Tab Widgets vs PresentBoard: A Connected New Tab Alternative
PresentBoard turns your new tab into a themed dashboard of calendars, to-dos, weather and data widgets. If you like building your own start page but want your inbox, music, files and smart lights on it too, Tab Widgets is worth a look.
Where PresentBoard works well
- Free to use. Its widgets, themes and integrations are available without paying, and there are no ads.
- Strong calendar views. Agenda, weekly, monthly and yearly calendars, fed by Google Calendar or any iCal source.
- Data widgets. A Google Analytics widget, plus graphs and KPIs built from your own JSON or CSV sources — handy if you want business numbers on your new tab.
- 30+ themes and templates. Ready-made looks and layouts get you to a finished dashboard quickly.
- Google Photos backgrounds. Rotate your own albums as the dashboard backdrop.
- Side-by-side search. Send one query to Google, ChatGPT and Gemini at once.
Where Tab Widgets differs
- 70+ specialized widgets. Alongside notes, to-dos, weather and world clocks, you get a Spotify player, Gmail, Google Drive, TradingView markets, currency and unit converters, ambient sounds, alarms and more.
- Connected accounts. Read your inbox, search Drive and control playback without leaving the new tab.
- Smart home controls. Toggle Philips Hue lights and scenes, or use the Sony Bravia remote, straight from your dashboard.
- Ready-made embedded apps. One-click widgets for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, WhatsApp, Discord, YouTube, Google Docs and Maps, plus a general iframe widget for anything else.
- Custom CSS. Restyle the whole dashboard or a single widget when a theme doesn't go far enough.
- Works outside the extension. Open the same dashboard as a web app in any browser, and keep it in sync across devices with Pro.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | PresentBoard | Tab Widgets |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free (up to 10 widgets, 2 pages) or Pro |
| Browsers | Chrome and Chromium browsers | Chrome, Edge, web app |
| Drag-and-drop layout | ✓ | ✓ |
| Notes and to-do lists | ✓ | ✓ |
| Weather and world clocks | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bookmarks and top sites | ✓ | ✓ |
| Countdown and Pomodoro timers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Embedded pages (iframes) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Calendar | ✓ (Google Calendar, iCal) | ✓ (Google Calendar, Pro) |
| News headlines | ✓ | ✓ (RSS feeds) |
| Stocks and markets | ✓ | ✓ (TradingView, Pro) |
| Google Analytics widget | ✓ | ✗ |
| Custom JSON / CSV graphs | ✓ | ✗ |
| Gmail and Google Drive | ✗ | ✓ (Pro) |
| Spotify integration | ✗ | ✓ (Pro) |
| Smart home (Philips Hue) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Currency and unit converters | ✗ | ✓ |
| Themes | 30+ built in | Wallpapers, custom CSS |
| Cloud backup | ✓ (with sign-in) | ✓ (cloud sync, Pro) |
| Ads | ✗ | ✗ |
| Account required | No | No |
Who should switch?
- People who want email, files and music on their new tab, not just calendars and to-dos.
- Users with Philips Hue lights or a Sony Bravia TV who would like to control them from the dashboard.
- Anyone who wants to fine-tune the look with their own CSS, or open the same dashboard as a web app outside Chrome.
If you mainly want iCal calendars, Google Analytics or graphs from your own data — all for free — PresentBoard remains the better fit.
Give it a try from the Chrome Web Store — it's free, no account needed.