Published February 23, 2026 · 22 min read
Chrome extensions are the most underrated productivity multiplier available to developers and founders. A well-chosen set of extensions can shave hours off your workweek, surface insights you would have missed, and automate the repetitive tasks that drain your focus. The problem is that the Chrome Web Store has over 200,000 extensions, and most of them are mediocre, outdated, or outright security risks.
We tested and vetted every extension on this list. Each one is actively maintained in 2026, has strong user reviews, and delivers genuine value. We organized them into six categories: developer tools, productivity, SEO, AI, security, and shopping. For every extension, you will find a clear explanation of what it does, why it is worth installing, whether it is free or paid, and a direct link to install it.
Whether you are a frontend developer debugging layout issues, a founder optimizing your landing page for conversions, or a power user who wants to get more done in less time, this list has something for you. Install the ones that match your workflow, ignore the rest, and watch your daily efficiency jump.
These extensions are built for people who build things. Whether you are inspecting React component trees, auditing page performance, or reverse-engineering a competitor's tech stack, these tools give you superpowers that Chrome DevTools alone cannot match. Every serious developer should have at least half of these installed.
What it does: React Developer Tools adds two new tabs to Chrome DevTools — Components and Profiler. The Components tab lets you inspect the React component tree, view and edit props and state in real time, and navigate the hierarchy of any React application. The Profiler tab records performance data so you can identify components that re-render too often or take too long to render.
Why it is useful: If you work with React in any capacity, this extension is non-negotiable. Debugging state issues, understanding component hierarchies in unfamiliar codebases, and profiling render performance are all dramatically easier with this tool. It also lets you jump directly from a component in the DevTools to its source code in your editor, saving the tedious process of searching through files manually.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source, maintained by the React team at Meta.
Install React DevToolsWhat it does: The Vue.js Devtools extension provides a dedicated panel in Chrome DevTools for inspecting Vue component trees, Vuex/Pinia state management stores, event timelines, and router information. You can edit component data live, time-travel through state mutations, and inspect custom events as they fire.
Why it is useful: Vue's reactivity system is powerful but can be opaque when things go wrong. This extension makes the entire reactive data flow visible. You can watch exactly which state change triggered which re-render, inspect store mutations in chronological order, and modify data on the fly to test edge cases without restarting your dev server. It supports Vue 2 and Vue 3, including the Composition API.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source, maintained by the Vue.js core team.
Install Vue.js DevtoolsWhat it does: Wappalyzer identifies the technologies used on any website you visit. It detects content management systems, ecommerce platforms, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools, CDNs, hosting providers, marketing automation tools, payment processors, and hundreds of other technologies. Results appear instantly when you click the extension icon.
Why it is useful: Competitive intelligence is a massive advantage for founders and developers. When you see a fast, well-designed site, Wappalyzer tells you exactly what stack powers it. When a competitor launches a new feature, you can check if they switched frameworks or added new tools. Sales teams use it for lead qualification, developers use it for technology research, and founders use it to understand what the best companies in their space are building with.
Free or paid: Free tier available with basic technology detection. Paid plans ($199+/month) add lead generation, bulk lookups, and API access. The free browser extension covers what most individuals need.
Install WappalyzerWhat it does: Lighthouse is Google's open-source auditing tool that analyzes web pages for performance, accessibility, best practices, SEO, and Progressive Web App compliance. It runs a battery of tests and produces a detailed report with scores, diagnostics, and actionable recommendations for improvement. While Lighthouse is built into Chrome DevTools, the extension provides a convenient one-click interface.
Why it is useful: Performance and accessibility directly impact your search rankings, user experience, and conversion rates. Lighthouse quantifies exactly where your site falls short and tells you how to fix it. A page that scores 45 on performance with a 6-second load time is losing visitors and ranking positions. Lighthouse tells you whether it is render-blocking CSS, unoptimized images, excessive JavaScript, or server response time — and ranks the fixes by potential impact.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source, maintained by Google Chrome team.
Install LighthouseWhat it does: JSON Viewer automatically formats and syntax-highlights JSON data displayed in your browser. Instead of seeing a wall of unformatted text when you open a JSON API endpoint, you get a collapsible, color-coded, readable tree view. It also validates JSON structure and lets you search within large JSON documents.
Why it is useful: Developers interact with JSON constantly — API responses, configuration files, data exports, webhook payloads. Reading raw JSON in the browser is painful and error-prone. JSON Viewer turns every JSON response into a navigable, searchable document. Collapsible nodes let you drill into deeply nested structures without losing context. The difference between debugging an API response as raw text versus a formatted tree view is the difference between 10 minutes and 10 seconds.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source.
Install JSON ViewerWhat it does: WhatFont lets you identify fonts on any web page by simply hovering over text. Click the extension icon, hover over any text element, and it instantly displays the font family, weight, size, line height, and color. Click on the text to pin a detailed tooltip showing the full font stack and CSS properties.
Why it is useful: Design decisions happen fast, and being able to quickly identify a font you like on another site saves significant time. Instead of digging through DevTools inspecting elements and scrolling through CSS properties, you hover and click. Designers use it for inspiration and consistency checks. Developers use it to verify that the correct fonts are loading. Founders use it when they see a competitor's site that looks great and want to achieve a similar feel.
