Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Dark Reader VS Side Space

Compare Dark Reader VS Side Space and see what are their differences

Dark Reader logo Dark Reader

Reduce eye strain in your browser with this extension that provides a dark theme for browsing.

Side Space logo Side Space

The World's First Al Assistant for Your Tabs
  • Dark Reader Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-27
  • Side Space
    Image date //
    2025-11-17
  • Side Space
    Image date //
    2025-05-13

An Al-powered vertical tabs manager in your side panel.

An alternative to Arcโ€™s Sidebar and Edgeโ€™s Vertical Tabs โ€” now upgraded with a built-in AI assistant.

Side Space gives you complete control over your browsing experience with powerful vertical tab management and Side Copilot, an AI that helps you research, organize, and automate your workflow directly from the side panel.

๐Ÿš€ How do vertical tabs work?

When vertical tabs are enabled, your open tabs are moved from the top of the browser window to the left side panel. This layout stacks tabs vertically instead of horizontally, giving you more space, better visibility, and easier navigationโ€”especially when working with many tabs.

โœจ Features

  • โšก๏ธ Vertical Tabs Panel โ€” Manage tabs and tab groups efficiently in a clean, space-saving sidebar.
  • ๐Ÿ—‚๏ธ Save, restore, and reorder tabs or tab groups with intuitive drag-and-drop.
  • ๐Ÿ”„ Side-by-side layout that keeps all your open tabs visible at a glance.
  • ๐Ÿ” Fuzzy search to instantly find the tab you're looking for.
  • ๐Ÿงน Suspend tabs to save memory and keep your browser running smoothly.
  • โ˜๏ธ Cloud sync (cross-browser) with a single login.
  • ๐ŸŒ› Dark Mode support.
  • ๐Ÿ’พ Space Backup Solutions

    • ๐Ÿ“‘ Export sessions as JSON
    • โ˜๏ธ Sync to the cloud via login
  • โœจ AI-powered Tab Grouping for automatically organizing related tabs.

  • ๐Ÿ”— Group Guardian automatically groups tabs based on URL patterns.

๐Ÿค– Introducing Side Copilot โ€” Your AI Assistant in the Side Panel

Side Copilot brings AI directly into your browsing workflow:

  • Ask questions about the page you're viewing
  • Research topics with auto-opened results
  • Summarize long articles instantly
  • Organize tabs and windows through natural language commands
  • Trigger automated actions across your browser

Just open AI Chat in the extension and start talking to your browser โ€” it does the rest.

Dark Reader

Pricing URL
-
$ Details
Platforms
-
Release Date
-

Side Space

$ Details
Free Trial $39.0 / One-off
Platforms
Google Chrome Firefox Edge Brave Comet Opera
Release Date
2023 October
Startup details
Country
Hong Kong
Founder(s)
Robert Shaw
Employees
1 - 9

Dark Reader features and specs

  • Eye Strain Reduction
    Dark Reader converts bright websites to dark mode, which reduces eye strain and improves visual comfort, especially in low-light environments.
  • Customizable Settings
    The extension offers various customization options like brightness, contrast, and sepia filters, allowing users to adjust the appearance to their liking.
  • Improved Battery Life
    Using dark themes on OLED screens can help save battery life because pixels consume less power when displaying black.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source project, Dark Reader allows for community contributions and transparency, ensuring better security and continuous improvements.
  • Cross-Browser Compatibility
    Dark Reader is available for multiple browser platforms such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge, ensuring a consistent experience across different devices.

Possible disadvantages of Dark Reader

  • Performance Impact
    The extension can sometimes slow down browser performance, particularly on resource-intensive websites or less powerful devices.
  • Inconsistent Behavior
    Not all websites are fully compatible with Dark Reader, leading to occasional rendering issues or incomplete dark mode implementations.
  • Learning Curve
    New users might find the range of settings and customization options overwhelming and might need some time to adjust the extension to suit their needs.
  • Limited Support for Dynamic Content
    Websites with dynamic content or frequent updates may not immediately reflect changes in dark mode, requiring manual adjustments or refreshes.
  • Privacy Concerns
    As with any browser extension, there are potential privacy concerns if the extension collects browsing data, though Dark Reader's open-source nature mitigates this risk to some extent.

