Ardia vs Zen

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.

Zen is a free, open-source browser built on Firefox that brings Arc’s layout, tabs down the side with spaces, folders and Split View, to Mac, Windows and Linux.

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 Zen

if you want Arc’s layout, free and open source
if you prefer Firefox’s engine and its add-ons
if you want no AI in your browser at all

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 Zen, with Yab beside them for a Mac.

Ardia vs Zen
What	Ardia	Zen Browser	Yab
Made by	Mantra (open-source project)	Zen Browser team (open-source community project)	Serafim Korablev
Status	Updated	Updated	Updated
Runs on	Mac	Mac, Windows and Linux	Mac
Phone app	None; Mac only	None; Zen says it has no plans for a mobile version	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 and open source	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	Gecko	WebKit
Tabs down the side	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spaces	Yes	Yes	Yes
Split View	Yes	Yes	Yes
Extensions	Chrome Web Store	Firefox add-ons	Chrome Web Store
Ad blocker	Built in	No	Built in
Open source	Yes	Yes	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. Zen has no AI: Firefox’s AI features are switched off by default.

Tabs and windowseven

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

Priceeven

The same for both: free and open source.

Where it runsZen leads

Ardia runs on Mac. Zen runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. On a Mac, Ardia needs macOS 14 or later and Zen needs macOS 10.15 or later. Ardia has no phone app: Mac only. Zen has no phone app: Zen says it has no plans for a mobile version.

Engine and extensionsa matter of taste

Ardia is built on Chromium, as Chrome is; Zen on Gecko, Firefox’s engine. Ardia takes extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Zen from Firefox’s add-ons.

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. Zen has open code. Zen sends no telemetry or crash reports, by its privacy policy; optional sync keeps encrypted data on Mozilla’s servers.

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

Zen Browser

Releases are still labeled beta
No phone app, and none planned
Firefox add-ons only, not the Chrome Web Store
No ad blocker of its own beyond Firefox’s tracking protection

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 5, 2026Zen: Spaces, folders and tabs sync between devices with a Mozilla account (1.22b)
February 28, 2026Zen: Live folders for GitHub issues, pull requests and RSS (1.19b)
August 27, 2025Zen: Tab folders added (1.15b)

Questions

Is Ardia free?

Yes. Free and open source.

Is Zen Browser free?

Yes. Free and open source.

Which has an AI agent, Ardia or Zen?

Neither has an agent that does tasks in your pages. Ardia has no AI of its own. Zen has no AI: Firefox’s AI features are switched off by default.

Which runs on Windows, Ardia or Zen?

Zen does. Ardia runs on Mac.

Do Ardia and Zen have phone apps?

Ardia has no phone app: Mac only. Zen has no phone app: Zen says it has no plans for a mobile version.

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 Vivaldi Ardia vs Orion Ardia vs SigmaOS Ardia vs Chrome Ardia vs Safari Ardia vs Edge Ardia alternatives Yab vs Ardia Zen vs Arc Zen vs Vivaldi Orion vs Zen SigmaOS vs Zen Zen vs Chrome Zen vs Safari Zen vs Edge Zen alternatives Yab vs Zen

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 freeDownload