YalqenOrion and Yalqen are both Mac browsers with vertical tabs, blocking on by default and no telemetry. The biggest difference is the engine: Orion uses WebKit, the engine behind Safari, and Yalqen uses Chromium, the engine behind Chrome.
Orion is made by Kagi, the search company, and reached version 1.0 in November 2025. It is free, with an optional paid Orion+ plan, and most of its source is closed. Yalqen is a smaller, open-source browser built for web developers.
What feels the same
- A Mac browser first, with vertical tabs built in.
- Ad and tracker blocking from the first launch, with no extension to install.
- No telemetry and no account needed.
What Yalqen does differently
- Chromium engine, the same as Chrome, so sites built for Chrome behave the same and the full Chromium DevTools are built in. Orion renders pages the way Safari does.
- Open source under the MIT license. Kagi has opened some of Orion’s components, but the browser itself is closed source.
- A keyboard-first command bar on ⌘L that searches, jumps to tabs and history, and runs commands by name.
- Developer tools built in: phone view with device presets, network throttling, request rules, user-agent switching and screenshots.
Where Orion is ahead
- Orion runs on iPhone and iPad as well as the Mac, with Linux in beta and Windows in development. Yalqen is macOS 13+ on Apple silicon only.
- WebKit is native to macOS and usually lighter on memory and battery than a Chromium browser built on Electron, which is what Yalqen is today.
- Orion installs both Chrome and Firefox extensions. Yalqen supports Chrome extensions, with limits.
- Orion syncs between devices and has separate profiles. Yalqen has no sync yet.
Yalqen and Orion side by side
| Topic | Yalqen | Orion |
|---|---|---|
| Source code | Open source (MIT) | Mostly closed, some components open |
| Engine | Chromium, through Electron | WebKit |
| Platforms | macOS 13+ on Apple silicon | macOS, iOS, iPadOS; Linux in beta |
| Vertical tabs | Default layout | Yes, with tree-style tabs |
| Command bar | Yes, with developer commands | Address bar |
| Extensions | Chrome Web Store, with limits | Chrome and Firefox extensions, with limits |
| Developer tools | Chromium DevTools plus phone view, throttling and request rules | WebKit Web Inspector |
| Ad blocking | Built in, on by default | Built in, on by default |
| Sync | Not yet | Yes |
| Price | Free | Free, optional Orion+ subscription |
Try it next to Orion
Yalqen does not need to replace your current browser to be worth a try. Install it, learn the keyboard shortcuts and see whether the layout suits you. Missing something? Open an issue, and see what is coming on the roadmap.
Other comparisons: Arc · Chrome · Brave · Zen
Sources: Orion 1.0, Kagi Blog · Orion FAQ, Kagi Docs · Orion for Linux beta, It’s FOSS