Orion Browser for Mac
Privacy by design, like no other browser.
Free
In English
Version 1.1.3When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission
Orion Browser overview
Orion Browser is built specifically for your Mac and Apple devices. Industry-leading battery life, privacy respecting by design and native support for web extensions.
Features:
- WebKit - Orion uses WebKit, like Safari and unlike most browsers on the market running some variation of Google’s Chromium.
- Vertical tree-style tabs - If you love to have your tabs on the side, you will be pleased to know that Orion has native vertical tree tabs support.
- Tab groups - In Orion, tab groups are also called named windows. By default temporary windows are not synced. If you want to keep the window/tabs after closing and have it sync, simply name that window (eg. ‘Work’).
- Built in ad and tracker blocking - We are saying hard NO to ads and trackers on the web.
- Extension support - Currently Orion supports large number of popular extensions on Desktop with support for more to come. Orion even supports some extensions out of the box on iOS, but we have much more to do here.
- Speedy web browsing - Orion is really, really fast. A fresh install of Orion blocks both ads and trackers on websites, something no other browser does.
- Light on system resources - Browsers like Chrome or Firefox have a reputation of hogging down system resources and using a lot of energy. Orion is a lightweight browser compared to these browsers.
- Easy sync across all devices - Orion syncs your bookmarks, tabs and passwords seamlessly using iCloud, same as Safari.
- Deeper safeguards for privacy - Beyond blocking all ads and trackers by default, Orion is also a zero telemetry browser.
Please read full list of features here.
What's new in version 1.1.3
Legacy macOS fixes
- All Windows From Previous Session not preserved on upgrade to Orion 1.1 #14101 by @bzgnyc
- [Mojave] Look Up doesn't work #4772 by @orionuser6651
- MacOS Mojave UR/SearchL Bar doesn't show up until window resized #14348 by @FriedChicken
- [macOS 10.14] TabOverview Icon looks incorrect.
- [macOS 10.14] Small toolbar size only resizes icons.
- Check For Updates - Update Error #14196 by @ksherlock
- Opening links in other apps (e.g. Mail) fails [Mojave - Catalina] #13914 by @bzgnyc
- Download button icon is a bit too big and thick for mojave style.
- Update Catalina / Mojave appearance settings icons.
- In focus mode, there is no toolbar background.
- In light mode with no background, the start page favorites icons, etc show a rectangle background in addition to the clipped rounded edges.
- Start page settings popover has broken scrolling for bookmarks
- Start page favicon flickering.
- Tab group switcher does not look like other tab buttons, it seems to have its own background which does not match default buttons.
- Standard mode tabs collection view background when start page is selected seems wrong.
- Height of suggestion / favorites popover does not fit the inner icons.
- Theme color does nothing.
- Bookmarks bar highlight getting cut off, seems like height is not enough.
- Location bar placeholder text sometimes gets offset to top + search bar icon is too big.
- Tabs layout menu hover hides the icon.
- Default start page background does not work, shows up as black.
- Top offset for persistant sidebar's content does not calculate correctly on launch.
- Auto show sidebar's traffic light buttons have a lot of extra unnecessary left and top padding.
- Fixed issue causing multiple Private Browsing banner visible when opening private window.
Other improvements and bug fixes
- Navigation Arrows Dropping Down #14562 by @thefella
- Pin tab in unsave window showing up in saved tab group and very mess up #14356 by @JSiuDev
- Address bar force-click crash #14280 by @--Nobody--
- Bookmarks folders disappear when reorganizing #14336 by @PalePixel_
- Orion disregards search term in URL bar, goes to unrelated page with similar spelling #14234 by @isocat.
- Removing tab groups makes them nonfunctional #14198 by @dmarc
- Calling sidebarAction.close() from a sidebar gives "unable to find toolbar item" error #14298 by @jeurissen.
- SidePanel.close() is not implemented #14297 by @jeurissen.
- Window.close() is a no-op in extension sidebars #14296 by @jeurissen.
- Tab popover and toolbar both disappear when hovering over the popover in focus mode #14412 by @marchaumann.
- Enabled Check Spelling While Typing option by-default.
- Fixed issue where navigating to a same page fragment removes RSS feed icon button.
- Fixed issue where clicking the RSS/SSL buttons when using compact tabs results in the address bar being selected instead of the button being clicked.
- Fixed issuw where Sidebar shows wrong background color for active webpage.
- Fixed issue where rename tab doesn't work in Sidebar when using horizontal tabs.
- Updated tab group switcher background to glass in vertical sidebar to match system theme on macOS 26+
- Applied minor tweak to selected tab to always show x button when using compact tab.
- Fixed issue where tabs not visible when creating new window after dragging.
- Fixed some issues with window chrome color on macOS 27 beta
- Fixed issue with Tab group toolbar item sizing when switching tab groups.
- Fixed issue causing Customize Toolbar... to enforce app-wide temporary appearance switch.
- Fixed issue with preview popover default size.
Orion Browser for Mac
Free
In English
Version 1.1.3
Write a detailed review about Orion Browser
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(8 Reviews of Orion Browser)
Comments
User Ratings
Aug 18, 2026
Version: 1.1.2
It's been a few versions that Orion doesn't open a window at launch any more (on 10.14), you have to do it manually. Except for that, 10.14 has not been dropped, despite one of the comments below, which is a good thing, but all the issues I mentioned last year are still there. So I keep it at hand for occasional testing, but it's not fit for integrating my workflow in any way, yet, especially now that Firefox ESR keeps supporting old Mojave until at least 2027.
Aug 17, 2026
Version: 1.1.2
It's from Kagi, the paid ad-free search engine. As such, you're going to suffer NAGS to pay up. No interested.
Feb 25, 2026
Version: 1.0.4
Well, despite my sympathy for Orion, it must be said that it's not yet ready to fully replace the usual suspects (Firefox, all Chromium browsers) — at least here on 10.14. Many things still need to be ironed out. In FB Messenger, the reactions shown in the left column are old ones, scrolling is not fluid, etc. In fact, the real positive thing I see is its future, as even Firefox ESR will stop being updated for MacOS 10.14 next month. But for day to day browsing, I still rely on the other browsers in this machine.
Jan 19, 2026
Version: 1.0.2
Current version is 1.0.3. Note that the above links as well as those on the website are not updated immediately when a new version is released! Instead, if you already have Orion installed, it's better to update from within the app.
Dec 1, 2025
Version: 0.99
Orion just hit v1.0! Haven't tested it extensively but still works in 10.14 — although there are no more separated installers for each OS as when it was in beta.
