Ardia vs Aside

We make Yab, the third column.facts checked Oct 9 ↓

Ardia is a free, open-source Chromium browser for the Mac that pairs Arc’s sidebar with Dia’s look: pinned tabs, profiles you swipe between, Split View, the Chrome Web Store and uBlock Origin built in.

Aside is an AI agent browser from a Y Combinator startup, on Chromium, for Mac and Windows. Its agent does multi-step work in the sites you are signed in to, on Aside’s own models or your ChatGPT or Claude plan.

The short answer

Pick Ardia

if you want Arc’s sidebar on Chromium, free and open source
if you want Chrome extensions and uBlock Origin built in
if you don’t want AI in your browser

Pick Aside

if you want an agent for multi-step work across your signed-in sites, on Mac or Windows
if you want a free plan with AI credits, or to bring your ChatGPT or Claude plan
if you want Claude Code or Codex to drive it over MCP or its command line

Or Yabours

if you miss Arc and want spaces, pins and folders kept, on a Mac
if you already pay for Claude or ChatGPT and want it to work in your signed-in tabs
if you want Claude Code, Codex or Cursor to drive a real browser over MCP

At a glance

Ardia and Aside, with Yab beside them for a Mac.

Ardia vs Aside
What	Ardia	Aside	Yab
Made by	Mantra (open-source project)	Aside Computer Inc. (YC Fall 2025)	Serafim Korablev
Status	Updated	Updated	Updated
Runs on	Mac	Mac and Windows	Mac
Phone app	None; Mac only	None yet; an iPhone app is in the works. Pro runs its agent from Slack or Telegram	Yab for iPhone (TestFlight) and Yab for Android, both in beta; they sync spaces, tabs, bookmarks, history and chats
Price	Free and open source	Free with 500 AI credits a month; Pro $20/month; Max $200/month; or your own ChatGPT or Claude plan	Free; its AI runs on your own Claude or ChatGPT plan
AI	No AI	An agent that works in pages, on its own AI or yours	An agent that works in pages, on your Claude or ChatGPT plan
Driven by outside agents	No	MCP and a command line	MCP and a command line
Engine	Chromium	Chromium	WebKit
Tabs down the side	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spaces	Yes	Yes	Yes
Split View	Yes	Yes	Yes
Extensions	Chrome Web Store	Chrome Web Store	Chrome Web Store
Ad blocker	Built in	Built in	Built in
Open source	Yes	No	No

Checked October 9, 2026 on each maker’s own pages, linked under Sources. Prices are per month, in US dollars.

Where they differ

What separates them, area by area. Where one plainly has more, it says who; where it comes down to taste, it says so.

AIAside leads

Only Aside has an agent that clicks, types and finishes tasks in your pages. Ardia has no AI of its own. Aside’s agent runs multi-step tasks in your signed-in sites, signs in from its own password vault without seeing the passwords, and asks before payments, posts and messages.

Agents like Claude Code and CodexAside leads

Ardia has no MCP server or command line for outside agents. Aside can be driven over MCP and a command line, through the aside command line, with aside mcp as its MCP server.

Tabs and windowseven

Both have tabs down the side, spaces, Split View, folders in the sidebar and tabs that sleep.

PriceAside leads

Ardia: Free and open source. Aside: Free with 500 AI credits a month; Pro $20/month; Max $200/month; or your own ChatGPT or Claude plan.

Where it runsAside leads

Ardia runs on Mac. Aside runs on Mac and Windows. On a Mac, Ardia needs macOS 14 or later and Aside needs macOS 15 or later. Ardia has no phone app: Mac only. Aside has no phone app yet: an iPhone app is in the works. Pro runs its agent from Slack or Telegram.

Engine and extensionsa matter of taste

Both are built on Chromium, as Chrome is, so sites work as they do in Chrome. Both take extensions from the Chrome Web Store.

PrivacyArdia leads

Ardia has an ad blocker built in and open code. Ardia syncs end to end encrypted through a folder in your own iCloud Drive, with no server of its maker in between; crash reports are opt-in. Aside has an ad blocker built in. Aside keeps task transcripts and files on your Mac; model providers get the prompts, page snapshots and screenshots a task needs, and analytics sharing is on by default.

What their pages don’t lead with

Real limits, from the makers’ own words and our own use.

Ardia

Mac only, Apple Silicon, macOS 14 or later
New: first public in 2026, from a small open-source team
No phone app
No AI of its own

Aside

The free plan has 500 AI credits a month; more is Pro at $20 or Max at $200
Mac (macOS 15 or later) and Windows only, no phone apps
Young: first released in February 2026, on Windows since September 2026
Agents may use your saved passwords unless you change the default

Yab, honestly

Mac only on the desktop: macOS 15.4 or later, no Windows; the iPhone and Android apps are in beta
New: first released in September 2026
Its AI needs a Claude or ChatGPT plan; ChatGPT’s free plan may work with low limits
WebKit by default, as in Safari; Chrome’s engine is a choice in beta (Nightly) for sites made only for Chrome
Closed source

What changed lately

October 27, 2026Ardia: 0.2.42 released, with a nightly channel beside it
September 21, 2026Aside: Ad blocking with default filter lists turned on during setup
September 14, 2026Aside: Windows version officially available (release 1.0.914.1)
February 25, 2026Aside: First Aside Browser release for macOS

Questions

Is Ardia free?

Yes. Free and open source.

Is Aside free?

Yes, with limits on its AI. Free with 500 AI credits a month; Pro $20/month; Max $200/month; or your own ChatGPT or Claude plan.

Which has an AI agent, Ardia or Aside?

Aside. Ardia has no AI of its own. Aside’s agent runs multi-step tasks in your signed-in sites, signs in from its own password vault without seeing the passwords, and asks before payments, posts and messages.

Which runs on Windows, Ardia or Aside?

Aside does. Ardia runs on Mac.

Do Ardia and Aside have phone apps?

Ardia has no phone app: Mac only. Aside has no phone app yet: an iPhone app is in the works. Pro runs its agent from Slack or Telegram.

Is there a third option on a Mac?

Yab, Yet Another Browser, is free for the Mac: tabs down the side with spaces, folders and Split View, as in Ardia; an agent in your signed-in tabs like Aside’s, on the Claude or ChatGPT plan you already pay for. Claude Code, Codex and any MCP client can drive it too. It runs on WebKit, the engine Safari uses, with Chrome’s engine as a choice in beta, and takes Chrome extensions. It is new, and its iPhone and Android apps are in beta.

More comparisons

Ardia vs Arc Ardia vs Vivaldi Ardia vs Zen Ardia vs Orion Ardia vs Chrome Ardia vs Safari Ardia vs Edge Ardia alternatives Yab vs Ardia Aside vs Dia Aside vs Comet Aside vs Atlas Aside vs Opera Neon Aside vs Chrome Aside vs Safari Aside vs Edge Aside alternatives Yab vs Aside

Sources. Read October 9, 2026. Something out of date? Write to hello@serafimlabs.io and we fix it.

Yab, Yet Another Browser.

Free for the Mac. Arc’s sidebar, your own Claude or ChatGPT as the agent, Chrome extensions on WebKit.

it’s freeMove from Aside Download