Free or paid: Completely free.
Install WhatFontWhat it does: ColorZilla is an advanced eyedropper, color picker, and gradient generator. Click the eyedropper icon, hover over any element on any web page, and it displays the exact color value in hex, RGB, HSL, or other formats. It includes a full-featured color picker, a gradient CSS generator, a color history palette, and a webpage color analyzer that extracts the dominant colors from any site.
Why it is useful: Color consistency across a brand is critical, and ColorZilla makes it effortless to grab exact colors from anywhere on the web. The gradient generator alone saves hours of manual CSS work — pick your colors visually, adjust stops and angles, and copy the generated CSS. The page color analyzer is invaluable for competitive analysis: see exactly which color palette a well-designed competitor is using.
Free or paid: Completely free. One of the oldest and most trusted Chrome extensions, active since 2012.
Install ColorZillaWhat it does: CSS Peeper is a visual CSS inspector that presents styles in a designer-friendly format rather than the raw CSS you see in DevTools. Click the extension, then click any element on a page to see its styles presented as a clean, organized card — colors, fonts, dimensions, spacing, borders, and shadows all laid out visually. It also extracts all images and colors used on the page into exportable lists.
Why it is useful: Chrome DevTools shows you every CSS property in a dense, technical format. CSS Peeper distills that information into the properties designers and frontend developers actually care about. The asset extraction feature is particularly powerful — click one button to see every image on the page with download links and dimensions, or view every color used on the site in a single palette. It bridges the gap between design and development workflows.
Free or paid: Completely free.
Install CSS PeeperWhat it does: Responsive Viewer displays your web page across multiple screen sizes simultaneously in a single browser tab. Instead of resizing your browser window or using DevTools device emulation one device at a time, you see your page rendered on phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops all at once. You can customize device profiles, sync scrolling across all viewports, and take screenshots of all views simultaneously.
Why it is useful: Testing responsive design by resizing the browser window is slow and does not catch all breakpoint issues. Responsive Viewer shows you every breakpoint simultaneously, so layout bugs are immediately visible. Synced scrolling lets you verify that content flows correctly at every width. The screenshot feature is perfect for client presentations and QA documentation — one click produces a visual showing your site on every target device.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source.
Install Responsive ViewerWhat it does: Octotree adds a sidebar to GitHub that displays a file tree for any repository. Instead of clicking through folders one by one in the GitHub web interface, you get an IDE-like file explorer with instant navigation, file search, and bookmarking. It also supports private repositories, GitHub Enterprise, and has built-in code review enhancements.
Why it is useful: Navigating large repositories on GitHub's web interface is painfully slow. Every folder click is a page load. Octotree eliminates this by giving you the entire repository structure in a collapsible sidebar, just like your local IDE. You can jump to any file instantly, search by filename, and bookmark files you reference frequently. For code reviews, it shows the full file tree of changed files so you can navigate the pull request with context.
Free or paid: Free tier available for public repositories. Pro ($4.99/month) adds private repository support, multiple GitHub accounts, and additional features.
Install OctotreeWhat it does: Web Vitals measures Google's Core Web Vitals metrics — Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) — in real time as you browse. The extension icon changes color to indicate whether the current page passes (green), needs improvement (yellow), or fails (red) Google's performance thresholds.
Why it is useful: Core Web Vitals are a confirmed Google ranking factor. If your site fails these metrics, you are losing search positions to competitors who pass them. This extension lets you monitor vitals on every page you visit — your own sites, competitor sites, and sites you admire. The ambient badge gives you a constant awareness of real-world performance without needing to run a full Lighthouse audit every time.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source, maintained by the Google Chrome team.
Install Web VitalsWhat it does: daily.dev replaces your new tab page with a personalized developer news feed. It aggregates content from hundreds of developer blogs, publications, and communities — including Dev.to, Hashnode, freeCodeCamp, Medium engineering blogs, and official documentation blogs — and surfaces the most relevant articles based on your interests and reading history.
Why it is useful: Staying current with the developer ecosystem is important but time-consuming. daily.dev curates the signal from the noise, so instead of browsing five different sites and Twitter for tech news, you get the best articles delivered to your new tab page. The personalization engine improves over time, and the community upvoting system ensures high-quality content rises to the top. It turns idle browser moments into learning opportunities.
Free or paid: Completely free. Optional Plus plan ($6/month) adds custom feeds, bookmarks sync, and ad-free experience.
Install daily.devInstall React or Vue DevTools (whichever framework you use), Wappalyzer, Web Vitals, and JSON Viewer as your core four. Add ColorZilla and WhatFont if you work on frontend design. These six extensions cover 90% of daily developer needs without cluttering your browser.
These extensions are about reclaiming your time and attention. Tab management, focus timers, task tracking, keyboard-driven navigation, and password management — each one removes friction from your daily workflow. The best founders are not the ones who work the longest hours; they are the ones who eliminate the most wasted time.
What it does: Notion Web Clipper saves any web page directly to your Notion workspace with one click. It captures the page title, URL, and content, and lets you choose which Notion database or page to save it to. You can add tags, select a database property, and organize clips before saving.
