Zen Browser is the Firefox Version of Arc

I’m a little late to this party, but there’s a new web browser called Zen Browser that seeks to solve several issues. I only learned of it today, ahead of Windows Weekly, thanks to Leo.

“Zen is a privacy-focused browser that blocks trackers, ads, and other unwanted content while offering the best browsing experience,” the Zen Browser repository on GitHub reads. “Experience tranquility while browsing the web without people tracking you.”

Based on the release notes page on the Zen Browser website, this new browser has been available in stable since July 2024, but the team developing this product doesn’t do a particularly good job of explaining what it is or why one might want it. The site explains that the browser is “beautifully designed, privacy-focused, and packed with features,” but not much else. Even the user manual on the Zen Browser Docs site is pretty much pointless for now.

So here goes.

Zen Browser is a modified version of Mozilla Firefox and so it uses the same extension system as Firefox and you will see a few UI similarities, mostly in the settings interface. Whether that is good, bad, or indifferent is a matter of opinion, but if you like the idea of Firefox but aren’t super-happy with some of the decisions Mozilla has made, this is an interesting option.

Zen Browser is overtly ripping off the user experience innovations that the Browser Company previously delivered first in Arc Browser, including its highly customized user interface with a workspaces-based sidebar and the Ctrl-Tab override for entering commands. This might be of interest if you’re worried that Arc will disappear because the Browser Company is now working on a new AI browser called Dia. But also if you like the idea of Arc but aren’t interested in using yet another Chromium-based browser.

Zen Browser is open source, and it’s available across all major desktop platforms, including Windows, Mac, and Linux. And yes, there is a native Arm64 version too. The developers claim that performance is a priority, but I’ll need to test it a bit to determine if it meets my needs in that way.

Zen Browser is highly customizable in all the expected ways, but it also offers a unique system of Zen Mods that can even more dramatically change the user experience with community-made plugins and themes. This will be appealing to those who like browsers like Opera and Vivaldi that offer deep customization options not typically found elsewhere.

There is at least one major downside, at least for now: It doesn’t support DRM-protected content like that you might find at Netflix or similar services. YouTube works fine, however, as does YouTube Music.

I tested the Zen browser against the EFF’s Cover Your Tracks site and it reported that it only provides partial protection against tracking ads and invisible trackers, so you’ll want to install at least one anti-tracking extension, like Privacy Badger and/or uBlock Origin (which is still available for Firefox, unlike on Chrome).

You can download Zen from the Zen Browser website if you’re curious.