Ardia, the sidebar browser for Mac: Touch grass.
Arc’s sidebar and Dia’s polish on real Chromium. Free and open source. Ads and trackers stay out.
Sent from your phone. Here it is.
Mac only for now. Tell me when it's on WindowsLinuxyour computer.
On GitHub: Watch › Custom › Releases. No email, no newsletter.
Not a screenshot.Go on, clicktap a tab
Your setup code goes to your clipboard as the download starts. Paste it on Ardia’s first screen and it sets itself up just like this.
Bring your own agent
CLI.
Your own Claude Code or Codex drives your Ardia with ardia browse, logins and all, and your Mac’s other apps with ardia computer. Tokens spent on eight browser tasks, against Aside and OpenCode Browse.
- Ardia
- Aside
- OpenCode Browse
Tokens · Codex · GPT-6.1 Sol
8 tasks: Ardia 3.66M · Aside 4.93M · OpenCode 7.59M
Tokens, Codex · GPT-6.1 Sol: median per task, lower is better Task Ardia Aside OpenCode Calendar 0.12M, all 3 passed 0.17M, all 3 passed 0.52M, all 3 passed Expenses 1.20M, all 3 passed 1.35M, passed 1 of 3 2.00M, all 3 passed Research 0.29M, all 3 passed 0.35M, all 3 passed 0.35M, all 3 passed Booking 0.31M, all 3 passed 0.44M, all 3 passed 0.63M, all 3 passed Shop 0.44M, all 3 passed 0.71M, all 3 passed 0.93M, all 3 passed Grid 0.45M, all 3 passed 0.76M, all 3 passed 0.81M, all 3 passed Kanban 0.26M, all 3 passed 0.61M, all 3 passed 1.05M, all 3 passed Multi-tab 0.59M, all 3 passed 0.54M, all 3 passed 1.31M, all 3 passed Tokens · Claude Code · Opus 5.5
8 tasks: Ardia 5.00M · Aside 6.01M · OpenCode 8.47M
Tokens, Claude Code · Opus 5.5: median per task, lower is better Task Ardia Aside OpenCode Calendar 0.17M, all 3 passed 0.28M, all 3 passed 0.40M, all 3 passed Expenses 2.06M, all 3 passed 2.07M, all 3 passed 3.25M, all 3 passed Research 0.25M, all 3 passed 0.34M, all 3 passed 0.24M, all 3 passed Booking 0.54M, all 3 passed 0.45M, all 3 passed 0.83M, all 3 passed Shop 0.61M, all 3 passed 0.91M, all 3 passed 1.04M, all 3 passed Grid 0.60M, all 3 passed 0.64M, all 3 passed 0.88M, all 3 passed Kanban 0.33M, all 3 passed 0.71M, all 3 passed 1.17M, all 3 passed Multi-tab 0.44M, all 3 passed 0.61M, all 3 passed 0.66M, all 3 passed The small print
- 8 local web apps, the same prompt for every agent, graded by a checker on each app’s own server. Medians of 3 runs, Nov 7, 2026. Tokens count every run, passing or not. Lower is better.
- 142 of 144 runs passed. Striped: Aside + GPT-6.1 Sol on expenses passed 1 of 3.
- Your own Claude Code or Codex drives Ardia through the
ardiacommand, as shipped in 0.2.45-nightly.3. Nothing in Ardia calls a model. - OpenCode Browse 0.0.10: the same Claude Code and Codex, through its extension and MCP server.
- Aside 1.26.1107: its in-browser agent, not its desktop Computer Use, on its own subscription providers.
- Cold every run: Ardia’s site notes wiped, Aside’s memory off and its bench chats deleted. High effort everywhere. Ardia ran hidden; Aside’s window sat behind other windows.
- On docs research the shell agents can read pages with curl; Aside’s agent can’t.
Measured before every release
Benchmarks.
