A Chromium-based browser that doesn't suffocate you with tab clutter. Sounds like a utopia, but Vivaldi has been solving this pain for several years now, and version 8.0 (May 2026) does it even better.

The power user's problem isn't "opening a site." The problem is having 40 tabs open, titles compressed into three-letter stubs, and switching between tasks turning into an archaeological dig. The horizontal tab bar was designed for 4:3 monitors twenty years ago, today it's an anachronism.

Vivaldi solves this architecturally: vertical tabs, grouping, hibernation, and fine-grained interface customization. Below is a breakdown of key features and an honest look at who this browser is for.

💡 Quick overview:

• Enable vertical tabs and read full titles, even when you have 80 of them
• Group tabs into stacks and workspaces, send heavy ones to hibernation
• Customize the interface via CSS, mouse gestures, and command chains
• Built-in mail, calendar, notes, and RSS replace 4 separate apps

Vertical tabs: the main reason to switch

The concept is simple: tabs line up top to bottom instead of left to right, in a column along the left edge of the window. The panel width is adjustable, and hovering shows full titles with page thumbnails.

Why this works in practice. Modern monitors are widescreen, 16:9, 21:9, even 32:9. Sites rarely occupy the full width: most pages are constrained to a 1200-1400 px container. Hundreds of pixels of empty space remain on the sides. The vertical tab panel occupies exactly this space, you don't lose a single line of useful height.

Second argument, readability. On a horizontal bar, after 15-20 tabs, titles are reduced to the first 3-4 letters. Distinguishing between "Google D…", "Google A…", and "GitHub,…" without switching is impossible. The vertical panel shows 30-40 characters of the title, enough to find what you need instantly.

Loading mechanics. On startup, Vivaldi doesn't load all tabs at once. Tabs from the previous session appear grayed out, they're "frozen" until the first click. This saves gigabytes of RAM. When you accumulate more tabs than fit on screen, a scrollbar appears, more convenient than endless compression.

For context: I used to use the Tree Style Tab extension for Firefox, precisely for vertical tabs. Over time it started conflicting with browser updates, and Chrome-like browsers don't allow extensions to modify the interface at that level. Vivaldi built this functionality natively, and that's a key difference from "vanilla" Chrome.

Working with tabs: stacks, workspaces, and hibernation

Vertical tabs alone aren't enough, you need grouping control. Vivaldi provides three layers of organization:

Tab Stacking. Drag one tab onto another, they combine into a two-level stack. Hovering reveals previews of all pages in the group. Convenient for thematic clusters: "API documentation", "competitor research", "open tickets".

Workspaces. These are separate spaces with their own set of tabs. You switch between them by icon or hotkey, and see only the tabs of the selected workspace. Typical scenario: "Development" workspace (localhost, GitHub, documentation), "Communication" workspace (email, Slack, social media), "Research" workspace (articles, search). Physically it's one browser instance, memory doesn't multiply.

Tab Hibernation. Tabs you haven't accessed for a set time are automatically unloaded from memory. You can also do it manually, right-click, "Hibernate Tab". The difference from "freezing" at startup: hibernation triggers at any point during work, not just on launch.

In practice, this gives predictable RAM consumption. Without hibernation, 100 tabs can take 6-8 GB. With background tab hibernation, 1.5-2 GB. The numbers depend on specific sites, but that's the order of savings.

Mouse gestures and command chains

Vivaldi supports mouse gestures out of the box. Hold the right button, draw a line down, the tab closes. Line up and right, a new one opens. There are about 20 gestures, and each can be reassigned.

For those who prefer keyboard, there's Quick Commands, analogous to a command line inside the browser. Press F2, type "tab", select the needed action from the dropdown. Works faster than reaching for the mouse.

Command Chains, an advanced feature. You build a sequence of actions and assign it to a single keyboard shortcut. For example: "open Development workspace → open localhost → open developer panel → switch tab to mobile view". With one shortcut.

Interface customization via CSS

A rare capability for a Chromium browser. Vivaldi lets you modify the appearance through custom CSS, a custom.css file in the installation folder. You can change almost everything: panel margins, font sizes, element colors, hide unnecessary buttons.

Example from practice: a bookmark bar with 80+ icons without text labels. The standard row height isn't enough, the fourth row of icons gets cut off. Through CSS, you reduce margins, and all 80+ icons fit in three compact rows.

The file is located at:

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C:\Program Files\Vivaldi\Application\[version]\resources\vivaldi\

After each browser update, custom.css needs to be copied again, the version folder changes. This is the only downside of the method.

