Rio, an Arc alternative for Mac

Rio is a free, open-source browser for Mac, built on Chromium 158 and licensed under GPL-3.0. It keeps Arc's sidebar: spaces, pinned tabs, folders and favorites. On first launch it imports your Arc setup in one step, reading Arc's files on your Mac. It runs Chrome Web Store extensions and needs no account.

Updated November 12, 2026.

Rio with apple.com open. The sidebar holds the address, nine favorites, the Work space with three pinned tabs and an open Inspiration folder, New Tab and four Today tabs.

Who Rio is for

People who want to keep working the way Arc taught them: a sidebar split into spaces, pinned tabs that stay put, favorites at the top. Rio's maker ran his day in Arc with 4 spaces, 38 pinned tabs and 29 favorites, and moved all of it into Rio in one click.

What Rio keeps from Arc

Spaces. Each space has its own pinned tabs, folders and Today tabs, two theme colors, and can sit on its own profile so its logins stay separate. Swipe between them. See Spaces.
Favorites in a grid at the top of the sidebar.
Today tabs that archive themselves after 12 hours by default. You can set 24 hours, 7 days or 30 days.
A command bar on Cmd+T for open tabs, search and addresses. See Command bar.
Split view and Peek. Up to four pages side by side, or a quick look at a link without leaving your page. See Split view.
A Library in the sidebar with your downloads, screenshots and archived tabs. See Library.

What Rio adds

Side panel extensions. Extensions built on Chrome's side panel open on the right, next to the page. Arc does not support them. See Side panel.
Open source code. Rio is GPL-3.0 and the source is on GitHub, so anyone can read it and build it.
No account. Rio runs without signing in to anything.
Regular updates. Rio updates itself and shipped 7 releases between November 10 and 12, 2026.

How the import works

Download Rio, open it, and click Bring everything over. Rio reads Arc's files on your Mac and brings over your spaces with their names, icons and colors, profiles, pinned tabs and folders, favorites, Today tabs, bookmarks, history, saved passwords and sign-ins. Nothing is uploaded. macOS asks once before Rio reads Arc's saved passwords. The full walkthrough is in Move from Arc to Rio.

How Rio compares with Arc

On Speedometer 3.1, Rio scored 97.8 against Chrome's 100 on the same Mac (3 runs each, November 9, 2026). BrowseRating's scores put Arc at 91.0% of its Chrome score, on a different Mac. With the same 10 sites open on one MacBook Pro, Rio added 3,573 MB of memory (mean of 3 runs) and Arc added 5,385 MB (1 run, on a profile with extensions). The details are in Rio vs Arc and the comparison table.

Why people are leaving Arc

The Browser Company stopped adding features to Arc in May 2025 and said it can't open-source Arc without also open-sourcing ADK, the closed engine Dia runs on. Atlassian agreed to buy the company in September 2025 and closed the deal on October 21, 2025. On October 22, 2026, new Arc accounts closed and Arc's help center set the end date: Arc stops working on December 22, 2026.

Download Rio for Mac

Questions

Is Rio made by The Browser Company?

No. Rio is an independent project by Levon Adamyan. It contains none of Arc's code and is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Browser Company.

What happens to Arc on December 22, 2026?

Arc stops working. TechCrunch reports that Arc accounts are deactivated that day and personal data is deleted within 30 days. New Arc accounts closed on October 22, 2026.

Is Rio still getting updates?

Yes. Rio updates itself, and it shipped 7 releases between November 10 and 12, 2026.

Do I need an account to use Rio?

No. Rio has no account, and it runs without signing in to anything.

Do my Chrome extensions work in Rio?

Yes. Rio installs extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Manifest V3 included, and side panel extensions open on the right as in Chrome. Arc does not support side panel extensions.