Orion
WebKit-based web browser from Kagi for macOS and iOS, with WebExtension support.
Liked for bringing Firefox and Chrome extensions and easy ad blocking to iOS,123 and for being a browser that is not built on Chromium.456 The most common complaint is bugs and instability,789 often alongside high memory or battery use.101112
Why people recommend it
Extensions & adblock · 3
Supports real WebExtensions like uBlock on iOS, which makes ad blocking easy, including on YouTube.
“Kagi's Orion browser is a far as I know the only one on iOS that supports proper Firefox extensions, including ublock and others.”
“Currently on mobile I use Orion--it's the only mobile browser I've found where setting up AdBlocking is reasonably easy.”
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“I’ve picked it up again as my daily driver as of the new year and haven’t had a single issue yet.”
Non-Chromium engine · 3
Valued for adding browser diversity as a WebKit browser that is not a Chromium fork.
“I use Orion (because pay for Orion Plus to support them) specifically because it is not a fork of Chromium.”
“I use Orion because it's not a product of Apple or Google.”
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“I love what the kagi team is doing”
iOS alternative · 3
Several users switched to it from Firefox or Brave on iOS and were happy with it.
“I had to start using Orion because Firefox iOS sucks so much.”
“I switched from brave(ios) to Orion about a month ago and almost I didn't look back.”
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“I have switched from Firefox to Orion on my iPhone a year ago (potentially more?) and had a great experience.”
Improved stability · 3
Some users say recent versions are solid and reliable compared with earlier releases.
“Recent versions have been rock solid, and it does exactly what it says on the tin.”
“I switched to Orion from Safari a few months ago and so far loving it.”
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“I’ve picked it up again as my daily driver as of the new year and haven’t had a single issue yet.”
Kagi integration · 3
Kagi search integration and the summarise feature are appreciated.
“I switched to Orion from Safari a few months ago and so far loving it.”
“I use their Orion -browser and its summarise -function, which is very good.”
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“I use it as the app for kagi experience for AI chat and search.”
Caveats and dissent
Bugs · 3
Many users report UI bugs, crashes, or glitches that pushed them back to other browsers.
“there were just too many bugs and I have been using Firefox since”
I tried using Orion mobile for months but I just kept running into so many UI bugs that I had to switch away from it :(. I love Kagi, but Orion just feels unpolished right now
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“it was so unstable I had to switch away because it kept crashing, glitching and exploding in memory usage”
Resource usage · 3
Users report memory bloat, battery drain, and the phone heating up.
“I loved Orion and have been using as a daily driver almost since day 1 including paying for it but now it’s completely unusable.”
“due to bugs and battery drain, I had to switch back (to Safari!)”
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Extension limits · 3
Extension support is incomplete; some extensions get killed, run slowly, or are not fully supported.
“Orion's implementation just silently kills your extension threads when the memory manager wants the space then never restarts them.”
“I love Orion, but it's pretty unusable with 1Password set up”
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“it's a great browser and i'm looking forward for it to keep up with the counterparts.”
Missing features · 3
Commenters note no Android version, no history sync, weak picture-in-picture, and Safari dev tools instead of Chrome's.
“I even use Orion on ios and wish there was an Android version.”
“It's almost there for me, but the lack of history sync between devices and its battery consumption are dealbreakers for me. I love it otherwise!!!”
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“Loved Orion but had to switch to Zen because they had an awful Picture-in-picture implementation”
Site compatibility · 2
Some sites like Google Docs or Reddit don't work well.
“It's the one thing that forced me off of Orion and back to Firefox.”
“I switched from brave(ios) to Orion about a month ago and almost I didn't look back.”
Closed source · 1
Some commenters advise against using closed-source browsers.
“I recommend people not to use closed source browsers.”