Side Space features and specs

  • ๐ŸŒˆ Arc-like Side Panel
    Weโ€™ve built an Arc-like side panel that transforms your tabs into a sleek vertical layout, making it easier than ever to navigate and manage your workspace.
  • ๐Ÿง  Smart AI Grouping
    Itโ€™s not just about organizing tabsโ€”itโ€™s about doing it intelligently. Our AI grouping feature clusters tabs based on content for a streamlined experience. Plus, you have control with our Group Guardian feature, letting you customize tab groupings using URL matches to set your own organizational rules.
  • โ˜๏ธ Spaces & Cloud Sync
    Take productivity to the next level! Save your tabs into different Spaces and we automatically sync them to the cloud. Your organized tabs are accessible across devices, so you can browse seamlessly wherever you are.
  • ๐Ÿค– AI Assistant
    Research, summarize, and organize, chat with your tabs and let Al Assistant help you browse smarter.

Analysis of Dark Reader

Overall verdict

  • Dark Reader is generally well-reviewed and considered good by users who prefer browsing with a dark theme.

Why this product is good

  • Dark Reader is a popular browser extension designed to provide a dark mode for websites that do not natively support it. It helps reduce eye strain during prolonged browsing sessions, especially in low-light conditions, by inverting bright colors and creating a consistent dark theme across websites.

Recommended for

  • Users who experience eye strain from bright screens
  • Individuals who frequently browse in low-light environments
  • People who prefer a consistent dark theme across different websites
  • Users looking for customizable dark mode options for web pages

Analysis of Side Space

Overall verdict

  • SideSpace is a well-regarded browser productivity tool that helps users organize their tabs and workspaces efficiently, making it a solid choice for anyone who struggles with tab overload.

Why this product is good

  • Helps organize and group browser tabs into dedicated spaces, reducing clutter
  • Improves productivity by allowing quick switching between different projects or contexts
  • Offers a clean, intuitive interface that's easy to adopt
  • Saves and restores tab sessions so you never lose your place
  • Reduces memory usage by managing inactive tabs effectively

Recommended for

  • Power users who juggle many browser tabs at once
  • Professionals managing multiple projects or clients simultaneously
  • Researchers and students who need to organize reference materials
  • Remote workers seeking better digital workspace organization
  • Anyone prone to tab overload looking to streamline their browsing

Dark Reader videos

Dark Mode for Google Chrome โ€” Dark Reader

Side Space videos

Side Space 2.0 | The World First AI Assistant for your Tabs

More videos:

  • Demo - Introducing Side Space 1.0

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Dark Reader and Side Space)
Browser Extensions
90 90%
10% 10
Chrome Extensions
0 0%
100% 100
Dark Mode
100 100%
0% 0
Productivity
0 0%
100% 100

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Dark Reader and Side Space.

What makes your product unique?

Side Space's answer:

Side Space combines powerful vertical tab management with an integrated AI assistant, that's something no other browser extension offers.

Instead of choosing between a better tab manager or an AI browser, Side Space gives you both in one clean side panel.

What's the story behind your product?

Side Space's answer:

I am the kind of person who always ends up with too many tabs, too many windows, and no idea where that one page I read yesterday has gone. I tried a bunch of the new AI browsers, but they all felt like replacements for tools I already rely on. I didnโ€™t want a new browser. I just wanted my existing one to feel less chaotic.

So I built Side Copilot for myself first. It helps me manage tabs, jump between windows, find stuff I opened days ago, and generally clean up the mess I constantly create. The thing that changed everything for me was giving it the ability to understand natural commands. I can tell it to group my research tabs or bring back an article from last week and it actually does it. It also has a simple chat mode for quick summaries or translating a page on the spot.

I realized it solved a real problem for me, so I decided to make Side Copilot completely free. Iโ€™m curious how other heavy browser users feel about this. Would an assistant like this make your browsing less stressful?

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Side Space's answer:

  1. The worldโ€™s first AI assistant built for your tabs

Most AI tools only analyze text. Side Copilot controls your tabs, windows, history, and pages using real browser APIs. You can research, summarize, organize, open sites, perform searches, restore sessions, and automate actions โ€” all with natural language.

  1. A true vertical tabs manager, not a browser replacement

You donโ€™t need to switch to Arc or Edge. Side Space turns Chromeโ€™s side panel into a clean vertical tabs system with:

Drag-and-drop tab & group management

Fuzzy search

Memory-saving tab suspension

Saved spaces & session restore

Cloud sync

Dark mode

You get a modern browser experience without leaving Chrome.

  1. Dual AI modes for different tasks

Chat Mode โ†’ instant content analysis (summary, translation, extraction, quick answers)

Agent Mode โ†’ deep automation (organize tabs, clean up windows, run research workflows)

Fast when you need speed, powerful when you need automation.