Why it is useful: If you use Notion as your second brain (and millions of founders and developers do), the Web Clipper is essential. Instead of copying URLs into a Notion page manually, you clip articles, documentation pages, competitor landing pages, and research directly into your organized databases. Every clip is searchable, taggable, and connected to the rest of your Notion workspace. It turns passive browsing into active knowledge building.
Free or paid: Completely free. Requires a Notion account (free tier available).
Install Notion Web ClipperWhat it does: Todoist's Chrome extension lets you add tasks from any web page, manage your task list from the toolbar, turn emails into tasks in Gmail, and add websites as task references. It integrates with your full Todoist workspace, including projects, labels, priorities, and due dates.
Why it is useful: The gap between "I should do this" and actually capturing the task is where most to-dos die. Todoist's extension closes that gap to zero. See a bug report in your analytics? Click, add task, assign a due date, and keep moving. Reading a documentation page you need to implement later? Add it as a task with the URL attached. The extension turns your browser into a task capture machine, and everything syncs to your phone and desktop apps.
Free or paid: Free tier available with up to 5 active projects and 5 collaborators. Pro ($4/month) adds reminders, comments, and unlimited projects.
Install TodoistWhat it does: Momentum replaces your new tab page with a clean, focused dashboard featuring a daily inspirational photo, your main focus for the day, a to-do list, weather information, and customizable widgets. It is designed to center your attention each time you open a new tab rather than distracting you with news feeds or bookmarks.
Why it is useful: Every new tab is a decision point. Without Momentum, you open a tab and your brain goes to its default distractions — social media, news, or random browsing. Momentum intercepts that impulse with a calm, focused interface that reminds you of your main goal for the day. It sounds simple, but the daily focus prompt alone has helped thousands of users stay on track. The to-do list keeps tasks visible without needing to switch to a separate app.
Free or paid: Free tier available with core features (daily photo, focus, to-do list, weather). Plus ($3.33/month) adds custom photos, Pomodoro timer, integrations, and autofocus scheduling.
Install MomentumWhat it does: OneTab converts all your open tabs into a single list with one click. Instead of having 40 tabs consuming memory and cluttering your browser, you collapse them into a tidy list you can restore individually, in groups, or all at once. It also reports how much memory you saved.
Why it is useful: Tab hoarding is a universal problem for developers and knowledge workers. You keep tabs open because "I might need this later," and before you know it, Chrome is eating 8GB of RAM and your machine is sluggish. OneTab is the antidote. One click saves every tab as a list. Your computer gets its memory back, your browser gets clean, and your tabs are still accessible whenever you need them. The average user saves 95% of tab memory with OneTab.
Free or paid: Completely free.
Install OneTabWhat it does: StayFocusd restricts the amount of time you can spend on time-wasting websites. You define which sites to block (or allow), set a daily time allowance, and once your time is up, those sites are blocked for the rest of the day. It includes a "Nuclear Option" that blocks all restricted sites immediately for a specified duration.
Why it is useful: Self-discipline has limits, and time-wasting websites are engineered to be addictive. StayFocusd provides an external enforcement mechanism. Give yourself 15 minutes of social media per day, and once that time is up, the sites are inaccessible. The Nuclear Option is particularly effective for deep work sessions — activate it for 4 hours and distracting sites are completely off limits. Founders who use StayFocusd consistently report recovering 1-2 hours of productive time per day.
Free or paid: Completely free.
Install StayFocusdWhat it does: Marinara is a Pomodoro timer that runs in your browser toolbar. It tracks 25-minute focus sessions followed by 5-minute breaks (the classic Pomodoro Technique), with longer breaks after every four sessions. It provides desktop notifications, timer sounds, history tracking, and customizable intervals.
Why it is useful: The Pomodoro Technique is one of the most well-studied productivity methods in existence, and Marinara implements it with zero friction. The timer lives in your toolbar so it is always visible but never intrusive. Desktop notifications remind you to take breaks, which prevents the burnout that comes from marathon work sessions without rest. The history feature lets you see how many focused sessions you actually complete each day — most people are surprised at how few it is until they start tracking.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source.
Install MarinaraWhat it does: Vimium brings Vim-style keyboard navigation to Chrome. Press f to see link hints on every clickable element — type the hint to click the link without touching your mouse. Navigate back and forward with H and L, scroll with j and k, open tabs with t, search bookmarks with b, and use dozens of other keyboard shortcuts for every browser action.
Why it is useful: Moving your hand from the keyboard to the mouse thousands of times per day is a massive time sink that most people never notice. Vimium eliminates this entirely. Once you learn the shortcuts (which takes about a week of adjustment), you can browse the web, navigate tabs, open links, and scroll pages without ever touching the mouse. Power users report browsing speed improvements of 30-50% after adopting Vimium. It is the single biggest keyboard productivity boost available.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source.
Install VimiumWhat it does: Bitwarden is an open-source password manager that generates, stores, and auto-fills strong, unique passwords for every site you use. It syncs across all your devices, supports two-factor authentication, and can store secure notes, credit cards, and identity information. The Chrome extension provides auto-fill, password generation, and vault access directly in the browser.
