Yalqen is a free, open-source Chromium browser for Mac developers. Vertical tabs, a command bar and ad blocking, built in.
Small details. A big difference.
The everyday parts of a browser, done carefully. No extensions to hunt for, no setup before it feels right.
Yalqen AI
Work with Claude, Codex or Gemini beside your page. Give your agent the context, make a change and check the result in the browser.
Tabs
Your tabs live in a side panel you can fold, hide or move. Everything else is a keystroke away.
Developer tools
Chromium DevTools, plus the tools you would otherwise install as extensions.
Phone view
Check a page at phone sizes without opening DevTools.
Extensions
Yalqen runs on Chromium, so sites behave the way they do in Chrome.
Next to the browsers you know.
Side by side, including what the other browser does better.
Arc stopped getting new features in 2025. Keep the vertical tabs and the command bar, on Chromium.
See the comparisonSame engine and DevTools, with vertical tabs and ad blocking built in and no Google account.
See the comparisonAn AI panel for development, vertical tabs and a command bar. No browser account required.
See the comparisonBlocking built in on both. Yalqen leaves out rewards and a wallet, and adds developer tools and an AI panel.
See the comparisonChromium instead of Gecko, so sites behave as they do in Chrome, with ad blocking built in.
See the comparisonBoth open source with vertical tabs. Yalqen runs on Chromium, Zen on Firefox.
See the comparisonBoth block by default; Yalqen’s optional install counting is off by default. Yalqen is open source and runs on Chromium.
See the comparisonThe ones people ask most. Something missing? Open an issue and ask.
Yalqen needs macOS 13 or later on an Apple silicon Mac. Install it with Homebrew using brew install --cask YSamed/yalqen/yalqen, or download the latest disk image from yalqen.com/download and drag Yalqen into your Applications folder.
Yes. Releases are signed and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens Yalqen like any other app from the web: the first time, it asks whether to open an app downloaded from the internet, and you choose Open. Some early builds were not notarized. If macOS says it cannot verify one of those, download the latest version from yalqen.com/download.
Early builds target Apple silicon only. Intel support depends on how the native shell performs and is not planned for now.
Yes, with limits. Since version 0.2.6 you can add extensions from the Chrome Web Store: open an extension’s store page and use its Add button, or paste a store link in settings. Unpacked extensions load too. Not every extension is guaranteed to work. The details are at yalqen.com/extensions.
The browser does not collect browsing activity or crash reports and never asks for an account. Optional active-install counting is off by default. If you enable it in Settings → Privacy, it sends only a random installation ID to yalqen.com at most once per day; the server stores a keyed hash and last-seen time to count participating profiles over 30 days. You can turn it off at any time. Once per profile, it also sends an empty request to yalqen.com that adds one to an anonymous counter, with no ID. Otherwise it only talks to other services for things you use: filter list updates for the ad blocker, update checks against GitHub releases (you can turn them off), the search engine and secure DNS resolver you choose, the Chrome Web Store when you add an extension, Google Translate when you translate a page, and the selected AI provider when you use the AI panel with prompts or attached page content.
Yalqen is an open-source side project with no ads, no data deals and no paid tier. If that ever changes, it will be announced in the open first.
A fresh start, one tab away.
Free & open source (MIT) · macOS 13+ · Apple silicon
Yalqen
