# Dia browser

14 Hacker News commenters recommended Dia browser and 32 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People like its polished, well-designed interface and its return of many Arc features, and the built-in AI can be ignored. The main caveat is the paid plan and the AI features pushed in the browser.

## Why people recommend it

- Well-designed, nice-to-use interface (3 comments): "Despite wanting to hate it, I like the browser a lot. You can turn off the shit AI features, and it's a well designed and thoughtful UX." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50198096)) "some browsers (Arc, Dia) are so gorgeous you don't want to work with anything else" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50074624)) "it's very nice to use. Sadly, it still doesn't have all of Arc's features" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50198406))
- Built-in AI can be ignored (3 comments): "Despite wanting to hate it, I like the browser a lot. You can turn off the shit AI features, and it's a well designed and thoughtful UX." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50198096)) "no one's using their AI, something Arc makes totally optional and invisible" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50210320)) "You can just turn off / ignore the AI crap and it's great" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50204113))
- Brings many Arc features (2 comments): "they have added most of the Arc features into Dia now - the ones I still miss are Peek, Air Traffic Control, and Nested Folders" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50199433)) "this got better after the recent inclusion of Spaces similar to Arc" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49286921))

## What people warn about

- Built-in AI intrusive and distracting (3 comments): "I never use the built-in AI in Dia and get annoyed when a query that I wanted to go to a search engine gets answered by the assistant instead." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50202880)) "it feels half baked, and the AI Chat button is an annoyingly permanent ads" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50199932)) "Dia is focused more on AI tools, and seems to be more distracting for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50201597))
- Still missing some Arc features (2 comments): "they have added most of the Arc features into Dia now - the ones I still miss are Peek, Air Traffic Control, and Nested Folders" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50199433)) "it's very nice to use. Sadly, it still doesn't have all of Arc's features" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50198406))
- Distrust of maker after Arc (3 comments): "You're OK returning to the vendor that fucked you over with their last product and trusting that they won't do it again with their new product?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50200684)) "I don't understand in what world I would migrate to a browser made by the people who just killed their browser" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50198480)) "Then the whole Dia thing… boy am I glad I didn't invest my time in that." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46052858))
- Pushes users toward paid plan (2 comments): "Dia has a pretty hefty paid plan last time I checked, and so you will be using a browser constantly pushing you from free towards paid." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50199182)) "I don’t want to be pushed towards a $100 per month plan where the «key feature» is an AI morning brief." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50199291))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Firefox for Android](https://hackerapproved.com/p/firefox-for-android.md): 76 recommend
- [Opera browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/opera-browser.md): 70 recommend
- [NetSurf](https://hackerapproved.com/p/netsurf.md): 17 recommend
- [Floorp Browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/floorp.md): 13 recommend
- [Konqueror](https://hackerapproved.com/p/konqueror.md): 12 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Dia browser", https://hackerapproved.com/p/dia-browser/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).