Why it is useful: Using the same password everywhere is the single biggest security risk most people take. A breach at one site exposes every account. Bitwarden solves this completely — every site gets a unique, randomly generated password, and you only need to remember one master password. The auto-fill is fast and reliable, working on login forms, payment pages, and registration forms. Unlike LastPass or 1Password, Bitwarden's free tier has no device limits and is fully functional.
Free or paid: Free tier is fully functional with unlimited passwords, unlimited devices, and core features. Premium ($10/year) adds advanced 2FA options, emergency access, and encrypted file attachments.
Install BitwardenWhat it does: Grammarly checks your writing for grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity, tone, and style in real time across every text field on the web. It works in email compose windows, Slack messages, Google Docs, social media posts, CMS editors, and any other text input. The AI-powered suggestions go beyond basic spell check into sentence structure, word choice, and communication clarity.
Why it is useful: As a founder or developer, every email, Slack message, pull request description, and document you write shapes how people perceive your competence. Grammarly catches the mistakes that spell check misses — incorrect word usage, unclear sentences, passive voice, and tone mismatches. It works silently in the background across every site, so there is no extra step in your workflow. You just write, and the errors get flagged automatically.
Free or paid: Free tier available with grammar, spelling, punctuation, and basic tone detection. Premium ($12/month) adds full sentence rewrites, vocabulary suggestions, plagiarism detection, and advanced tone adjustments.
Install GrammarlyWhat it does: Loom lets you record your screen, camera, or both directly from the Chrome extension and share the video with a link instantly. No downloads, no file uploads, no waiting for encoding. Click record, capture what you need, and share the link. Recipients can watch, comment with timestamps, and react with emojis.
Why it is useful: Asynchronous video communication eliminates the need for countless meetings. Instead of scheduling a 30-minute call to explain a feature, walk through a bug, or give design feedback, record a 3-minute Loom and send the link. The recipient watches it when convenient and can replay confusing parts. Remote teams that adopt Loom consistently report 30-50% fewer meetings. For founders, Loom is invaluable for investor updates, customer onboarding, and team communication.
Free or paid: Free tier available with up to 25 videos of 5 minutes each. Business ($12.50/month) adds unlimited videos, unlimited length, custom branding, and analytics.
Install LoomSearch engine optimization is a data-driven discipline, and these extensions put the data at your fingertips as you browse. Instead of switching between your site and separate SEO tools, these extensions overlay the information directly on the pages you are analyzing. For founders bootstrapping their organic traffic, these are indispensable.
What it does: SEO META in 1 CLICK displays all meta tags, headers, images, links, and social media tags for any web page in one organized popup. One click reveals the title tag, meta description, canonical URL, robots directives, Open Graph tags, Twitter Card data, heading hierarchy (H1 through H6), image alt text audit, and link analysis — all without opening DevTools.
Why it is useful: Auditing on-page SEO elements manually through page source or DevTools is tedious and error-prone. This extension surfaces everything in a clean, tabbed interface. You can instantly check if your title tag is the right length, if your meta description is present, if your heading hierarchy is logical, if all images have alt text, and if your social sharing tags are properly configured. Use it on your own pages for QA and on competitor pages for competitive analysis.
Free or paid: Completely free.
Install SEO META in 1 CLICKWhat it does: Keywords Everywhere displays search volume, CPC (cost per click), and competition data for keywords directly in Google search results, YouTube, Amazon, Bing, and other search engines. It also shows related keywords, "people also search for" data, and long-tail keyword suggestions alongside your regular search results.
Why it is useful: Keyword research is the foundation of SEO, and Keywords Everywhere turns every Google search into a keyword research session. You no longer need to switch to a dedicated keyword tool — the data appears right in the search results. See the search volume for any query you type, discover related keywords you had not considered, and identify opportunities with high volume but low competition. For founders doing their own SEO, this saves hours of research time every week.
Free or paid: Free tier shows related keywords and trend data. Paid credits required for search volume, CPC, and competition data ($1.25 for 100,000 credits — roughly a year's worth for most users).
Install Keywords EverywhereWhat it does: SimilarWeb estimates the traffic, engagement metrics, traffic sources, geographic distribution, and technology stack of any website. Click the extension icon on any site to see estimated monthly visits, average visit duration, pages per visit, bounce rate, traffic source breakdown (direct, search, social, referral), and top referring sites.
Why it is useful: Understanding your competitors' traffic is critical for strategic planning. SimilarWeb answers questions that used to require expensive enterprise tools: How much traffic does this competitor get? Where does their traffic come from? Which channels drive their growth? Is their traffic growing or declining? For founders evaluating market size, identifying acquisition channels, or benchmarking against competitors, SimilarWeb provides data that was previously locked behind $10,000/year contracts.
Free or paid: Free tier available with basic traffic estimates and limited historical data. Paid plans start at $149/month for detailed analytics, unlimited results, and API access.
Install SimilarWebWhat it does: MozBar overlays Moz's SEO metrics directly onto Google search results and individual web pages. On the search results page, you see Domain Authority (DA), Page Authority (PA), and the number of backlinks for every result. On individual pages, you can view full on-page analysis including title tags, meta descriptions, heading structures, schema markup, and link metrics.