Often compared with
3 moved from Firefox to Orion
3 moved from Orion to FirefoxSafari16 comments mention both
1 moved from Safari to Orion
2 moved from Orion to Safari
3 moved from Brave to OrionFirefox for iOS2 comments mention both
1 moved from Firefox for iOS to Orion
1 moved from Orion to Firefox for iOS
1 moved from Orion to Zen
1 moved from Orion to Vivaldi
1 moved from Orion to uBlock Origin Lite
Who recommends it in their own words
From the makers not counted in the ranking
“Am building tools around the same concept”
“I decided to take a career break and build an open source project to manage services better.”
“business model of Orion is you are the customer and can pay for it”
Threads where it came up
- An Update on Orion for Linux and Windows 11 mentions
- Orion Browser by Kagi 11 mentions
- Orion 1.0 10 mentions
- Kagi releases alpha version of Orion for Linux 6 mentions
- Introducing Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS 4 mentions
- Back to Kagi 3 mentions
Data: orion.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 44
“I switched to Orion when it was announced that Arc was going on maintenance mode.”
“I have an instance of Orion for spreadsheets.”
“Impractical to support: Orion”
“for my usage, Orion empirically clearly buries Vivaldi & Firefox.”
“The experience on macOS, linux, and iOS was as bad as the Kagi Search experience is good.”
“I use Orion because it's not a product of Apple or Google.”
“I used it on iOS for ad blocking until uBlock's release”
“I'm happy that at least they'll open source it and have a community continue it forward.”
“I like Orion, and I use it on some of my devices.”
“I use Orion (because pay for Orion Plus to support them) specifically because it is not a fork of Chromium.”
“The browser is fine. It does have bugs and needs to be hard closed occasionally.”
“the niche it solved for me for a while was "Safari for optimal performance on mac, but with proper extensions like ublock"”
“then it started getting weird bugs”
“I switched to Orion from Brave and have _mostly_ been pleased with it.”
“I use the Orion browser on my iPhone and it doesn’t have ads.”
“I literally said I use Orion with the "always use desktop mode"”
“using Orion and locking it to "always show me desktop mode"”
“it's a great browser and i'm looking forward for it to keep up with the counterparts.”
“Orion offers custom support for WebExtensions but it’s basically requiring them to manually check and port WebExtensions to work well with WebKit, one by one.”
“This is why I use the Orion browser on iOS.”
“have been using Orion exclusively for a while now”
“Been using Orion for a while now”
“Or Orion, I guess, but it’s not good enough to offset Safari’s iCloud Private Relay.”
“Orion's implementation just silently kills your extension threads when the memory manager wants the space then never restarts them.”
“I had to start using Orion because Firefox iOS sucks so much.”
“Kagi's Orion browser is a far as I know the only one on iOS that supports proper Firefox extensions, including ublock and others.”
“It's still a little too rough around the edges to recommend as a daily driver though.”
“And Orion as well.”
“I use their Orion -browser and its summarise -function, which is very good.”
“I even use Orion on ios and wish there was an Android version.”
“librewolf - same as Orion: 18.29 fingerprint uniqueness”
“It's the one thing that forced me off of Orion and back to Firefox.”
“It's almost there for me, but the lack of history sync between devices and its battery consumption are dealbreakers for me. I love it otherwise!!!”
“I might have to give this a try.”
“I switched from brave(ios) to Orion about a month ago and almost I didn't look back.”
“I have switched from Firefox to Orion on my iPhone a year ago (potentially more?) and had a great experience.”
“due to bugs and battery drain, I had to switch back (to Safari!)”
“there were just too many bugs and I have been using Firefox since”
I tried using Orion mobile for months but I just kept running into so many UI bugs that I had to switch away from it :(. I love Kagi, but Orion just feels unpolished right now
“I love the feature set and layout, but it's been unusable for me as a daily driver on Linux from various bugs.”
“it was so unstable I had to switch away because it kept crashing, glitching and exploding in memory usage”
“I loved Orion and have been using as a daily driver almost since day 1 including paying for it but now it’s completely unusable.”
“Currently on mobile I use Orion--it's the only mobile browser I've found where setting up AdBlocking is reasonably easy.”
“I switched to Orion (and use Safari if a site doesn't work in Orion), which can be a little buggy at times but I'm happy that it's not based on chrome”