkit be used on iOS regardless.

Why exactly? Well, Google pays Apple some $20bn per year to be the default search engine in Safari, so holding onto Webkit on iOS and iPad is probably one of their leverage points:

“At-least we still own the foundation of the browser for our products!”
-Apple (probably) 🤷

This genuinely probably doesn't mean much to you, but you're probably using Chromium and you probably don't care.

Just know that it makes for switching between Chromium-based browsers far easier—from transferring bookmarks, to extensions, and everything inbetween.