Why it is useful: Domain Authority and Page Authority are widely used benchmarks for evaluating the strength of a website's backlink profile. Seeing these metrics directly in search results lets you quickly assess the competition for any keyword. If the top results all have DA scores above 80, a new site with DA 15 will struggle to rank. MozBar makes this competitive assessment instant rather than requiring you to run each URL through a separate tool.
Free or paid: Free tier available with DA/PA metrics and basic on-page analysis. MozBar Premium ($99/month as part of Moz Pro) adds keyword difficulty, SERP analysis, and advanced metrics.
Install MozBarWhat it does: Detailed SEO Extension provides a comprehensive on-page SEO audit in a single, well-organized popup. It displays title tags, meta descriptions, URL structure, canonical tags, robots meta tags, heading hierarchy, Open Graph data, Twitter Cards, schema markup, hreflang tags, and full link analysis. It also shows the page's indexing status and Core Web Vitals data.
Why it is useful: This is the most thorough free on-page SEO inspection tool available. While SEO META in 1 CLICK covers the basics, Detailed SEO goes deeper with schema markup validation, hreflang analysis for international SEO, and structured data inspection. For technical SEO audits, it catches issues that other free extensions miss — missing canonical tags, conflicting robots directives, broken hreflang implementations, and invalid structured data.
Free or paid: Completely free.
Install Detailed SEO ExtensionWhat it does: The Ahrefs SEO Toolbar provides on-page SEO analysis, SERP overlay metrics, and redirect tracing. On any web page, it displays heading structure, word count, meta tags, and technical SEO elements. On search result pages, it overlays Ahrefs metrics including Domain Rating (DR), URL Rating (UR), estimated organic traffic, number of referring domains, and number of backlinks for each result.
Why it is useful: Ahrefs is widely considered the gold standard for backlink analysis. Having their metrics directly in search results provides the most accurate competitive assessment available. The redirect tracer is particularly valuable for SEO professionals — it shows every redirect in a chain, the HTTP status codes, and the final destination URL, making it easy to diagnose redirect issues that hurt SEO performance.
Free or paid: Free on-page features. SERP metrics and advanced data require an Ahrefs subscription ($99/month for Lite plan).
Install Ahrefs SEO ToolbarWhat it does: Redirect Path displays HTTP headers and redirect chains for every page you visit. It shows 301, 302, 307, and other redirect types, along with response headers, server information, and the complete redirect chain from initial request to final destination. The extension icon turns green (200), yellow (301), or red (4xx/5xx) to give you instant status feedback.
Why it is useful: Redirect issues silently destroy SEO performance. A chain of 302 redirects wastes link equity, a redirect loop prevents indexing, and 404 errors on important pages lose both traffic and authority. Redirect Path makes these invisible problems visible. You see the HTTP status of every page as you browse, so broken redirects and error pages are caught immediately rather than discovered weeks later in a site audit. For anyone managing site migrations, URL changes, or domain consolidations, this extension is essential.
Free or paid: Completely free.
Install Redirect PathWhat it does: While not a standalone Chrome extension, the Google Search Console interface can be pinned as a Chrome web app for instant access. It shows your site's search performance, keyword rankings, click-through rates, indexing status, Core Web Vitals scores, and manual actions. Combined with the Web Vitals extension (#11), it gives you a complete performance monitoring setup.
Why it is useful: Google Search Console provides the only truly accurate search performance data because it comes directly from Google. Every other SEO tool estimates your rankings and traffic — Search Console shows you the actual numbers. Pair it with the SEO extensions above for a complete workflow: use MozBar and Ahrefs Toolbar for competitive analysis, SEO META in 1 CLICK and Detailed SEO for on-page audits, and Search Console for measuring results. The combination replaces tools that cost hundreds per month.
Free or paid: Completely free. Requires a Google account and site verification.
Open Google Search ConsoleIf you are a founder doing your own SEO (and you should be in the early days), install these four: SEO META in 1 CLICK for quick on-page audits, Keywords Everywhere for keyword research while browsing, SimilarWeb for competitive traffic intelligence, and Web Vitals for performance monitoring. Total cost: $0 (or $1.25 for Keywords Everywhere credits). This stack replaces $300+/month in SEO tool subscriptions for most use cases.
AI extensions bring the power of large language models directly into your browsing experience. Instead of switching to a separate tab to use ChatGPT or Claude, these extensions add AI sidebars, writing assistants, and content generators that work on any page you are viewing. They are the fastest path from reading something to acting on it.
What it does: The ChatGPT sidebar extension (available through the ChatGPT desktop app and browser integration) lets you summon ChatGPT in a side panel on any web page. Highlight text and ask ChatGPT to explain, summarize, translate, rewrite, or analyze it. Write emails, draft responses, and generate content without leaving the page you are on.
Why it is useful: Context switching is a productivity killer. Every time you copy text, switch to ChatGPT, paste it, get the response, and switch back, you lose focus. The sidebar eliminates this loop entirely. You stay on the page you are reading and the AI works alongside you. Summarize a long article while reading it, rewrite an email while composing it, or get coding help while looking at documentation. It makes AI assistance feel ambient rather than transactional.
