Every web browser promises boosts to your productivity and give a better internet browsing experience, but a few deliver. The recently launched Zen Browser finally delivers on the promise so many browsers before it have only claimed.
5Zen Is One of the Fastest Browsers on Windows
One of the biggest considerations inmy quest to find the perfect browser on Windowswas browser speed. By that, I mean how snappy the browser feels when bogged down with tabs, extensions, and other background programs. Regardless of your PC’s specs, you’ll likely findZen Browserone of the fastest on Windows.
Compared to Arc, my previous daily driver and the supposed Chrome replacement everyone was looking for, Zen feels much snappier, loads sites faster, and doesn’t bug out often. Zen is based on Firefox, so you won’t run into the same issues you might face with Chromium-based browsers.
Is Arc on Windows Really the Chrome Replacement It Promises to Be?
Arc on Windows is a new and exciting browser that aims to replace Chrome on your PC.
This is despite the fact that Google deliberately makes its services slower on non-Chromium browsers. When put alongside other Chromium browsers like Edge, Chrome, and Brave, Zen matches and often exceeds the aforementioned parameters.
That said, the browser is still in beta, meaning updates shake its performance on occasion. Thankfully, the developers are quick to address bugs and performance drops, so you won’t be stuck with a sluggish browser for long.
Zen also performs better on lower-end hardware, or if you’re running your laptop in power efficiency mode. You can expect consistent performance across Windows, Linux, and macOS.
4It Doesn’t Eat Up Battery Life
Web browsers can end up consuming a majority of your battery life thanks to all we do in them. While Zen isn’t as efficient as Edge in my testing, it’s still better than most browsers I’ve used.
Since the browser is still in beta and undergoing rapid development, it’s hard to get a consistent figure on power efficiency. It definitely beats browsers like Arc and Chrome. However, lighter browsers like DuckDuckGo and sometimes even Brave can get comparable or better battery efficiency.
So if you want something with Arc’s feature set but don’t want to kill your battery, Zen is the way to go.
3The User Interface Doesn’t Interfere With Browsing
One of the best parts of Zen is the interface. When you’re browsing, you can choose to remove the whole interface. This might be jarring at first, as most people aren’t used to seeing only the webpage you’re on and nothing else. But over time, you’ll appreciate it as a way to browse with fewer distractions.
I’m talking about theCompact Modefeature the browser offers. It’s similar to hiding your sidebar in Arc, except Zen takes it further. Instead of just hiding the sidebar, you’re able to get rid of the URL bar too.
When you need them, you can show the sidebar or URL bar by hovering the mouse at the top or left of the screen. This lets you interact with the browser elements without having to toggle Compact Mode every time you want to switch tabs.
As someone who spends most of his day in a web browser, I enjoy better productivity and attention from this distraction-free interface. I have a habit of clicking away and going down rabbit holes. Hiding away the entire interface at the touch of a button lets me dial down and focus on what’s in front of me, instead of being distracted by dozens of buttons and links all around a usual browser interface.
2You Can Customize Almost Everything
Another aspect I really like about Zen is the crazy level of customization. Other than the usual shortcut key and theme customization, Zen lets you change the order of individual interface elements. This means you can end up with an interface made to your liking instead of getting used to the browser’s layout.
You can choose to have everything, including the URL bar and forward/back buttons, in a single toolbar, multiple toolbars, or a collapsed toolbar. Buttons and separators can be added or removed per your liking. Workspaces can also be assigned individual colors, contrast, and even gradients.
There are alsoZen Mods, community-made plugins and themes, available to download and install. These aren’t to be confused with extensions; these mods can change or enhance a feature’s interface and functioning. You can also get themes, animations, additional features, or even mods that fix specific bugs in the browser.
These mods are inconsistent and tend to break between updates.
1It Includes Modern Browsing Features
Zen provides all the aforementioned functionality while retaining modern browsing features such as Glance, which opens temporary tabs you encan dismiss with a click. Similar to Arc, you can have pinned and essential tabs as well. These can further be customized with theSuperPins Zen Mod.
Zen also uses vertical tabs, an increasingly popular trend in modern browsers. You get tab unloading, which “releases” tabs out of memory when not used for a certain period of time. There’s site search as well: an extremely underrated feature that lets you search specific sites straight from the URL bar—a feature Arc on Windows still doesn’t have.
Small features like being able to copy a website’s URL with a keyboard shortcut are also present. You’ll also enjoy the standard suite of privacy protection features that let you block social media trackers, cross-site cookies, crypto miners, and other trackers on the web for a more protected online experience.
With the browser still in beta, new features and improvements are constantly being added, meaning the final feature list for when Zen enters its stable build is subject to change. Regardless, you can expect a modern-day browsing experience when switching to Zen.
Overall, Zen delivers on the promises browsers before it (like Arc) have made, despite still being in beta and being developed by a ragtag team of individual developers. TheZen Browser subredditcommunity is active; you’ll find plenty of hacks, tweaks, and customization/design ideas there to help turn Zen into the browser you want.
