The 6 Best New Tab Extensions for Chrome in 2026

When you open a new tab in Chrome, you get the same search box and a few shortcuts. A new tab extension replaces that page with something more useful: a dashboard, a to-do list, a news feed, or just a calmer place to start.

We compared nine popular new tab extensions and picked the six that are worth installing in 2026, with what each one is best at and where it falls short.

Our top pick: Tab Widgets. Build your own new tab from 80+ widgets, like notes, weather, timers, news and pixel pets, free and with no account. Upgrade to Pro and your Google Calendar, Gmail, Tasks and Drive sit on the same page.

---

How we picked

We judged each extension on five things:

• What it does on the new tab: widgets, shortcuts, feeds and integrations.
• Customization: layouts, wallpapers, themes and how far you can change them.
• Price and the free tier: what you get without paying.
• Browser support: Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
• Whether it's maintained and well rated: when it was last updated, and its store rating.

User counts, ratings and update dates are from each extension's Chrome Web Store listing in October 2026.

Disclosure: we make Tab Widgets. We've put it first because it's the most complete widget dashboard here, and we've been upfront about where the others are a better fit.

---

Quick comparison

---

1. Tab Widgets

Best for: turning your new tab into a dashboard of everything you check every day.

Tab Widgets turns every new tab into a dashboard you build yourself, from 80+ widgets: sticky notes, reminders, weather, clocks, a Pomodoro timer, ambient sounds, news, a calculator, countdowns, Philips Hue controls, and an embed widget for other websites. Keep one calm, minimal page, or build a page for each part of your day (work, study, travel) and keep extra widgets tucked away in a dock until you need them.

Your day at a glance. With Pro, Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Tasks and Google Drive sit right on your new tab, so you can check your agenda, clear your inbox and tick off tasks without opening another tab. Your browser fetches them straight from Google, and the content never passes through our servers.

A little fun, too. Version 2.0 added pixel pets that live on your new tab. Throw a ball, drop a treat or shoot some hoops between tabs.

Pop any widget out. Picture-in-picture floats any widget, like a timer, a note or your to-do list, in its own window that stays on top while you work in other apps. Add video and GIF wallpapers, light and dark mode and your own layouts, and no two setups look the same.

Pros

• 80+ widgets, from notes and timers to Gmail, Google Calendar and Philips Hue.
• Pages, a dock and picture-in-picture keep your tools a click away.
• Pixel pets, video wallpapers and themes make opening a new tab genuinely fun.
• Free to start with no account, and your Google data goes straight from Google to your browser.
• Featured on the Chrome Web Store, a badge Google gives extensions that follow its recommended practices.

Cons

• Chrome and Edge only (plus a web version), with no Firefox or Safari extension.
• Newer than Momentum or Speed Dial 2, so it has far fewer store reviews so far.
• The Google widgets, RSS, Spotify and cloud sync are part of Pro.

Price: free for up to 10 widgets on 2 pages, with no account, and pets are free too (1 per widget). Pro is US$4.99 a month or US$44.99 a year (prices vary by region), with a 30-day money-back guarantee. It unlocks unlimited widgets and pages, the Google widgets, RSS, Spotify, TradingView, cloud sync and more layout options. See pricing.

• See all the widgets
• Turn your new tab into a productivity dashboard

---

2. Momentum

Best for: a calm new tab that asks for your one focus for the day.

Momentum is one of the best-known new tab extensions, with 2 million users on Chrome alone. Each new tab shows a daily photo, the time, a greeting, an inspirational quote and the one thing you said you'd focus on today. There's a simple to-do list too.

Pros

• Polished and calming, with a beautiful photo every day.
• Available on Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, with an iOS app.

Cons

• Many extras, like unlimited Focus Mode, a vision board and Tab Stash, need Plus.
• It's built around focus, not a dashboard, so there's little room for your own widgets.

Price: free, or Momentum Plus at US$39.95 a year.

• Install Momentum from the Chrome Web Store
• Tab Widgets vs Momentum: a side-by-side comparison

---

3. Bonjourr

Best for: a minimal, good-looking new tab that's completely free.

Bonjourr greets you with the time, the weather and your quick links over 4K photo and video backgrounds that change through the day. It also has notes, a Pomodoro timer, quotes, custom fonts and custom CSS. It's open source, needs no account, collects no data, and has no paid tier. With a 4.9 rating from over 24,000 ratings, it's one of the best-reviewed new tab extensions on the Chrome Web Store.

Pros

• Free and open source, funded by donations.
• Clean and fast, and works on Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.

Cons

• Deliberately minimal: no calendar, email or dashboard-style widgets.