Free or paid: Free with ChatGPT account. Same free tier limits as ChatGPT (10 GPT-5.2 Instant messages per 5-hour window, then unlimited Mini). Plus ($20/month) for expanded limits.
Install ChatGPT ExtensionWhat it does: The Perplexity extension adds an AI-powered answer engine to your browsing. Click the extension or use a keyboard shortcut to ask questions about the current page or any topic. It provides sourced answers with inline citations, summarizes web pages, and can perform deep research across the web without leaving your current tab.
Why it is useful: Perplexity's strength is grounded, sourced answers. While other AI extensions may hallucinate, Perplexity cites every claim with real URLs you can verify. For researchers, students, journalists, and founders who need accurate information fast, the browser extension turns every page into a launchpad for verified research. Ask it to fact-check claims on the page you are reading, find related sources, or explain complex topics — all with citations.
Free or paid: Free with Perplexity account. Unlimited basic searches. Pro ($20/month) adds unlimited Pro searches and file uploads.
Install Perplexity ExtensionWhat it does: Merlin is an all-in-one AI assistant that works across every website. It summarizes articles and YouTube videos, generates replies for emails and social media, writes and improves text, translates content, extracts data from web pages, and answers questions about page content. It supports multiple AI models including GPT-4o, Claude, and Gemini.
Why it is useful: Merlin's breadth of functionality is its biggest advantage. Instead of installing separate extensions for YouTube summarization, email writing, article summarization, and translation, Merlin handles all of these in one package. The multi-model support means you can pick the best AI for each task — Claude for nuanced writing, GPT-4o for general tasks, Gemini for factual questions. For power users who want maximum AI capability with minimal extensions, Merlin is the Swiss Army knife.
Free or paid: Free tier available with 102 daily queries. Pro ($14.25/month) adds unlimited queries, all AI models, and advanced features.
Install Merlin AIWhat it does: Monica is an AI assistant that lives in your browser sidebar. It can chat, search the web, read and summarize any page, translate text, generate images, write and improve content, and extract structured data from web pages. It is powered by GPT-4o, Claude, and other models, with a seamless interface that appears on any site.
Why it is useful: Monica's interface is the most polished of any AI browser extension. The sidebar feels like a native part of Chrome rather than a bolted-on add-on. The page reading feature is particularly powerful — open any article, research paper, or documentation page, and Monica can answer questions about its content, create summaries at different lengths, or extract key points. For founders who consume large volumes of content daily, Monica compresses hours of reading into minutes.
Free or paid: Free tier available with limited daily queries across all AI models. Pro ($8.30/month) adds significantly more queries and premium model access.
Install Monica AIWhat it does: Sider adds an AI sidebar to Chrome with tools for chatting, reading, writing, drawing, and translating. Highlight text on any web page and Sider offers options to explain, summarize, translate, rewrite, or expand it. It also includes AI image generation, a document reader, and group AI chat where you can query multiple models simultaneously.
Why it is useful: The standout feature is group chat — ask a question to ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini simultaneously and compare their responses side by side. This is invaluable when you want the most accurate or comprehensive answer to a complex question. Different models excel at different tasks, and being able to compare them instantly without switching between three different tabs is a significant time saver. The writing tools are well-integrated with email and social media workflows.
Free or paid: Free tier available with 30 daily queries. Pro ($10/month) adds unlimited queries and all AI model access.
Install Sider AIWhat it does: MaxAI provides one-click AI actions on any web page. Select text and instantly summarize, rewrite, translate, explain, or check grammar without opening a sidebar or switching tabs. It integrates with Gmail, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and other platforms with context-aware AI actions tailored to each platform. Supports ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other models.
Why it is useful: MaxAI is optimized for speed over depth. While other AI extensions open sidebars and chat interfaces, MaxAI gives you quick, contextual AI actions right where you are working. Composing a LinkedIn post? MaxAI suggests improvements inline. Writing an email? It offers tone adjustments and grammar fixes without opening a separate panel. For users who want quick AI assistance without the overhead of a full chat interface, MaxAI strikes the right balance between power and simplicity.
Free or paid: Free tier available with limited daily AI actions. Premium ($9.99/month) adds unlimited actions and all AI models.
Install MaxAIWhat it does: Harpa AI is a web automation and AI assistant combined. Beyond standard AI chat and page summarization, Harpa can monitor web pages for changes, extract data from websites, automate repetitive browsing tasks, track competitor pricing, and generate content. It essentially combines an AI chatbot with a basic web scraper and automation engine.
Why it is useful: The web monitoring feature sets Harpa apart from every other AI extension. Set it to watch a competitor's pricing page, a job board, a stock price, or any web page, and it alerts you when something changes. For founders, this means automated competitive intelligence without expensive monitoring tools. Combine this with the AI chat for page analysis, and Harpa becomes a one-stop shop for gathering and understanding web information. The automation features replace simple Zapier workflows at no cost.
Free or paid: Free tier available with basic AI chat, page summarization, and limited monitoring. Pro ($20/month for annual) adds unlimited monitoring, advanced automation, and premium AI models.
Install Harpa AIWhat it does: Compose AI provides AI-powered autocompletion for any text field on the web. As you type in Gmail, Google Docs, Slack, LinkedIn, or any other text input, Compose AI suggests sentence completions in real time. Press Tab to accept a suggestion, or keep typing to ignore it. It learns your writing style over time and adapts its suggestions accordingly.
