If you've been searching for a way to deal with tab overload, you've probably come across both Detab and OneTab. They're both free to start, both promise to clean up your browser — and that's roughly where the similarities end.
OneTab and Detab take fundamentally different approaches to the same problem. Understanding the difference will help you pick the right tool — or tell you whether you need both.
What OneTab does
OneTab is fast and blunt. Click the icon, and all your open tabs collapse into a single page with a list of links. Your browser goes from 40 tabs to 1 in about half a second. Memory usage drops, the tab bar is clear, and you feel immediate relief.
That's the whole pitch — and for a lot of people, it's enough. OneTab is great for a quick reset when things get out of hand. The problem is that OneTab creates a new flat list every time you use it. After a few sessions, you end up with multiple unnamed dumps in a sidebar — a different kind of chaos than the one you started with.
There's no way to name a group of tabs, no sync across devices, no search, and no way to move individual tabs between groups. It's a fire extinguisher, not a filing cabinet.
What Detab does
Detab is a library for your browser. You save tabs into named Collections — "Product research," "Week of Jul 8," "Side project ideas" — and organize Collections into Spaces for different areas of your life. Your library is synced across every browser where you're signed in, so a tab saved on your work laptop is available on your personal Mac without emailing yourself a link.
The emphasis is on organization you'll actually navigate. Collections have names you chose. Spaces keep your work context separate from your personal browsing. Search finds any saved tab by title or URL.
Detab takes a little more intentionality than OneTab — saving to a named collection is one more decision than clicking the OneTab icon — but the result is a tab library you can actually use rather than a growing list of anonymous dumps.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | OneTab | Detab |
|---|---|---|
| Collapse all tabs instantly | ✓ Yes | ~ Via Collections |
| Named groups | ✗ No | ✓ Collections |
| Workspaces / contexts | ✗ No | ✓ Spaces |
| Cross-device sync | ✗ No | ✓ Yes (signed in) |
| Search saved tabs | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Reorder / move individual tabs | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Free tier | ✓ Fully free | ✓ Free with limits |
| Browser support | Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera | Chrome (more coming) |
Which one should you use?
Choose OneTab if…
You want the fastest possible way to clear your tab bar and don't need to organize or retrieve those tabs later. You're on Firefox or another non-Chrome browser. You want something with zero setup and zero decisions.
Choose Detab if…
You want a library of saved tabs you'll actually browse and reopen. You work across multiple computers or devices and need your tabs to follow you. You want to keep different projects or contexts in separate spaces — work, personal, research.
Can you use both?
Yes — and some people do. OneTab handles emergency tab dumps when you need a quick clear. Detab handles intentional saving when you want to organize tabs you'll come back to. They're complementary tools for different moments in your workflow.
That said, most people find they can replace OneTab entirely once Detab becomes a habit. The "save to a collection" gesture replaces the "nuke everything to a list" gesture, but with a result you can actually navigate weeks later.
See the difference for yourself
Detab is free to start. Save a few collections today and see whether the library approach works for you.
Try Detab free