You've got eleven tabs open for a client, six for a side project, and a personal space with your banking and a recipe you keep meaning to cook. In Arc, a swipe or Control-2 sorts all of that out. In most other browsers, you'd be dragging tabs between windows and hoping.
This guide answers the question browser with spaces like Arc directly: which browsers have them in 2026, how close each one gets, and where each falls short. I'll commit to a recommendation, and I'll be straight about the trade-offs.
The short answer: Cra is the closest browser with spaces like Arc
If you're on a Mac and want Arc's spaces as they were, use Cra. It has spaces, pinned tabs, Today, a colour and emoji for each space, Favorites that differ per space, and Control-1 to 9 to jump between them. It imports your existing Arc setup from disk. Done.
Every other browser on this list has something called workspaces or profiles. But a workspace that's a bolt-on feature behaves differently from a sidebar built around spaces, and you feel it the moment you switch.
The timing matters. Arc stopped getting new features in May 2025, and The Browser Company announced on 22 October 2026 that Arc will be sunset on 22 December 2026. We wrote up the details in Is Arc Browser Shutting Down? Yes, on 22 December 2026.
What makes Arc's spaces special (so you know what to look for)
Arc's spaces work because they're more than tab groups. Before comparing anything, it helps to list what you'd actually be replacing.
- Separate tab sets: each space holds its own pinned tabs and its own Today tabs, so work never bleeds into personal.
- Visual identity: a colour and an emoji per space, which sounds trivial until you stop mis-clicking.
- Per-space Favorites: the row at the top changes when the space changes.
- Keyboard switching: Control-1 to 9, no mouse.
- Auto-archive: Today tabs tidy themselves, so the sidebar doesn't become a landfill.
- Optional profile per space: separate logins when you need them, like two Google accounts.
Use that as a checklist. Most browsers cover the first item and stumble on the third and sixth. Per-space Favorites and a profile tied to a space are the two things I'd test first, because they're the hardest to fake with plain tab groups.
Browsers with Arc-style spaces, compared
Here's the quick view before the detail. "Closeness" is my own judgement against the list above.
| Browser | Platforms | Cost | Spaces equivalent | How close to Arc |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cra | macOS (Apple silicon) | Free, MIT | Spaces | Closest |
| Dia | macOS, Windows | Free | Profiles | Loose |
| Zen | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free | Workspaces | Fairly close |
| Vivaldi | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free | Workspaces | Partial |
| Floorp | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free | Workspaces | Partial |
| SigmaOS | macOS | Free tier, paid plans | Workspaces | Partial |
| Wavebox | Windows, macOS, Linux | Paid Pro | Workspaces | Different idea |
Cra: a feature-by-feature check against Arc
Cra is a native macOS app on Chromium, so Chrome extensions from the Chrome Web Store work, and sites render the way they did in Arc. Rather than ask you to trust a slogan, here's the comparison you can verify yourself.
| Arc feature | In Cra |
|---|---|
| Spaces with a colour and emoji each | Yes, Control-1 to 9 switches |
| Pinned tabs and Today | Yes |
| Favorites, different per space | Yes |
| Command bar (Command-T) | Yes: tabs, archive, history and actions |
| Auto-archive | Yes, after 12 hours to 30 days |
| Library (Shift-Command-L) | Yes: downloads and archived tabs |
| Tab switcher (Control-Tab) | Yes |
| Little Arc | Yes, as Little Windows (Option-Command-N) |
| Split View | Yes, up to four panes |
| Air Traffic Control | Yes |
| Profile per space | Yes |
| Easels, Boosts, Peek, Notes | Not yet |
| Arc Max AI | No, and there won't be |
That's the whole picture, gaps included. Beyond the table, Cra has Picture in Picture, the Site Control Center, and Live Folders for GitHub pull requests and reviews. Developers get Developer Mode with Chrome DevTools.
On shortcuts: Cra uses Arc's default keyboard shortcuts, so the ones above (Command-T, Control-Tab, Control-1 to 9, Shift-Command-L, Option-Command-N) land where your fingers expect. Where it can break is anything you customised in Arc. I'd assume custom bindings don't come across, so rebind those in Settings after you import.
Now the honest bit. It's young (version 0.1.x), it runs only on Apple silicon Macs with macOS 14 Sonoma or later, and if you lived in Boosts, you'll feel that gap. If you live in the sidebar, you won't.
Dia: the official successor, but a different animal
The Browser Company points Arc users to Dia, and according to Arc's Help Center it imports Spaces, tabs, bookmarks, passwords and extensions. But in Dia, spaces become Profiles. That's a different mental model. Profiles can keep data separate or share logins, history and bookmarks, which is flexible, but it isn't the same as flicking between coloured sidebars.