Why it is useful: This is the closest thing to GitHub Copilot for everyday writing. Instead of completing code, it completes your emails, messages, and documents. The time savings compound rapidly — accepting a suggestion that finishes your sentence saves a few seconds each time, but over hundreds of messages per day, that adds up to 30-60 minutes saved. The style learning means suggestions become more natural the longer you use it, eventually feeling like an extension of your own thought process.
Free or paid: Free tier available with basic autocompletion and limited daily suggestions. Premium ($12.99/month) adds unlimited suggestions, advanced AI models, and personalized writing style training.
Install Compose AIThe modern web tracks everything — your browsing habits, your location, your interests, and your purchasing behavior. These extensions fight back. They block trackers, force encrypted connections, clean up tracking URLs, and protect your privacy without requiring you to change how you browse. Security is not optional in 2026, and these tools make it effortless.
What it does: uBlock Origin is a wide-spectrum content blocker that blocks ads, trackers, malware domains, and other unwanted content. It uses curated filter lists to prevent your browser from loading advertising scripts, tracking pixels, cryptocurrency miners, and malicious domains. Unlike other ad blockers, it is extremely efficient with memory and CPU usage.
Why it is useful: Ads are not just annoying — they are a security risk. Malvertising (malicious advertising) remains one of the most common attack vectors on the web. uBlock Origin blocks these threats while also dramatically improving page load times and reducing bandwidth usage. Pages load 30-50% faster on average because your browser is not downloading and executing dozens of advertising scripts. For developers, the element picker mode lets you surgically block specific page elements, which is useful for cleaning up cluttered interfaces.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source, community-maintained, and accepts no corporate money.
Install uBlock OriginWhat it does: Privacy Badger is an anti-tracking extension developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Instead of using static filter lists, it learns which domains track you across websites and automatically blocks them. If a third-party domain appears to be tracking you across three or more sites, Privacy Badger blocks it. It also replaces social media widgets (which track you) with click-to-activate placeholders.
Why it is useful: Privacy Badger's learning approach catches trackers that static filter lists miss. New tracking domains appear constantly, and filter lists take time to update. Privacy Badger identifies and blocks new trackers automatically based on their behavior rather than a predefined list. It runs alongside uBlock Origin without conflicts — uBlock handles ads, Privacy Badger handles behavioral tracking. Together, they provide comprehensive protection against both advertising and surveillance.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source, developed by the EFF (a nonprofit digital rights organization).
Install Privacy BadgerWhat it does: HTTPS Everywhere automatically upgrades your connections from HTTP to HTTPS wherever possible. Many websites support HTTPS but still serve some pages or resources over unencrypted HTTP. This extension ensures that your connection is encrypted whenever the site supports it, protecting your data from eavesdropping and tampering.
Why it is useful: While most major sites default to HTTPS in 2026, many smaller sites, local businesses, and legacy pages still serve content over HTTP. Any unencrypted connection is vulnerable to interception — particularly on public Wi-Fi networks. HTTPS Everywhere closes these gaps automatically. Note that Chrome itself has been improving its HTTPS-first mode, but this extension provides more comprehensive coverage and has been the trusted standard for over a decade. Developed by the EFF in collaboration with the Tor Project.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source, developed by the EFF and the Tor Project.
Install HTTPS EverywhereWhat it does: ClearURLs automatically removes tracking parameters from URLs. When you click a link that contains tracking tokens (like utm_source, fbclid, gclid, and hundreds of other tracking parameters), ClearURLs strips them out before the page loads. This prevents companies from tracking your click path across the web using URL-embedded identifiers.
Why it is useful: URL tracking parameters are one of the most pervasive and least visible forms of web tracking. Every link you click from a Google search, Facebook post, email newsletter, or advertisement contains unique identifiers that allow companies to follow your journey across the web. ClearURLs removes these silently in the background. It also cleans URLs when you copy them, so you never accidentally share a link that contains your personal tracking ID with someone else.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source.
Install ClearURLsWhat it does: Cookie AutoDelete automatically removes cookies when you close a tab, with whitelisting support for sites where you want to stay logged in. Instead of either blocking all cookies (which breaks most sites) or accepting all cookies (which enables tracking), Cookie AutoDelete gives you granular control — cookies exist while you are using a site and disappear when you leave.
Why it is useful: Cookies are the primary mechanism that websites use to track you across sessions. Every "Accept Cookies" banner you click installs tracking cookies that persist for months or years. Cookie AutoDelete solves this elegantly: cookies work normally while you are on a site (so nothing breaks), but they are automatically cleaned up when you close the tab. Whitelist the sites where you want persistent logins — your bank, email, work tools — and everything else gets cleaned automatically.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source.
Install Cookie AutoDeleteWhat it does: Decentraleyes intercepts requests to third-party CDNs (Content Delivery Networks like Google Hosted Libraries, Cloudflare CDNJS, and jsDelivr) and serves common JavaScript libraries from a local bundle instead. This prevents CDN providers from tracking which sites you visit based on the library requests your browser makes.
