{"slug": "auto-tab-discard", "name": "Auto Tab Discard", "category": "browsers", "category_name": "Browsers and extensions", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 3, "warners": 0, "score": 2.756, "rising": 1.67, "first": "2026-01-07", "latest": "2026-09-03", "why": "I use Auto Tab Discard so that most of the tabs are \"hibernated\" and don't consume so many resources.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I use Auto Tab Discard so that most of the tabs are \"hibernated\" and don't consume so many resources.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://webextension.org/listing/tab-discard.html", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Auto Tab Discard"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 792723424, "item_id": 49545214, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49545214", "by": "neop1x", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Try some tab suspend extension like https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-tab-discard/", "excerpt": "Take a look at about:performance page, maybe some background tab is too active? Try some tab suspend extension like https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-tab-discard/", "context": "", "use_case": "reduce Firefox battery drain", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 792572660, "item_id": 49535791, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49535791", "by": "kiliancs", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Auto Tab Discard (suspend)", "excerpt": "I left Firefox for the first time since... well, I _think_ I used it before it was Firefox. This self-imposed exile only lasted a couple months. I left looking for low-friction answers to my need to organize tabs and content. I didn't love giving up control to some central organization to process my data, but I had promised myself I'd write one or two extensions to answer my needs \"next week\" for years. After doing s", "context": "", "use_case": "suspending tabs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 744570737, "item_id": 46535671, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46535671", "by": "BrenBarn", "date": "2026-01-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Auto Tab Discard so that most of the tabs are \"hibernated\" and don't consume so many resources.", "excerpt": "I generally have several thousand tabs open at a time. Hacker News is a big source of them. I use Simple Tab Groups and it takes a few seconds to switch from one group to another but I've become fairly okay with that. I use Auto Tab Discard so that most of the tabs are \"hibernated\" and don't consume so many resources. Still, it always baffles me how poorly browsers handle high tab counts. Browser tabs should be able ", "context": "keeps several thousand tabs open", "use_case": "reducing tab resource usage", "switched_from": "", "story": "A tab hoarder's journey to sanity"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "BrenBarn", "context": "keeps several thousand tabs open", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46535671", "date": "2026-01-07"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["reduce firefox battery drain", "suspending tabs", "reducing tab resource usage"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49527748", "title": "Hang on to Your Firefox", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46529797", "title": "A tab hoarder's journey to sanity", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 792723424, "item_id": 49545214, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49545214", "by": "neop1x", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Try some tab suspend extension like https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-tab-discard/", "excerpt": "Take a look at about:performance page, maybe some background tab is too active? Try some tab suspend extension like https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-tab-discard/", "context": "", "use_case": "reduce Firefox battery drain", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 792572660, "item_id": 49535791, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49535791", "by": "kiliancs", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Auto Tab Discard (suspend)", "excerpt": "I left Firefox for the first time since... well, I _think_ I used it before it was Firefox. This self-imposed exile only lasted a couple months. I left looking for low-friction answers to my need to organize tabs and content. I didn't love giving up control to some central organization to process my data, but I had promised myself I'd write one or two extensions to answer my needs \"next week\" for years. After doing s", "context": "", "use_case": "suspending tabs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 744570737, "item_id": 46535671, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46535671", "by": "BrenBarn", "date": "2026-01-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Auto Tab Discard so that most of the tabs are \"hibernated\" and don't consume so many resources.", "excerpt": "I generally have several thousand tabs open at a time. Hacker News is a big source of them. I use Simple Tab Groups and it takes a few seconds to switch from one group to another but I've become fairly okay with that. I use Auto Tab Discard so that most of the tabs are \"hibernated\" and don't consume so many resources. Still, it always baffles me how poorly browsers handle high tab counts. Browser tabs should be able ", "context": "keeps several thousand tabs open", "use_case": "reducing tab resource usage", "switched_from": "", "story": "A tab hoarder's journey to sanity"}]}