  1. Page, tab, window, and history tools powered by real browser capabilities

Side Copilot isnโ€™t โ€œjust another chatbot.โ€ It uses more than 20 AI MCP tools built on Chrome Extension APIs:

Tab tools: create, close, group, move

Window tools: tile, arrange, focus

History tools: analyze, find, reopen past pages

Page interaction tools: scroll, navigate, search, capture screenshots

Session tools: restore recently closed tabs/windows

This gives Side Space automation capabilities even AI browsers donโ€™t have.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

Side Space's answer:

Side Space is designed for anyone who works, researches, or creates directly in the browser โ€” especially those who manage dozens of tabs every day. If the browser is your workspace, this is for you.

Productivity-Driven Professionals

Marketers, PMs, developers, designers, analysts โ€” anyone who needs a smarter, faster way to organize tabs, windows, and workflows.

Power Browsers with Endless Tabs

For users juggling 20โ€“200+ tabs across multiple windows. Side Space brings structure, clarity, and smart automation without forcing you to switch browsers.

AI-Forward Users

If you want to control your browser with natural language, automate tasks, and let Side Copilot handle the heavy lifting, this is your perfect tool.

Researchers & Knowledge Workers

Students, academics, journalists, content creators, and anyone who collects and analyzes information online. Summarize, extract, search, and research pages instantly.

People Who Want Arc/Edge-Style Features โ€” But in Chrome

Enjoy a vertical tabs manager, powerful side panel, and full AI assistant experience without giving up the browser you already love.

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Dark Reader and Side Space

Dark Reader Reviews

Top 10 Productivity Apps for MacOSย 2025
I live for dark mode. Anyone whoโ€™s worked with me knows how much I reject working in light mode. Seriously, I donโ€™t know how you light-moders stay relaxed with so much brightness. That said, when it comes to browsing the web, itโ€™s sometimes hard to avoid the bright white background of a blog or article. With one click, Dark Reader strips it all away and returns me to the...
Source: dev.to
7 Best Dark Mode Extensions For Chrome
Using an on-demand dark styles theme generator, this eye-care extensions for google chrome turns on night mode for web pages. Bright color are turned into high contrast, easy-to-read hues at night thanks to Dark Reader.
Source: thedroidguy.com
The 10 best dark mode extensions for Google Chrome in 2022
Dark Reader also provides you with other controls that let you tweak your display however you want. They allow you to change any websiteโ€™s brightness, contrast, font, and other display elements. You can also store the settings for a particular URL so that you do not have to make these adjustments every time. The most notable feature of Dark Reader is its toggle switch that...
Source: chromeready.com

Side Space Reviews

We have no reviews of Side Space yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Dark Reader seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 197 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Dark Reader mentions (197)

  • Dark Mode Sucks
    Install Darkreader, enable Light mode https://darkreader.org/ I think most users are capable of that :). - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Dark Mode Sucks
    Yes. There's a reason that https://darkreader.org/ has 10 million+ installs while no inverse extensions even exist to my knowledge. The entire web is already light-mode first and much of it, including your site (no offense) offers zero built-in support for the provably massive demand that exists for dark-mode color schemes. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Dark Mode Sucks
    Yes. I have Dark Reader[1] on by default for all websites and only disable it when it activly breaks a site, or a site has a suitibly dark theme and Dark Reader thus flips things the wrong way. If a site is borked to the point that Dark Reader can't fix it, I'll use reader mode or just go somewhere else. Your site looks just fine to me. [1] https://darkreader.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Dark Mode Sucks
    This is the privileged majority punching down at minority, not unlike an abled person whining about the existence of accessibility options, or a native-born American complaining about government forms also having a Spanish section after the English section. There's a reason that extensions like Dark Modeยน have 10,000,000+ installs while no "Light Mode" extensions can even exist as far as I can tell: more or less... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Ask HN: Dark Mode for HN is overdue
    Use https://darkreader.org/ Automagic dark mode on every site. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
View more

Side Space mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Side Space yet. Tracking of Side Space recommendations started around Feb 2024.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Dark Reader and Side Space, you can also consider the following products

f.lux - f. lux is a piece of software for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android that provides a blue light filter over your screen. Research suggests limiting our exposure to blue light in the hours before bedtime can help us fall asleep faster.

OneTab - Whenever you find yourself with too many tabs, click the OneTab icon to convert all of your tabs into a list. When you need to access the tabs again, you can either restore them individually or all at once.

Midnight Lizard - Accessible color schemes for all websites

Workona - A better way to work in the browser.

Night Eye - Night Eye is a browser extension that enables dark mode on any website you visit. It does not ruin your browsing experience by simply inverting images.

tabExtend - Easily save tabs and quickly create notes in your browser