Dia keeps a sidebar, pinned tabs, folders and Split View. It's also AI-first, and that's its whole pitch. Whether that's a plus depends on how much of your day you'd hand to an assistant. For the person who only wanted Arc to stop changing, it's a bigger leap than the word "successor" suggests.
Zen: the best cross-platform pick
Zen is free, open source, and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. It's Firefox-based, with workspaces and vertical tabs. That combination is why it gets recommended so often: the layout feels familiar to an Arc user within a minute, and it's the only entry here that doesn't care what operating system you own. Windows or Linux? Start with Zen, because Cra can't help you there.
The trade-offs are real, though. It's Firefox under the hood, so Chrome extensions don't install the way they do in a Chromium browser, and the workspace behaviour isn't a clone of Arc's. Fine for plenty of people. Frustrating if your muscle memory is strong.
Vivaldi: powerful, but you'll configure it for a weekend
Vivaldi is free, Chromium-based, and has workspaces, tab stacks and tab tiling. It can do almost anything. That's both the sell and the problem. Out of the box it looks nothing like Arc, and getting to "Arc-ish" means flipping a lot of settings. Workspaces here are a way to group tabs, not a full sidebar identity with per-space Favorites.
Tinkerers will love it. Everyone else will resent the first Saturday.
Floorp: workspaces and split view on Firefox
Floorp is a free Firefox-based browser with workspaces and split view. It's an interesting project, and if you want to stay in the Firefox family with more layout control, it's worth a look. It's less polished as an Arc stand-in, though. You'll be adapting to it rather than it adapting to you.
SigmaOS and Wavebox: paid, and each solves a slightly different problem
SigmaOS has a free tier and paid plans listed at $20 and $30 per month, per Meikuio. Wavebox's Pro plan is listed at $8.33 per month on annual billing. Both have workspaces. Both are aimed at people juggling lots of accounts and apps, so they lean toward productivity-suite territory rather than a relaxed sidebar browser.
Paying $20 a month for something Arc gave away is a hard sell for most people. Wavebox's price is easier to justify, but only if running a dozen client accounts side by side is genuinely your job.
Pick a replacement by the feature you'd miss on day one, not the one with the longest feature list.
Does each one keep your Arc setup?
Importing is where most switches stall. You've spent years building spaces, and nobody wants to rebuild them by hand.
Cra reads Arc's files straight off disk on first launch: spaces, pinned tabs, folders, favorites and archive. There's no export step, Arc doesn't need to be running, and there's no deadline to import. Later, you can trigger it from the Cra menu under Import, or Settings under Advanced. Cra also pulls in tabs, passwords and sign-ins from Dia, Chrome, Brave, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, Helium, Firefox, Zen and Safari.
Dia imports from Arc too, but it reshapes Spaces into Profiles. The others generally import bookmarks and passwords but won't rebuild your space structure. That means manual re-sorting, and with 10 spaces it's a miserable afternoon.
If you'd like a safety copy anyway, here's how to export Arc bookmarks before it closes.
Which browser with spaces like Arc should you pick?
It depends on your machine and your habits. Here's where I land.
- Mac with Apple silicon, you love Arc's sidebar: Cra, since it matches the feature list above almost row for row.
- Windows or Linux: Zen first, Vivaldi if you like tweaking.
- You want the official path and like AI features: Dia, knowing Profiles aren't spaces.
- You manage many accounts for work: Wavebox, if you'll pay.
- You're on an Intel Mac: Cra won't run for you, so Zen or Vivaldi.
My honest opinion: most people who say they want a browser with spaces like Arc actually want Arc's whole feel, and a feature called workspaces doesn't give you that. That's why I'd rather recommend the closest copy than a more ambitious alternative.
Privacy and trust
A young browser deserves scrutiny. Cra's source is on GitHub under the MIT licence, it has no account, no server and no telemetry, and you can read the security and privacy pages before installing. It isn't affiliated with The Browser Company. It's independent, which is a plus if you've lost faith in a company's roadmap and a minus if you want a big team behind it. Decide which worry is bigger for you.
Your next step
Pick the row from the list above that matches your machine, install it, and import before December. Then spend one real working day in it with your actual tabs, since a single day covers a full cycle of switching between work and personal spaces. Write down whatever you reach for and can't find. If that list is short, you're done. If it's long, try the next browser on the list.
Cra is free, MIT licensed, and made for Apple silicon Macs on macOS 14 Sonoma or later. You can get it at crabrowser.app and import your Arc spaces on first launch.