# Zen Browser

141 Hacker News commenters recommended Zen Browser and 35 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 1 years (15 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** A Firefox-based, open-source browser with Arc-style vertical tabs, workspaces and split view, popular with former Arc users; critics report frequent bugs and heavy memory use.

## Why people recommend it

- Arc replacement on Firefox (6 comments): "It's picked up all the most important parts of Arc's design while leaving behind the bits that were questionable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50201108)) "it's pretty sleek and borrows a lot of concepts from Arc, so it would be the most obvious replacement" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50199452)) "It's basically Arc, but based on Firefox, open source and, more importantly, actively maintained." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49884271))
- Clean UI and tab approach (6 comments): "Love Zen's approach to tabs. I just wish that folders didnt have to live in the pinned area and could be down with all my junk tabs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46531516)) "Big fan of the clean UI and vertical tabs. Super stable, no issues. Not in love with their tab group implementation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48558606)) "Zen Browser fixed a lot of the Firefox UI painpoints while keeping what I like about it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46295731))
- Open source, non-Chromium alternative (5 comments): "Zen gave new attraction to FF. I am all for any opportunity to disrupt the Chrome monopoly we currently have." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49585147)) "why not put that effort into a browser that actually has a chance to tilt the scales a bit, like Zen?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49942828)) "Zen browser is open source. You can fork it to add the feature you're missing from Arc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46262949))
- Good ad blocking and privacy (4 comments): "It's based on Firefox but has a modern UI/UX, it's optimised for speed, has better privacy defaults, and no AI crap." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50294853)) "It's slow and heavy but it blocks ads and trackers a bit better than Chromium based browsers, or Safari." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48651658)) "It is really customizable and with Ublock origin installed, It becomes one of the best browsers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48225376))

## What people warn about

- Bugs and breakages (4 comments): "Zen is also filled with bugs, but at least I don't want to throw my computer out the window because of it being slow" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46049862)) "It constantly breaks and often stays broken in small but fundamentally important ways" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47589756)) "Zen turned to shit for me in the last month. So many stupid bugs started happening." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50198316))
- Slow and memory hungry (2 comments): "Zen is still a memory hog. See numerous threads on Reddit and issues on Github about excessive RAM usage." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49318635)) "It's slow and heavy but it blocks ads and trackers a bit better than Chromium based browsers, or Safari." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48651658))
- Odd or unfamiliar UI choices (3 comments): "I do like Zen, but I wouldn't mind having all the features in Firefox (and imho some of the UI lately in Zen is... weird)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50198700)) "every time I start using it, it just feels... I don't know... foreign? Too new for comfort?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48557033)) "felt too much like it wanted to be Arc but ended up a bit frankenstein-y in the process" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46309290))
- Tab group and folder quirks (2 comments): "Love Zen's approach to tabs. I just wish that folders didnt have to live in the pinned area and could be down with all my junk tabs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46531516)) "Big fan of the clean UI and vertical tabs. Super stable, no issues. Not in love with their tab group implementation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48558606))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Google Chrome](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-chrome.md): 503 recommend
- [Vivaldi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vivaldi-browser.md): 134 recommend
- [Microsoft Edge](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-edge.md): 102 recommend
- [qutebrowser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qutebrowser.md): 11 recommend
- [Perplexity Comet](https://hackerapproved.com/p/comet.md): 9 recommend

## Cite as

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