You open Arc on a Tuesday morning. Six spaces, a pinned tab for every client, a split view you've tuned for months. Then the notice: Arc is going away, and the suggested home is a different browser that mostly wants to talk to you.
This Dia vs Arc comparison is for that moment. It covers what Dia keeps, what it drops, how the AI focus changes daily use, and what to pick if what you loved about Arc was the sidebar and not the chatbot.
The short answer in Dia vs Arc: Dia is not Arc with a new name
Dia is a different product built around AI, and it keeps only part of Arc's workflow. Both come from The Browser Company. Arc was a tab-management experiment: a sidebar, spaces, folders, little utilities. Dia is a browser where an assistant sits next to the page and can read your tabs.
The timing matters. According to TechCrunch's report on the sunset, Arc ends on 22 December 2026, and the company is putting its weight behind Dia. If you want the full timeline, we've covered it in is Arc browser shutting down.
Here's the quick Dia vs Arc version side by side.
| Arc | Dia | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Shuts down 22 December 2026 | Actively developed, the designated successor |
| Platforms | macOS and Windows | macOS and Windows |
| Price | Free | Free to download, AI features optional |
| Organisation | Spaces, pinned tabs, folders | Profiles, pinned tabs, folders |
| Focus | Tab and workflow design | AI assistant in the browser |
| New accounts | Closed since 22 October 2026 | Open |
What Dia keeps from Arc
Start with the sidebar. According to the Arc Help Center, Dia still gives you a vertical list of tabs, pinned tabs, folders and a tab switcher. If your muscle memory is mostly "tabs live on the left and I pin the important ones," a lot of that survives.
Importing is also real. The Help Center says Dia can bring across Arc passwords, bookmarks, extensions, history, tabs and workspace data. Arc's core browsing features are free in Dia, and the AI parts are optional, so you aren't forced to pay to get a familiar layout.
The Browser Company also claims Dia beats Arc on speed, stability and security benchmarks. Heise reported that claim as the company's own, so treat it as a vendor statement until independent tests show up. I haven't seen published numbers I'd trust, and I haven't benchmarked either one myself, so I won't pick a winner on speed.
What Dia drops
In Dia vs Arc, the biggest gap is Spaces becoming Profiles, and the loss shows up the first time you try to flip lanes. A space in Arc was a lightweight lane you switched with a keystroke, each with its own colour, pinned tabs and Favorites. A Profile has no per-space colour and emoji, and no separate set of Favorites to flip between. It's a heavier, more separate container, closer to a different browser login than a lane.
The Arc Help Center lists the features that don't make the trip:
- Air Traffic Control: the rules that sent a link from Slack or Mail into the right space.
- Boosts: per-site CSS and JavaScript tweaks.
- Easels: the freeform canvas for notes and captures.
- Little Arc: the small window for quick links.
- Peek: the preview of a link without opening a tab.
- TypeTravel and Instant Links: the keyboard-first shortcuts for jumping around.
Not everyone used all of these. I'd guess Easels were the least touched. But Air Traffic Control and Little Arc quietly do a lot of work for anyone who lives in several contexts a day, say client work, a side project and personal browsing. Losing those two hurts more than the list suggests.
If you switch between three or more contexts a day, check how a browser handles routing links before you check how it looks.
The AI focus: feature or friction?
The AI side of Dia vs Arc is the sharpest split. Arc's AI, branded Arc Max, was a side feature. In Dia the assistant is the point: it reads the page, can work across tabs, and sits in the address bar flow. That's either the reason to switch or the reason to stay away.
If you write, research or summarise a lot, it can genuinely save time. You can ask a question about a long PDF or compare three product pages without copy-pasting. Useful, no argument there.
But there are real trade-offs. An assistant that reads your tabs means more of your browsing context goes to a model provider, and you should read the company's privacy terms before you turn it on. The company says the AI is optional. I can't verify from the outside how much of the product still works well with it off, so test that yourself before you commit. If you picked Arc because it got out of your way, a browser that keeps offering to help may feel like a step backwards.
My honest take: Dia is a good AI browser, and a so-so Arc replacement. Those are separate jobs.
What happens to your data and your timeline
The clock is shorter than 22 December 2026 for some things. 9to5Mac's coverage of the sunset date frames it as roughly two months to move. Here are the dates that matter:
- 22 October 2026: new Arc accounts closed. Existing desktop users can keep using it.
- 23 November 2026: Arc Search on iOS and Android loses its AI features, including Browse for Me, plus sign-in and tab sync, per TechCrunch. It stays as a basic local browser.
- 22 December 2026: Arc for macOS and Windows stops working. Accounts are deactivated, and personal data is scheduled for deletion within 30 days, per the Arc Help Center.
That last point is worth acting on early. If you rely on synced data, don't wait for the final week. We also wrote a walkthrough on exporting Arc bookmarks before it closes in case you want a copy independent of any browser.
Who should pick Dia
On Dia vs Arc, Dia is the path of least resistance. It's from the same team, and the import is supported officially. Pick it if you want an AI assistant built into your browser and you're happy with a simpler tab model.
Dia fits you if:
- You use AI daily: summarising, drafting and asking questions about pages is a real part of your work.
- You used one or two spaces: Profiles will cover you without much pain.
- You want official support: it's the browser the company is investing in.
It's a poor fit if you leaned on Air Traffic Control, Little Arc, or a different set of Favorites per space.
Who should look elsewhere
If your Dia vs Arc decision comes down to the sidebar and spaces, a browser built around that workflow will feel better than Dia. There are a few options. Zen is a popular open-source take on vertical tabs, and Chrome or Safari are fine if you've outgrown the whole idea. For a broader rundown, see the best Arc browser alternative in 2026.
Then there's Cra, which is what we built for exactly this case. It's a native macOS app on Chromium with no AI at all, and it won't add any. It keeps the pieces Dia drops: spaces with a colour and emoji each (Control-1 to 9 to switch), a different set of Favorites per space, Air Traffic Control for sending links to the space you choose, Little Windows on Option-Command-N, and Split View with up to four panes. The command bar on Command-T, auto-archive for Today tabs, and Arc's default shortcuts (rebindable in Settings) are there too. You can see them all on the shortcuts page.
It isn't complete. Easels, Boosts, Peek and Notes aren't in Cra yet. It's young (version 0.1.x), it's Apple silicon only on macOS 14 Sonoma or later, and there's no Windows or Intel build. If you need those, Cra isn't your answer.
How to switch without losing your setup
Importing is the easy part in either browser, so test both before the deadline. Here's a sensible order:
- Back up first: export your bookmarks so you've got a plain copy.
- Try Dia's import: it brings passwords, bookmarks, extensions, history, tabs and workspace data.
- Try Cra's import: on first launch it reads Arc's spaces, pinned tabs, folders, favorites and archive straight from Arc's files on disk. No export step, Arc doesn't need to be running, and there's no deadline. Details are in the import guide.
- Live in each for two days: use your real work, not a test tab.
- Keep the one you stop thinking about: that's the browser that fits.
This week, install both and run one real client day in each. Then settle your Dia vs Arc question and decide where your Arc spaces go.
Cra is a free, open-source, MIT-licensed macOS browser built as a one-to-one replacement for Arc's sidebar workflow, with no AI, no account and no telemetry. It's for people who want spaces, pinned tabs and Air Traffic Control to keep working after Arc is gone. You can download it or read more at crabrowser.app.