Microsoft Edge
Vertical tabs since 2021—Settings → Appearance → Vertical tabs. Mature and stable.
CHROMIUM ECOSYSTEM · SIDE RAIL
Chromium Browser with Vertical Tabs
Chrome, Edge, Brave, and dozens of Chromium forks—each handles vertical tabs differently. See who ships it natively, how to flip the switch, and when layout alone is not enough.
Which Chromium browsers have vertical tabs?
Not every Chromium fork ships a side rail out of the box. Use this snapshot before you hunt for flags or extensions.
Native
Google Chrome
Stable rollout: right-click tab strip → Show Tabs Vertically. Flags still work on early channels.
Brave
brave://settings/appearance → Vertical tabs. Chromium-based with privacy extras.
Vivaldi
Tab bar position → Left/Right vertical. Power-user tabs + stacks built in.
Other Chromium forks
Arc, Opera, ungoogled-chromium—check settings or rely on extensions until upstream lands.
Enable vertical tabs on your Chromium browser
Pick the browser you use today. Steps reflect official docs and community-verified paths as of 2026.
Google Chrome
Right-click- Update Chrome to the latest stable build (April 2026+).
- Right-click the title bar or tab strip → Show Tabs Vertically.
- Fallback: chrome://flags → search Vertical Tabs → Enabled → Relaunch.
Quick tip: If the menu item is missing, your rollout may be staged—retry after the next update.
What vertical tabs fix—and what they leave open
A side rail solves title truncation and screen real estate. It does not turn a Chromium browser into a research workstation.
Vertical tabs help with
- Reading full tab titles without hovering
- Managing 20+ tabs on a laptop without closing everything
- Collapsing the rail when you need a wider canvas
- Keeping Chromium extensions and sync after flipping layout
Still manual without AI-native tooling
- Auto-grouping dozens of research tabs by topic
- @-referencing open tabs as AI context in one omnibox
- Running Agent tasks in isolated tab groups while you browse
- Full-text archive when saved pages go offline
Chromium vertical tabs vs Tabbit
Most Chromium forks stop at layout. Tabbit adds the execution layer power users actually need.
Typical Chromium
Tabbit
Vertical tab rail
Flags or settings hunt
Built in from install
Tab grouping
Manual groups
AI-assisted smart groups
Research workflow
Extensions + copy-paste
@-context omnibox
Background tasks
Not supported
Agent mode in tab groups
Price
Free (browser)
Free — macOS & Windows
Tabbit: Chromium-native vertical tabs, plus AI execution
Tabbit is built on Chromium with a vertical sidebar from day one—not a flag you hunt for. Smart tab groups, @-context omnibox, and Agent mode run beside your rail.
Vertical rail + smart groups
Titles stay readable on the left. Tabbit auto-clusters pages by topic so research sessions do not collapse into chaos.
Omnibox with @-context
Reference open tabs, tab groups, screenshots, or local files—what you see becomes AI context without copy-paste.
Agent in parallel tab groups
Delegate multi-step research while you keep browsing. Agents run in isolated groups that never hijack your current window.
Related guides
Chrome browser with vertical tabs
Step-by-step for Google Chrome stable, flags, and extensions.
Vertical browser tabs
Cross-browser overview of side-rail tab management.
Browsers with workspaces
When vertical tabs need project-level organization.
AI browser
How AI-native browsers differ from Chromium + extensions.
Chromium vertical tabs — FAQ
- Does Chromium support vertical tabs natively?
- Upstream Chromium added vertical tabs; Google Chrome stable rolled it out in 2026. Edge, Brave, and Vivaldi shipped earlier. Other forks merge at different speeds—check settings or flags first.
- Which Chromium browser has the best vertical tabs?
- Edge and Vivaldi have the longest track records. Chrome stable now matches with a right-click toggle. Brave is a popular lightweight pick. For AI grouping on top of layout, Tabbit is purpose-built.
- How do I enable vertical tabs in Chrome without extensions?
- Update to the latest stable Chrome, right-click the tab strip, and choose Show Tabs Vertically. If missing, try chrome://flags → Vertical Tabs → Enabled, then relaunch.
- Does Brave have vertical tabs?
- Yes. Open brave://settings/appearance and enable Show vertical tabs. Brave is Chromium-based, so the experience feels familiar if you are switching from Chrome.
- What is the Chrome vertical tabs flag?
- On chrome://flags, search for Vertical Tabs and set it to Enabled. Useful on Beta/Dev channels or if stable rollout has not reached your region yet.
- Can I use a Chromium extension for vertical tabs?
- Extensions work as a stopgap on forks without native support. Disable them once native vertical tabs appear—two sidebars will conflict.
- Are vertical tabs enough for research work?
- They fix readability and tab count. They do not auto-cluster topics, archive pages, or run background research. That is where AI-native browsers like Tabbit extend the Chromium baseline.
- Is Tabbit a Chromium browser with vertical tabs?
- Yes. Tabbit is Chromium-based with a vertical sidebar, smart tab groups, and Agent mode. Free on macOS and Windows—import bookmarks and extensions from Chrome in minutes.
Skip the flags—get vertical tabs and AI in one download
Free on macOS & Windows · Import from Chrome in one click