Browser Tamer is a free, open-source browser picker for Windows and Linux. Its rules can match regex, window titles, and process names, call Lua scripts, and run links through a cleaning pipeline. It's built for people who like to script.
Switchbar is built for everyday use: a clear picker, rules you set in a few clicks, and clean links by default. It's free and works on Windows and Mac.
At a glance
| Switchbar | Browser Tamer | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A free picker that opens every link in the right browser, profile, or app | An open-source browser picker and link router for Windows and Linux |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows | Windows, Linux; macOS in development |
| Picker | Your favorite browsers, profiles, and apps in one row, centered or under your pointer, with keyboard shortcuts | A radial menu with number shortcuts and link editing |
| Browser profiles | Any profile, plus Incognito and InPrivate windows | Detects browser profiles and private modes; Firefox containers through an extension |
| Rules | URL, domain, or email address with wildcards, set in a few clicks or from the picker | Text or regex rules on URLs, window titles, and process names, plus Lua scripting |
| Link cleanup | Removes tracking parameters and expands short links, on by default | Unwraps Safe Links, expands short links, removes trackers, and supports custom substitutions |
What is Switchbar?
Switchbar is a free browser picker for Windows and Mac. Make it your default browser, and every link you click shows a row of your favorite browsers, profiles, and apps. Choose with a click or a keystroke, and check "Remember this choice" to turn that decision into a rule. It needs no account.
What is Browser Tamer?
Browser Tamer is an Apache 2.0-licensed link router for Windows and Linux. It shows a radial picker when no rule matches, and its rules can match text or regex against the URL, the window title, or the process name, or call Lua functions. A pipeline debugger shows each step a link goes through. This comparison is based on Browser Tamer 6.
1. Easy to pick up
Browser Tamer is a powerful setup if you like to script. Switchbar keeps things approachable: your favorite browsers, profiles, and apps sit in one row with keyboard shortcuts, and there's no rule syntax to learn. Check "Remember this choice" in the picker to create a rule, drag rules into order, and export them to another computer.
2. Email links too
Switchbar handles email links as well, so you can choose a mail app or webmail account each time, right alongside your browsers.
3. Windows and Mac, today
Browser Tamer runs on Windows and Linux, with a Mac version in development. Switchbar works the same way on Windows and Mac today, which helps if you use both.
4. Clean links by default
Both apps clean up links. In Switchbar it's on from the start: tracking parameters are removed, Outlook Safe Links are unwrapped, and common short links are expanded, with nothing to configure.
Moving from Browser Tamer
- Download Switchbar and make it your default browser.
- Pick your favorite browsers, profiles, and apps from the ones it finds.
- Recreate your most-used rules by checking "Remember this choice" the next time those links come up.
Which one should you choose?
Browser Tamer is still a good fit if you:
- Want free, open-source software you can inspect and modify
- Want rules based on regex, window titles, or process names, or scripted in Lua
- Use Linux
- Want a command line for opening links and managing browsers
Switchbar is the better fit if you:
- Want a picker that's easy to use from the first link
- Prefer simple rules over a rule engine
- Want to choose where email links open too
- Use a Mac, or both Windows and Mac
Get the right browser for every link without learning a rule engine: try Switchbar for free.
