How I Replaced Arc with Zen Browser

Why I Left Arc

Being an Arc early adopter meant experiencing a new way of browsing - the sidebar, folders, icon-based favourites and much more. Everything flowed better than traditional browsers. But like many VC-backed products, Arc faced challenges. Recent developments left users seeking alternatives that maintain Arc's innovative features while addressing its shortcomings. As confirmed by this video released on the 25 October 2024, Arc would no longer be developed. Arc had not listened to the community, and as a result, we were left with a slow, power-hungry browser and not the once-promised one.

My Must-Have Features

After 2 years of using Arc, certain features became essential to my workflow. These weren't just nice-to-haves but fundamental requirements that shaped how I interact with my browser daily.

Performance & Design

A browser needs to be energy efficient. Arc's growing appetite for system resources was a major pain point, often using 10x the amount of power than any other application on my Mac. The sidebar, a signature Arc feature, had to stay—not just as a visual element but as a functional space for managing tabs and bookmarks through folders and favorites.

Keyboard-Driven Workflow

My browsing is heavily keyboard-focused, with specific shortcuts ingrained in muscle memory:

• ⌘ + S to toggle the sidebar visibility
• ⌘ + T for quick search access
• ⌘ + Shift + C to copy URLs
• ⌘ + 1/2/3 to switch workspaces
• ⌥ + Tab for swift tab switching (Between current and previous)
• ⌘ + W for tab closure

Workspace Organization

Modern browsing demands clear separation between different contexts—work, personal, and project spaces need to remain distinct and easily switchable. This workspace segregation helps maintain focus and keeps browser profiles organised.

Looking at the browser landscape, these requirements eliminated most options. While building a custom Electron-based browser crossed my mind, the development overhead made it impractical. I needed a ready solution that could match these specific needs.

Enter Zen Browser

I stumbled upon Zen Browser through a Reddit thread where frustrated Arc users were sharing alternatives. What caught my eye wasn't just its sleek interface but the passionate developers actively contributing to its growth and its booming Discord. Unlike Arc's proprietary approach, Zen's open-source nature meant transparency and user-driven development.

My first week with Zen felt like a breath of fresh air. The browser launched instantly, consumed significantly less RAM, and, most importantly, didn't turn my MacBook into a makeshift space heater. The development team's recent updates in early 2025 brought substantial improvements to tab management and workspace organisation, making it feel more polished than ever.

Zen's biggest strength was its open-source foundation. When I encountered issues, I could easily collaborate with other contributors and community members via Discord. This level of control and community involvement was something I deeply missed with Arc.

Download Zen Brower here

Making Zen Feel Like Arc

Although Zen is beautiful out of the box, I had grown accustomed to how Arc felt and operated. I in no way want to diminish the brilliant work that the Zen Browser team has achieved. Instead, I want to build on this and adapt Zen to my chosen style.

Sidebar & Navigation

Getting Zen's sidebar to match Arc's functionality took some tweaking, but the results were worth it. I customised the sidebar width to match Arc's proportions. However, folders aren't here yet, but I'll dive into that. The vertical tab layout in Zen is an improvement over Arcs, adding subtle hover animations and better spacing.

Favourites

One of my favourite things (no pun intended) was how Arc managed your Favourites. Although you can't drag and drop within Zen, you can achieve the same setup by right clicking your desired link and clicking Add to Essentials.

Pinned Tabs

Arc managed to make this flow super well; it was a lovely feature to be able to simply drag and drop. To pin tabs in Zen Browser, all you need to do is right click your chosen Tab and click Pin Tabs.

Folders

Unfortunately, the one downside to Zen is the lack of folder support. I relied heavily on this feature within Arc, organising all of my useful and some not-so-useful information into cascading folders, and it just worked. From a comment on Github, one of the Zen Browser collaborators shared that they plan to add Folders but are waiting for Firefox to finish their implementation of tab groups, and Zen will build on that. A workaround I found was to add items to your bookmarks and then use the built-in ⌘ + B to open the bookmark side panel. Although it's a separate panel, it achieves a close workaround.

Workspace Setup

I created separate environments for work, personal use, and side projects, each with its own set of extensions and privacy settings. The theme customisation options let me colour-code each workspace, making context-switching more visual and intuitive.

Zen uses a combination of workspaces and containers; if you want true segregation between your Workspaces, you will need to use separate containers per workspace.

The quick-switching feature became smoother than Arc's implementation (I'd often get a weird stutter with Arc). I mapped custom shortcuts for jumping between workspaces and added visual indicators that make it immediately clear which context I'm in. This subtle but essential improvement helped maintain focus during busy workdays.

I also recommend customising your Toolbar by right-clicking on your sidebar and clicking Customise Toolbar. This is highly personal preference, but I removed the account option and just had the Workspaces on their own.

Essential Shortcuts

Mapping Arc's shortcuts to Zen was surprisingly straightforward. The browser's customisation panel allowed me to recreate every keyboard command I relied on. Some new shortcuts in Zen, like quick-searching within the current workspace or instantly sharing tabs between containers, actually enhanced my workflow beyond what Arc offered.

Tab switching

A big one for me was the ability to jump between my current and previous Tabs. I found myself using this all the time, more than I realised until I lost it. Zen's default tab switching cycles through all of your tabs, and if you're like me, there are quite a few.

1. To change this, open the URL bar and enter this about:config
2. Accept the warning; just be careful what you change.
3. Using the Search Bar, enter browser.ctrlTab.sortByRecentlyUsed
4. Change this option to true

To edit your keyboard shortcuts, navigate to settings, then "Keyboard Shortcuts"

Sidebar Toggle ⌘ + S

1. We need to remove the default shortcut for Save Page
   1. Click into the shortcut box for the Save page and then press Escape. This will unset the shortcut
2. Scroll back to the top, under the heading Compact Mode 2. Click into the shortcut box for Toggle Floating Sidebar and set that to ⌘ + S then press Escape to save.

Workspace Switching

Zen's default handling for ⌘ + 1/2/3 is to switch to the corresponding tabs within your current workspace. Although useful to some, this didn't work for me. I needed it to switch between my workspaces quickly and efficiently.

1. We need first to remove the Select Tab shortcuts

   1. Click on each option one by one and press Escape

2. Then Scroll to Other Workspaces 2. Then for each Switch to Workspace set your shortcut

Conclusion

Transitioning from Arc to Zen wasn't just about finding a replacement but discovering a browser that could grow with my needs. The initial adjustment period lasted about two weeks, but the performance improvements and community-driven development made it worthwhile.

Today, Zen handles my daily browsing with remarkable efficiency. With dozens of tabs open, the battery impact is minimal compared to Arc, and I'm now clawing back my battery usage time. The project's open-source nature means features and fixes arrive regularly, driven by actual user needs rather than venture capital metrics.

Zen offers more than an alternative for anyone stranded by Arc's departure. It represents a shift towards user-controlled software where functionality and efficiency precede flashy features. My browsing experience hasn't just recovered - it's evolved into something better.

While I'll always appreciate Arc for introducing innovative browsing concepts, Zen has proven that these ideas can thrive in an open-source, community-driven environment. The future of browsing doesn't have to be locked behind proprietary walls - sometimes, the best solutions come from users working together to build exactly what they need.

Feel free to reach out on X.com if you have any questions.