YabHelium vs Orion
Helium is a free, open-source Chromium browser by imput, still in beta, with ads blocked by default and Google’s AI and telemetry taken out, on Mac, Windows and Linux.
Orion is Kagi’s browser for Mac, iPhone and iPad, on WebKit, the engine Safari uses, that also runs many Chrome and Firefox extensions. It has no telemetry and blocks ads by default.
The short answer
- if you want Chrome’s extensions without Google’s AI or telemetry
- if you want ads blocked from the first launch
- if you use Linux too
- if you want Safari’s engine with Chrome and Firefox extensions, on Mac and iPhone
- if you want ads blocked and no telemetry from the start
- if you pay for Kagi Search
- 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
Helium and Orion, with Yab beside them for a Mac.
| What | Helium | Orion | Yab |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made by | imput | Kagi | Serafim Korablev |
| Status | Updated | Updated | Updated |
| Runs on | Mac, Windows and Linux | Mac and iPhone | Mac |
| Phone app | None; desktop only. An iOS build teased in Aug 2026 is being rethought | iPhone and iPad; syncs tabs, bookmarks and passwords with your Mac through iCloud | Not yet |
| Price | Free and open source | Free; Orion+ supporter plan $5/month, $50/year or $150 once | Free; its AI runs on your own Claude or ChatGPT plan |
| AI | No AI | Chat about pages, on its own AI service | 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 | WebKit | WebKit |
| Tabs down the side | A setting | A setting | Yes |
| Spaces | No | Yes | Yes |
| Split View | Yes | No | Yes |
| Extensions | Chrome Web Store | Chrome and Firefox stores | 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.
AIOrion leads
Orion has AI built in; Helium has less of it. Helium has no AI: Chromium’s Gemini features are taken out. Orion sums up pages and videos through Kagi’s Summarizer, with a paid Kagi plan; no chat and no agent.
Tabs and windowseven
Helium has tabs down the side as a setting, Split View, folders in the sidebar and tabs that sleep. Orion has tabs down the side as a setting, spaces, folders in the sidebar and tabs that sleep.
Priceeven
Helium: Free and open source. Orion: Free; Orion+ supporter plan $5/month, $50/year or $150 once.
Where it runsHelium leads
Helium runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. Orion runs on Mac and iPhone. On a Mac, Helium needs macOS 13 or later and Orion needs macOS 10.14 or later. Helium has no phone app: desktop only. An iOS build teased in Aug 2026 is being rethought. On the phone, Orion: iPhone and iPad; syncs tabs, bookmarks and passwords with your Mac through iCloud.
Engine and extensionsa matter of taste
Helium is built on Chromium, as Chrome is; Orion on WebKit, the engine Safari uses. Helium takes extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Orion from both Chrome’s and Firefox’s stores.
PrivacyHelium leads
Helium has an ad blocker built in and open code. Helium makes no requests on first launch and has no analytics; updates, filter lists and extensions go through its services only once you approve. Orion has an ad blocker built in. Orion has no telemetry, Kagi says; page summaries and translations go to Kagi’s servers.
What their pages don’t lead with
Real limits, from the makers’ own words and our own use.
Helium
- Still in beta
- No password manager or sync yet
- No Widevine, so some streaming services won’t play
- No phone app yet
Orion
- Apple only: the Windows and Linux versions stopped on October 2, 2026
- Not every extension works: support is partial
- No Split View of two tabs
- Closed source, and page summaries need a paid Kagi plan
Yab, honestly
- Mac only: macOS 15.4 or later, no Windows, iPhone or Android
- New: first released in September 2026
- Its AI needs a Claude or ChatGPT plan; ChatGPT’s free plan may work with low limits
- WebKit, as in Safari: a site tested only in Chrome can misbehave
- Closed source
What changed lately
- October 2, 2026Orion: Kagi ended Orion for Linux and Windows to focus on Mac and iOS
- June 23, 2026Orion: Orion 1.1 added per-tab containers and page translation
- March 13, 2026Helium: Vertical tabs left experimental status (0.10.3)
- February 15, 2026Helium: Vertical tabs layout added (0.9.1)
- November 25, 2025Orion: Orion 1.0 for Mac left beta
Questions
Is Helium free?
Yes. Free and open source.
Is Orion free?
The browser is; its AI isn’t. Free; Orion+ supporter plan $5/month, $50/year or $150 once.
Which has an AI agent, Helium or Orion?
Neither has an agent that does tasks in your pages. Helium has no AI: Chromium’s Gemini features are taken out. Orion sums up pages and videos through Kagi’s Summarizer, with a paid Kagi plan; no chat and no agent.
Which runs on Windows, Helium or Orion?
Helium does. Orion runs on Mac and iPhone.
Do Helium and Orion have phone apps?
Orion does. Helium has no phone app: desktop only. An iOS build teased in Aug 2026 is being rethought. On the phone, Orion: iPhone and iPad; syncs tabs, bookmarks and passwords with your Mac through iCloud.
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 Orion; 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, and takes Chrome extensions. It is Mac only, and new.
More comparisons
- Helium home page and FAQ
- Helium main repo (beta, GPL-3.0, ungoogled-chromium base, uBlock fork)
- Helium for macOS releases (arm64 and x86_64)
- Helium macOS update feed (minimum 13.0)
- Helium for Windows releases
- Helium for Linux releases
- Helium 0.9.1 release (vertical tabs)
- Helium 0.10.3 release (vertical tabs no longer experimental)
- Helium patch: Memory Saver on by default
- Helium patch: AI features disabled
- Helium patch: browser importers
- Helium patch: Zen importer
- Helium blog: transparency
- PiunikaWeb (Aug 18, 2026): developer teases an iOS build, says Helium targets all platforms
- Developer’s teaser on X (Aug 17, 2026)
- PiunikaWeb (Sep 11, 2026): developer says he dislikes the iOS build and may rethink mobile
- Developer’s follow-up on X
- Orion home page
- Kagi blog: Orion 1.0, 2025-11-25
- Kagi blog: An update on Orion for Linux and Windows, 2026-10-02
- Orion+ help page ($5/month, $50/year, $150 lifetime)
- Orion macOS release notes (1.1.3, 2026-09-28)
- Orion supported OS versions
- Orion update feed for macOS 10.14 (1.1.3, minimum 10.14.4)
- Orion Summarize Page
- Orion importing data
- Orion vertical tabs
- Orion tab groups
- Orion password management
- Orion ad and tracking blocking
- Orion respecting privacy (no telemetry)
- Orion Low Power Mode (suspends unused tabs)
- Orion FAQ (extensions, open source)
- Orion technical information (Web Extensions API support)
- Orion on the App Store (1.5.5)
- Orion feedback: split view request
- Kagi Help: Syncing Orion Data (tabs, bookmarks, reading list)
- Kagi Help: Troubleshooting syncing (iCloud Drive)
- Orion iOS/iPadOS release notes
- PiunikaWeb: Kagi says Orion for Android is ’not planned yet’ (2026-06-30)
- Yab Manual: Bringing in from another browser
- Yab Manual: Connecting Claude or ChatGPT
- Yab Manual: Extensions
- Yab Manual: Yab’s tools over MCP
- Yab Manual: Privacy
Yab, Yet Another Browser.
Free for the Mac. Arc’s sidebar, your own Claude or ChatGPT as the agent, Chrome extensions on WebKit.