Built-in mail, calendar, and RSS

Vivaldi Mail, a full-featured email client inside the browser. Supports IMAP and POP3, multiple accounts, unified inbox. Plus a built-in calendar with CalDAV sync and an RSS reader without algorithmic feed.

Scenario: you're working on a task, email open in the sidebar. A message arrives from a client, you respond without leaving the current tab or launching a separate program. For single-monitor users, this saves dozens of context switches per day.

Feed Reader works without algorithms, you see publications in chronological order, not in the order a platform "recommends". Standard RSS and Atom are supported.

Privacy without extensions

Vivaldi blocks ads and trackers at the browser level, installing uBlock Origin isn't required. The built-in blocker updates lists automatically and shows a counter of blocked elements on each page.

Worth mentioning separately, history with statistics. Besides the standard list of visited pages, Vivaldi shows a calendar view with an activity graph: how many pages viewed per day, how many unique domains, at what times the most activity. Data is stored locally, unlike Google My Activity, where statistics go to the server.

Screenshots and picture-in-picture

The page capture button takes a screenshot of the entire page with scrolling, or a selected fragment. No need for an extension like GoFullPage or a third-party tool.

Pop-out Video (PiP) works like in Chrome: right-click on a video, "Picture in Picture", and the video detaches into a floating window above all applications. For sites where the option doesn't appear in the context menu, there's the Picture-in-Picture Extension, which forcibly finds video on the page.

Quick way to launch PiP via console, works in both Vivaldi and Chrome:

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document.getElementsByTagName('video')[0].requestPictureInPicture();

⁉️🤔 Frequently asked questions

Is Vivaldi just Chrome with a different theme?

No. The rendering engine is the same (Chromium), but Vivaldi completely rewrites the interface layer. It supports extensions from the Chrome Web Store and developer tools work, exactly what you need from a Chromium base. But on top of that, a custom UI in React, built-in apps (mail, calendar, notes), and a customization system that Chrome doesn't have. Extensions from the Chrome Web Store install and work. DevTools open with F12 exactly like in Chrome. And the tab panel, sidebar, gestures, command chains, built-in mail, and CSS customization are Vivaldi Technologies' own developments, not extensions.

Does Vivaldi heavily load the system?

With background tab hibernation, RAM consumption is comparable to Chrome with the same number of tabs, and at 50+ tabs Vivaldi often wins because it doesn't keep tabs you haven't accessed in memory. CPU load is comparable: both browsers use the Blink engine and V8. Additional modules (mail, calendar, RSS) add less than 100 MB each when idle.

Do settings transfer between devices?

Yes, through Vivaldi Sync. Bookmarks, passwords, notes, settings, history, open tabs, and extensions (without extension data) are synchronized. Synchronization is end-to-end encrypted: the encryption password is stored only with you, the server has no access to it.

Can Vivaldi be used for web development?

Fully. Developer tools are the same as in Chrome: Elements, Console, Network, Performance, Application, Lighthouse. Plus workspaces conveniently separate test environments: one workspace with localhost, another with production, a third with documentation. And the built-in full-page screenshot tool is useful when reviewing layouts.

How does Vivaldi differ from Brave and Edge?

All three are on Chromium, but with different ideologies. Brave emphasizes privacy and cryptocurrency rewards. Edge is deeply integrated with the Microsoft ecosystem and Copilot. Vivaldi focuses on interface flexibility and built-in productivity tools, vertical tabs, workspaces, mail, calendar, command chains. Brave and Edge also added vertical tabs, but Vivaldi's implementation remains the most refined in terms of customization.

Is it worth switching to Vivaldi in 2026

If you keep 20-30-50 tabs open and are tired of the horizontal bar, switch. Vertical tabs coupled with workspaces and hibernation solve the navigation problem radically. After a week of use, muscle memory forms, and returning to a horizontal bar feels like a step backward.

If you're a developer, additional benefit in CSS interface customization and built-in DevTools without losing compatibility with Chrome extensions. If you value privacy, the built-in ad and tracker blocker works without extra hassle.

Vivaldi isn't for everyone. If you always have 4-5 tabs open and don't touch browser settings for years, the difference from Chrome will be minimal. But for power users who live in a browser 8-10 hours a day, this is one of the few tools that genuinely increases productivity.

Try Vivaldi for a week. Set up vertical tabs, configure a couple of workspaces, and enable background hibernation. If after a week you don't want to go back, you're in the target audience for this browser.