Ardia vs Vivaldi

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.

Vivaldi is a Chromium browser with a setting for nearly everything, mail, calendar and feeds built in, a free Proton VPN and no AI by design, on every desktop and phone.

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 Vivaldi

if you want mail, calendar, feeds, notes and a VPN in the browser
if you want to customize nearly everything, and no AI
if you need one browser on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android

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

At a glance

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

Ardia vs Vivaldi
What	Ardia	Vivaldi	Yab
Made by	Mantra (open-source project)	Vivaldi Technologies	Serafim Korablev
Status	Updated	Updated	Updated
Runs on	Mac	Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android	Mac
Phone app	None; Mac only	iPhone, iPad and Android; syncs tabs, bookmarks, passwords, history and notes	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; its Proton VPN is free with a Vivaldi account	Free; its AI runs on your own Claude or ChatGPT plan
AI	No AI	No AI	An agent that works in pages, on your Claude or ChatGPT plan
Driven by outside agents	No	No	MCP and a command line
Engine	Chromium	Chromium	WebKit
Tabs down the side	Yes	A setting	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.

AIeven

Neither has AI built in. Ardia has no AI of its own. Vivaldi has no AI chat, summaries or agents, by choice.

Tabs and windowsArdia leads

Ardia has tabs down the side, spaces, Split View, folders in the sidebar and tabs that sleep. Vivaldi has tabs down the side as a setting, spaces, Split View, folders in the sidebar and tabs that sleep.

Priceeven

Ardia: Free and open source. Vivaldi: Free; its Proton VPN is free with a Vivaldi account.

Where it runsVivaldi leads

Ardia runs on Mac. Vivaldi runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android. On a Mac, Ardia needs macOS 14 or later and Vivaldi needs macOS 13 or later. Ardia has no phone app: Mac only. On the phone, Vivaldi: iPhone, iPad and Android; syncs tabs, bookmarks, passwords, history and notes.

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.

Privacyeven

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. Vivaldi has an ad blocker built in and a VPN. Vivaldi sends a daily ping with a unique ID, version and rough location to count users; crash logs only if you opt in.

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

Vivaldi

No AI assistant or agent, by design
Tabs down the side are a setting, not the default
Its interface code isn’t open source
Sends a daily usage ping with a unique ID

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
May 21, 2026Vivaldi: Vivaldi 8.0 redesigned the interface
January 29, 2026Vivaldi: Vivaldi 7.8 restated its no-AI stance
March 27, 2025Vivaldi: Proton VPN built into Vivaldi on desktop

Questions

Is Ardia free?

Yes. Free and open source.

Is Vivaldi free?

Yes. Free; its Proton VPN is free with a Vivaldi account.

Which has an AI agent, Ardia or Vivaldi?

Neither has an agent that does tasks in your pages. Ardia has no AI of its own. Vivaldi has no AI chat, summaries or agents, by choice.

Which runs on Windows, Ardia or Vivaldi?

Vivaldi does. Ardia runs on Mac.

Do Ardia and Vivaldi have phone apps?

Vivaldi does. Ardia has no phone app: Mac only. On the phone, Vivaldi: iPhone, iPad and Android; syncs tabs, bookmarks, passwords, history and notes.

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 that works in your signed-in tabs, 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 Zen Ardia vs Orion Ardia vs SigmaOS Ardia vs Chrome Ardia vs Safari Ardia vs Edge Ardia alternatives Yab vs Ardia Vivaldi vs Arc Zen vs Vivaldi Orion vs Vivaldi SigmaOS vs Vivaldi Vivaldi vs Chrome Vivaldi vs Safari Vivaldi vs Edge Vivaldi alternatives Yab vs Vivaldi

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 Vivaldi Download