Price: free.

• Install Bonjourr from the Chrome Web Store
• Bonjourr website

---

4. daily.dev

Best for: developers who want tech news on every new tab.

daily.dev swaps the new tab for a personalized feed of developer articles from over 2,000 sources. You choose topics such as React or Kubernetes, and can upvote, comment and join groups called Squads. It's rated 4.9 from almost 3,000 ratings.

Pros

• The best option on this list if you're a developer.
• Free and open source, with an optional Plus tier.

Cons

• It's a news feed with a row of shortcuts, not a dashboard: no clock, weather or notes.
• Not much use if you don't work in tech.

Price: free, or daily.dev Plus.

• Install daily.dev from the Chrome Web Store

---

5. start.me

Best for: organising lots of bookmarks into start pages you can share.

start.me turns your new tab into a page of bookmark lists, RSS feeds, notes, to-dos and widgets, saved to your start.me account so it follows you between browsers and devices. Pages can be shared, which makes it popular with teams.

Pros

• Good for large collections of links, with bookmark import.
• Pages work on any device, and can be shared with a team.

Cons

• The Chrome extension itself hasn't been updated since January 2024.
• The free plan shows ads and is limited to three pages, and widgets like Calendar and Stock Quotes need PRO.
• It's built around an account, so it's less private than local-first options.

Price: free with ads, or start.me PRO at $25 a year.

• Install start.me from the Chrome Web Store

---

6. Speed Dial 2 New Tab

Best for: visual bookmarks organised into groups.

Speed Dial 2 is a long-running new tab extension. It shows your favorite sites as a grid of thumbnails that you sort into groups like Work or Fun, with themes, custom backgrounds and a Focus Mode that blocks distracting sites on a schedule.

Pros

• Unlimited bookmarks and groups for free.
• Available on Chrome, Edge and Firefox, with mobile apps.

Cons

• Its Chrome Web Store rating is low (2.2 from 7,700 ratings), so read recent reviews before installing.
• Sync and backups need a Pro account.

Price: free, or Speed Dial 2 Pro.

• Install Speed Dial 2 from the Chrome Web Store
• Speed Dial 2 website

---

Not recommended in 2026

You'll still find these three in other lists, but we no longer recommend them for a new install.

Infinity New Tab (Pro) is a popular grid of website shortcuts with wallpapers and a sidebar of extras, rated 4.7 from over 24,000 ratings. But in December 2025, security researchers linked its publisher to ShadyPanda, a campaign that turned browser extensions into spyware through updates. The report doesn't say Infinity itself did anything malicious, and its developers deny any wrongdoing (in Chinese). But a new tab extension sees every tab you open, so we'd pick one from a publisher without that history.

NightTab and Tabliss are well-loved, free and open source, but neither has been updated in a long time.

NightTab is a sleek grid of bookmark tiles with lots of control over themes, fonts and colors. Its Chrome extension was last updated in June 2024.

• NightTab on the Chrome Web Store

Tabliss offers beautiful backgrounds and simple widgets like a clock, quotes and search. Its Chrome extension was last updated in April 2022.

• Tabliss on the Chrome Web Store

If you liked NightTab or Tabliss, Bonjourr is the closest maintained alternative. If you wanted Infinity's grid of shortcuts, try Speed Dial 2.

---

Which new tab extension should you choose?

• You want your calendar, email, notes and tools on every new tab: Tab Widgets.
• You want a calm page that keeps you focused: Momentum.
• You mostly jump between the same sites: Speed Dial 2.
• You want something free, minimal and open source: Bonjourr.
• You're a developer and want curated tech news on every new tab: daily.dev.
• You manage a lot of bookmarks, or share pages with a team: start.me.

Other options worth a look: Anori, a free, open-source widget dashboard, and Protopage, a long-running start page with a strong RSS reader.

Tip: start with one extension and use it for a week. If you're reaching for it without thinking, it's earning its place.

---

How to install a new tab extension (and switch back)

In Chrome

1. Open the extension's page on the Chrome Web Store and click Add to Chrome.
2. Open a new tab. Chrome asks whether to keep the change: choose Keep it.
3. To go back to Chrome's default new tab, go to chrome://extensions and turn off or remove the extension.

In Microsoft Edge

1. Install the extension from the Microsoft Edge Add-ons store, or from the Chrome Web Store after allowing extensions from other stores.
2. Open a new tab and keep the change when Edge asks.
3. To switch back, go to edge://extensions and turn off or remove the extension.

For more on making your new tab your own, see our guide to customizing your browser's new tab page.

---

Frequently asked questions