At a high level, WebCatalog is built around turning websites into dedicated desktop apps, while Wavebox is a productivity-focused browser that brings web apps, tabs, and accounts together in one place.
Both support multiple accounts, isolated sessions, workspaces, extensions, and productivity features. The main difference is the experience: WebCatalog makes web apps feel more like independent desktop applications, while Wavebox keeps them within a browser-centered workflow.
In this guide, we’ll look at the key differences between WebCatalog and Wavebox to help you understand how each one works.
What Is WebCatalog?
WebCatalog lets you turn websites into desktop apps with their own windows, icons, cookies, and sessions.
Instead of keeping Gmail, Slack, Notion, or other tools inside browser tabs, you can launch them like regular desktop applications. WebCatalog also supports separate profiles and Spaces, making it easier to use multiple accounts for the same service without constantly signing in and out.
WebCatalog offers a catalog of more than 50,000 web apps, while also allowing you to create a custom app from virtually any website.
Key WebCatalog features
- Turn websites into dedicated desktop apps
- Separate cookies and sessions between apps
- Use multiple accounts for the same service
- Organize apps and accounts into Spaces
- Create custom apps from websites
- Add extensions to individual apps
- App lock and privacy controls
- Cloud sync across devices
WebCatalog is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
What Is Wavebox?
Wavebox takes a different approach. Rather than turning each website into a standalone desktop app, Wavebox works as a Chromium-based productivity browser built around web apps.
Apps, websites, and tabs can be organized into Spaces and Groups inside the Wavebox interface. Different Spaces can maintain separate cookies, making it possible to stay signed in to multiple accounts at the same time.
Wavebox also includes features such as split-screen browsing, Chrome extensions, unified search, Focus Mode, notifications, and a built-in AI assistant.
Key Wavebox features
- Chromium-based productivity browser
- Spaces and Groups for organizing work
- Multiple account support
- Split-screen browsing
- Chrome extension support
- Notifications and unread badges
- Unified search
- Built-in AI assistant
- Focus Mode
Wavebox is also available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
The Main Difference: Desktop Apps vs Productivity Browser
The biggest difference between WebCatalog and Wavebox is how they organize your web apps.
With WebCatalog, a website can become its own desktop app. It gets a separate window and icon in your Dock or taskbar, and it can maintain its own cookies, sessions, extensions, and settings.
With Wavebox, your apps primarily live inside one productivity-focused browser environment. Spaces, Groups, tabs, and the sidebar help you organize different accounts and workflows without leaving Wavebox.
So the difference largely comes down to workflow.
If you like the idea of opening Gmail, Slack, Notion, or another website as separate desktop apps, WebCatalog is designed around that experience.
If you prefer keeping apps and browser tabs together inside one highly customizable browser, Wavebox takes that approach.
Multiple Accounts and Workspaces
Both platforms can help if you manage multiple accounts.
WebCatalog keeps apps and accounts separated through dedicated app sessions, Profiles, and Spaces. A Space can contain the apps and accounts for a particular client, project, or part of your life.
Wavebox uses Spaces, Groups, and Profiles. Spaces isolate cookies so that, for example, you can use different Gmail accounts without repeatedly signing in and out.
The concepts are similar, but the experience is different: WebCatalog emphasizes app-like desktop workflows, while Wavebox keeps the experience closer to a browser.
Which One Should You Use?
The choice depends on how you prefer to work.
WebCatalog may suit your workflow if you want:
- Websites to behave more like desktop apps
- Separate windows and Dock/taskbar icons
- Independent cookies and sessions
- Different extensions and settings for individual apps
- Spaces for separating clients, projects, or accounts
Wavebox may suit your workflow if you want:
- A productivity-focused Chromium browser
- Apps and normal browser tabs in the same environment
- Groups and Spaces inside one browser
- Split-screen browsing
- Built-in AI tools and browser-focused productivity features
Final Thoughts
WebCatalog and Wavebox solve a similar problem in different ways.
WebCatalog turns the web apps you use every day into a more desktop-like experience, with dedicated windows, separate sessions, and organized Spaces.
Wavebox takes the browser itself and redesigns it around productivity, combining apps, tabs, accounts, Groups, and Spaces in one environment.
If your workflow revolves around web apps but you want them to feel like independent desktop applications, WebCatalog offers an alternative to keeping everything inside a traditional browser.