Sidekick Browser Alternatives After the Shutdown (2026)

The best Sidekick browser alternative is Wavebox: like Sidekick, it puts web apps in a sidebar and keeps several accounts per app signed in. Vivaldi gives you a free app sidebar, Shift suits app-first users, and if you only used Sidekick's saved Sessions, Chrome or Edge with an extension covers it. Sidekick itself is gone: on 21 October 2026 its domain returned a 301 redirect to Perplexity Comet.

Sidekick is shut down and gets no updates

Sidekick no longer exists as a product. meetsidekick.com redirects to comet.perplexity.ai, which leads to the Perplexity Comet page, with no download or support page left.

Third-party trackers report that Perplexity took on the Sidekick team in 2025 and the browser stopped working around August 2025. We found no official announcement, so treat those dates as approximate.

The best Sidekick alternatives compared

Sidekick was known for three things: pinned web apps in a sidebar, saved Sessions of tabs, and suspending idle tabs. Each option below is judged on those. Prices as of October 2026.

Wavebox

Best for: heavy Sidekick users with many apps and many accounts.

Wavebox calls itself a browser for "multi-client sign-in and workflows" and runs Chrome extensions on macOS, Windows and Linux.

• Scenario: three Gmail inboxes for three clients stay signed in at once, each in its own app group with its own tab strip.
• Skip it if: you will not pay; free Basic allows 2 groups with 2 apps each and 1 extension.
• Price: Pro $8.33/month billed annually (7-day trial); Teams $12.50 per user per month.

Shift

Best for: people who lived in Sidekick's sidebar apps and rarely browsed beyond them.

Shift groups email, calendars and web apps into Spaces, with a layout builder, ad blocker and AI assistant. It feels more like a dashboard for web apps than a general browser.

• Fact: the free plan includes 5 Spaces with 10 apps each.
• Skip it if: you need several accounts per app; its site does not confirm it.
• Price: Advanced $199.99 a year for unlimited Spaces and apps.

Vivaldi

Best for: a free Sidekick-style sidebar, if you do not mind configuring.

Vivaldi has Web Panels that pin any site to the sidebar, plus Workspaces, Tab Stacking, Tab Tiling and Quick Commands for keyboard search. It runs Chrome extensions.

• Fact: Web Panels are the feature closest to Sidekick's app bar.
• Skip it if: you juggle client logins; it does not focus on multiple accounts per app, so you need separate profiles.
• Price: no price listed; donation-supported.

Perplexity Comet

Best for: people who mainly used Sidekick for AI help.

Comet is Perplexity's AI browser for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. Its assistant researches, drafts email replies and carries out tasks.

• Fact: despite the redirect, it is not Sidekick renamed.
• Skip it if: the app sidebar or multi-account setup was the part you relied on.
• Price: see Perplexity's site.

Microsoft Edge

Best for: Windows users who want the lowest-effort switch.

Edge Workspaces keep each project's tabs and favorites separate, alongside vertical tabs and split screen.

• Fact: Workspaces need a Microsoft or Entra ID account.
• Skip it if: you need to share Workspaces; sharing is not supported.
• Price: free.

Chrome + SuperCommands

Best for: people who used Sidekick mainly for Sessions and separate projects.

Chrome now has vertical tabs, saved tab groups, split view, Memory Saver and Profiles. SuperCommands adds Sessions as link collections and Workspaces holding each project's links, notes and snippets.

• Scenario: open a client's tabs, press Alt + S, type c link, pick Current Tabs and save; reopen them with c client or Alt + 1. See the links docs.
• Skip it if: you need an app sidebar, several accounts per app or live sync; it stores addresses, not page state.
• Price: free and open source; the local version is 100% free, forever.

How do I switch from Sidekick?

Rebuild the pieces you used, most-used first.

1. List your sidebar apps and accounts. Many accounts per app points to Wavebox; few points to Vivaldi.
2. Rebuild your top 3 Sessions as Wavebox groups, Vivaldi or Edge Workspaces, or SuperCommands link collections.
3. Turn on tab sleeping. Wavebox has a tab suspender; in Chrome, turn on Memory Saver under Settings, then Performance.
4. Uninstall Sidekick.

Which one should you pick?

• Pick Wavebox Pro if you had 5 or more apps pinned with several accounts each.
• Pick Vivaldi if you want a sidebar without a subscription.
• Pick Comet if AI help was what you used Sidekick for.
• Pick Chrome or Edge with SuperCommands if you only need your work tabs back in order. See also our browser workspace manager comparison and how to organize hundreds of tabs.

FAQ

Is Sidekick browser shut down?

Yes. Its website redirects to Perplexity Comet with no download or support page, and third-party reports place the shutdown around August 2025.

Is Comet the same as Sidekick?

No. Comet is Perplexity's AI-assistant browser and does not reproduce Sidekick's app sidebar or Sessions.

What browser has web apps in a sidebar like Sidekick?

Wavebox and Shift are built around web apps, and Vivaldi's Web Panels pin any site to the sidebar with no subscription.

Is there an open-source Sidekick alternative?

There is no open-source Sidekick. Zen Browser (based on Firefox) is the nearest open-source browser with workspaces and a sidebar; see our Arc browser alternatives.