YabOrion vs Safari
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.
Safari is Apple’s browser for Mac, iPhone and iPad, on WebKit, with Apple Intelligence for summaries and tab topics. Safari 27 also lets outside agents like Claude Code drive it over MCP.
Both run on WebKit, the engine Apple makes. Orion adds Chrome and Firefox extensions, an ad blocker and tabs down the side as a setting, and like Safari stays on Apple devices.
The short answer
- 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 use a Mac and an iPhone and want your tabs and passwords on both
- if you want AI that runs on your Mac or on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute
- if you build sites and want Claude Code or Codex to test them in WebKit
- 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
Orion and Safari, with Yab beside them for a Mac.
| What | Orion | Safari | Yab |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made by | Kagi | Apple | Serafim Korablev |
| Status | Updated | Updated | Updated |
| Runs on | Mac and iPhone | Mac and iPhone | Mac |
| Phone app | iPhone and iPad; syncs tabs, bookmarks and passwords with your Mac through iCloud | Built into iPhone and iPad; syncs tabs, bookmarks, history and passwords via iCloud | Not yet |
| Price | Free; Orion+ supporter plan $5/month, $50/year or $150 once | Free with macOS; Apple Intelligence is free on Macs with M1 or later | Free; its AI runs on your own Claude or ChatGPT plan |
| AI | Chat about pages, on its own AI service | 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 | MCP | MCP and a command line |
| Engine | WebKit | WebKit | WebKit |
| Tabs down the side | A setting | No | Yes |
| Spaces | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Split View | No | No | Yes |
| Extensions | Chrome and Firefox stores | Safari’s, from the App Store | Chrome Web Store |
| Ad blocker | Built in | No | Built in |
| Open source | No | 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.
AIa matter of taste
Both have AI to ask about pages, and neither does the clicking for you. Orion sums up pages and videos through Kagi’s Summarizer, with a paid Kagi plan; no chat and no agent. Apple Intelligence sums up pages, sorts tabs into topics and watches a page for price drops, and the Passwords app can change weak passwords for you; no agent that works through sites.
Agents like Claude Code and CodexSafari leads
Orion has no MCP server or command line for outside agents. Safari can be driven over MCP, through safaridriver --mcp in Safari 27, once you allow remote automation and outside agents.
Tabs and windowsOrion leads
Orion has tabs down the side as a setting, spaces, folders in the sidebar and tabs that sleep. Safari has spaces.
PriceSafari leads
Orion: Free; Orion+ supporter plan $5/month, $50/year or $150 once. Safari: Free with macOS; Apple Intelligence is free on Macs with M1 or later.
Where it runseven
Both run on Mac and iPhone. On a Mac, Orion needs macOS 10.14 or later and Safari needs macOS 15 or later. On the phone, Orion: iPhone and iPad; syncs tabs, bookmarks and passwords with your Mac through iCloud. On the phone, Safari: built into iPhone and iPad; syncs tabs, bookmarks, history and passwords via iCloud.
Engine and extensionsa matter of taste
Both are built on WebKit, the engine Safari uses. Orion takes extensions from both Chrome’s and Firefox’s stores, Safari from the App Store, as Safari extensions.
PrivacyOrion leads
Orion has an ad blocker built in. Orion has no telemetry, Kagi says; page summaries and translations go to Kagi’s servers. Safari has no ad blocker of its own. Apple Intelligence runs on the Mac or on Private Cloud Compute, which Apple says doesn’t store what you ask or make it accessible to Apple.
What their pages don’t lead with
Real limits, from the makers’ own words and our own use.
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
Safari
- Apple devices only
- Tabs only across the top, and no Split View of two tabs
- Extensions only from the App Store, in Safari’s format
- Its AI needs a Mac with M1 or later and macOS 27
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
- September 17, 2026Safari: Apple documented Safari 27’s MCP server for outside AI agents
- September 14, 2026Safari: Safari 27 shipped with AI tab topics, Notify Me and Describe an Extension
- June 23, 2026Orion: Orion 1.1 added per-tab containers and page translation
- November 25, 2025Orion: Orion 1.0 for Mac left beta
Questions
Is Orion free?
The browser is; its AI isn’t. Free; Orion+ supporter plan $5/month, $50/year or $150 once.
Is Safari free?
Yes. Free with macOS; Apple Intelligence is free on Macs with M1 or later.
Which has an AI agent, Orion or Safari?
Neither has an agent that does tasks in your pages. Orion sums up pages and videos through Kagi’s Summarizer, with a paid Kagi plan; no chat and no agent. Apple Intelligence sums up pages, sorts tabs into topics and watches a page for price drops, and the Passwords app can change weak passwords for you; no agent that works through sites.
Which runs on Windows, Orion or Safari?
Neither. Orion runs on Mac and iPhone; Safari on Mac and iPhone.
Do Orion and Safari have phone apps?
Both do. On the phone, Orion: iPhone and iPad; syncs tabs, bookmarks and passwords with your Mac through iCloud. On the phone, Safari: built into iPhone and iPad; syncs tabs, bookmarks, history and passwords via iCloud.
Can I move from Safari to Orion?
Yes: Orion’s own help says it brings in from Safari.
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
- 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)
- Apple Support: what’s new in macOS 27 Golden Gate
- Apple Newsroom: software updates available (2026-09-14)
- Apple Newsroom: Apple Intelligence at WWDC26 (requirements, Passwords)
- WebKit: features for Safari 27.0 (Safari MCP server)
- Apple Support: security content of Safari 27 (release date, macOS versions)
- Safari User Guide: Tabs settings (tab layout, organize tabs)
- Safari User Guide: group tabs (Tab Groups, topics)
- Safari User Guide: get extensions
- Safari User Guide: import from Chrome or Firefox
- Mac User Guide: Apple Intelligence summaries in Safari
- Apple Support: Apple Intelligence and privacy on iPhone (Private Cloud Compute)
- iCloud User Guide: Safari data in iCloud
- Apple Support: Set up iCloud Keychain
- 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.