Cold launch → window on screen
8×
faster than Dia
26% faster than Helium
Cold launch → window on screen, in ms, median of 6+ runs, lower is better Browser Median Ardia (best) 280 ms Dia 2,262 ms Helium 353 ms Cold launch → page painted
6.3×
faster than Dia
4% faster than Helium
Cold launch → page painted (link opened from another app), in ms, median of 6+ runs, lower is better Browser Median Ardia (best) 413 ms Dia 2,643 ms Helium 432 ms Idle CPU
Ardia 4 of 4
1 tab
3.9×
less CPU than Dia
5% less CPU than Helium
Idle CPU, in %. Median of 3+ runs · Lower is better. % Ardia Dia Helium 1 tab 0.16 (best) 0.63 0.17 20 tabs 0.45 (best) 1.1 1.0 1 tab, settled 0.05 (best) not measured 0.09 20 tabs, settled 0.31 (best) not measured 0.47 Idle wakeups
Ardia 4 of 4
20 tabs
2.8×
fewer wakeups than Dia
2× fewer wakeups than Helium
Idle wakeups, in /s. Median of 3+ runs · Lower is better. /s Ardia Dia Helium 20 tabs 13.6 (best) 38.7 28.2 1 tab 5.3 (best) 14.4 5.9 1 tab, settled 3.1 (best) not measured 4.5 20 tabs, settled 11.8 (best) not measured 17.1 New window → first paint
1.8×
faster than Dia
9% faster than Helium
New window → first paint, in ms, median of 3+ runs, lower is better Browser Median Ardia (best) 79.9 ms Dia 144 ms Helium 87.8 ms Memory
Ardia 4 of 4
10 tabs
1.7×
less memory than Dia
7% less memory than Helium
Memory, in MB. Median of 3+ runs · Lower is better. MB Ardia Dia Helium 10 tabs 714 (best) 1,273 773 20 tabs 1,082 (best) 1,822 1,121 1 tab 298 (best) 480 374 Back to 1 tab after 20 358 (best) 538 411 Tab switch → shown
Helium wins this one
1.7×
faster than Dia
3% faster for Helium
Tab switch → shown, in ms, median of 3+ runs, lower is better Browser Median Ardia 14.0 ms Dia 24.0 ms Helium (best) 13.5 ms New tab → first paint
1.6×
faster than Dia
30% faster than Helium
New tab → first paint, in ms, median of 3+ runs, lower is better Browser Median Ardia (best) 54.9 ms Dia 88.9 ms Helium 71.5 ms Speedometer 3
1%Photo finish
faster than Dia
Speedometer 3, in points, median of 6 runs, higher is better Browser Median Ardia (best) 59.1 points Dia 58.2 points Helium 58.6 points Cold launch → restored tab painted
Helium wins this one
No-show
Dia never got there
1% faster for Helium
Cold launch → restored tab painted, in ms, median of 6 runs, lower is better Browser Median Ardia 360 ms Dia not measured Helium (best) 355 ms Power with 11 tabs open
Ardia 4 of 5
Idle, window in view
242×
less power than Dia
12% less power than Helium
Power with 11 tabs open, in mW. Median of 2 runs · Lower is better. mW Ardia Dia Helium Idle, window hidden 3.9 1,223 3.1 (best) Idle, window in view 3.5 (best) 848 4.0 Scrolling 28.2 (best) 626 51.9 Playing a video 82.0 (best) 779 90.9 Switching tabs 136 (best) 763 173 Helium takes idle, window hidden: 3.1 mW to Ardia’s 3.9 mW.
The small print
MacBook Pro (Mac17,9), Apple M5 Pro, 48 GB, macOS 27.2 (26B5112a). Ardia 0.2.38-nightly.8 and Helium 0.19.3.1 measured Oct 19 · Dia 1.53.0 measured Oct 16, 2026.
Every figure is a median, so one lucky run doesn’t count.
How we measureThe benchmarks page
Answers to
a yellow bell
The offline page
Where’s the lamb?
Wi-Fi died? Chrome gives you a dinosaur. Ardia gives you a hillside of sheep, goats and very helpful dogs, and one lamb with a yellow bell. Find her. Swipe the flock, she’s in there. Online too, at ardia://game.
FAQ
Fair questions.
Short answers. All of them true.
- What does it cost?
- Nothing. It’s open source under GPL-3.0. No paid tier, no catch.
- Is it safe to open?
- Signed and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens it without a fuss. The source is on GitHub if you’d rather check yourself.
- What does it collect?
- Once a day the app sends one anonymous “opened today” count with its version and macOS version and no persistent ID, so we know how many people use it. Update checks are counted by version and day, and whether it’s a new copy’s first. Each launch also reads one small file, the same for everyone, so we can switch off a speed-up that misbehaves. Nothing else, unless you tick the box. Then crash reports and counts, never your sites or searches.
- And this website?
- It counts its own visitors on its own servers, replays included, typing masked, gone after 30 days. No third party does the counting.
- Coming from Arc?
- Same sidebar, same muscle memory. The importer brings your spaces, pinned tabs and their names along. See what comes over.
- Is this Dia?
- No. It dresses like Dia, or like Arc if you ask.
- Why “Ardia”?
- Arc plus Dia.
Same engine as Chrome
Better
view.
Make Ardia your default. It’s one drag into Applications.
Mac only for now. Tell me when it's on WindowsLinuxyour computer.
On GitHub: Watch › Custom › Releases. No email, no newsletter.
macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Apple Silicon · Notarized by Apple
Nightly gets every fix the day it’s made, smudges and all. Back to stable any time in Settings › General.
Homebrew: brew install ardia-browser/tap/ardia