Why it is useful: Every time a website loads jQuery, Bootstrap, or Angular from a CDN, that CDN records your IP address, the referring site, and your browser fingerprint. Since the same CDNs serve libraries to millions of websites, they can build comprehensive browsing profiles even without cookies. Decentraleyes breaks this tracking by serving the same libraries locally. Pages load faster (no CDN request latency), your privacy improves, and nothing breaks because the libraries are identical — they just come from your local cache instead of a remote server.
Free or paid: Completely free. Open source.
Install DecentraleyesAt minimum, install uBlock Origin, Bitwarden (#20 in Productivity), and ClearURLs. uBlock blocks ads and malware, Bitwarden generates unique passwords, and ClearURLs strips tracking from every link you click. These three alone dramatically improve your security posture with zero impact on your browsing experience. Add Privacy Badger and Cookie AutoDelete if you want comprehensive tracking protection.
If you buy anything online — whether it is SaaS subscriptions for your startup, equipment for your office, or just everyday purchases — these extensions save you money automatically. They find coupon codes, track price history, and earn cashback without requiring you to remember to check for deals. The savings compound over time, especially for founders who make frequent business purchases.
What it does: Honey automatically finds and applies coupon codes at checkout on over 30,000 online stores. When you reach a checkout page, Honey activates and tests available coupon codes one by one, applying the one that saves you the most money. It also includes Honey Gold, a rewards program that earns points on purchases which can be redeemed for gift cards.
Why it is useful: The value proposition is simple: Honey saves you money on purchases you were already going to make. There is zero effort involved — it activates automatically at checkout and either finds a discount or it does not. Over the course of a year, the savings add up. Founders purchasing SaaS subscriptions, office equipment, hosting services, and other business expenses often find that Honey pays for itself many times over. The Honey Gold rewards are a bonus on top of the coupon savings.
Free or paid: Completely free. Honey earns commission from retailers when you use a code, so the user never pays anything.
Install HoneyWhat it does: Rakuten (formerly Ebates) provides cashback on purchases at over 3,500 online stores. Activate Rakuten before shopping and earn 1-15% cashback on your purchases. Cashback is paid out quarterly via check or PayPal. The extension also shows available coupons and price comparisons while shopping.
Why it is useful: Unlike coupon extensions that save you money at the point of sale, Rakuten pays you actual cash back after the purchase. The two approaches stack — use Honey to find the best coupon code, and Rakuten to earn cashback on the final (already-discounted) price. For business purchases, the cashback adds up significantly. A founder spending $2,000/month on tools and services with an average 5% cashback earns $1,200/year back. That is not trivial for a bootstrapped startup.
Free or paid: Completely free. Rakuten earns commission from retailers and shares it with users as cashback.
Install RakutenWhat it does: Capital One Shopping (formerly Wikibuy) automatically compares prices across multiple retailers when you are viewing a product, finds available coupon codes, and alerts you to better deals. It also includes price drop alerts for products you are watching and a rewards program that earns credits toward gift cards.
Why it is useful: The price comparison feature is what sets Capital One Shopping apart. When you view a product on Amazon, it automatically checks if the same product is cheaper on Walmart, Target, eBay, or other retailers. This catches price differences that most shoppers miss entirely. It does not require a Capital One credit card to use — the name is just branding. For founders making significant purchases (laptops, monitors, office furniture), the price comparison alone can save hundreds of dollars per year.
Free or paid: Completely free. Does not require a Capital One account or credit card.
Install Capital One ShoppingWhat it does: Keepa tracks and displays the complete price history of every product on Amazon. When you visit an Amazon product page, Keepa embeds a detailed price chart showing the product's price over time for Amazon, third-party new, third-party used, and marketplace offers. It also provides price drop alerts, deal alerts, and international price comparisons.
Why it is useful: Amazon's pricing is dynamic — prices change multiple times per day, and "deals" are not always deals. Keepa reveals the truth behind Amazon pricing. That "50% off" sale might actually be a price that is higher than last month's regular price. The price history chart shows you instantly whether the current price is genuinely good, artificially inflated, or at its all-time low. For any significant Amazon purchase, checking Keepa first can save you from buying at the worst possible time.
Free or paid: Free tier available with basic price history charts and price drop alerts. Paid subscription ($19/month) adds advanced features like product finder, data export, and category tracking.
Install KeepaWhat it does: CamelCamelCamel (via The Camelizer extension) tracks Amazon price history and lets you set price alerts for any product. The extension adds a button to every Amazon product page that opens the complete price history chart, showing Amazon's price, third-party prices, and used prices over time. Set a target price, and CamelCamelCamel emails you when the price drops.
Why it is useful: CamelCamelCamel and Keepa serve similar purposes, but CamelCamelCamel has a longer price history archive and a more established price alert system. The email alerts are particularly valuable for non-urgent purchases — add the product to your watchlist, set your target price, and wait for the notification. This removes the impulse to buy at full price and ensures you always get the best deal. The combination of Keepa for in-page price charts and CamelCamelCamel for alerts is the ultimate Amazon pricing setup.
Free or paid: Completely free. Supported by Amazon affiliate commissions.
Install CamelCamelCamelWhat it does: RetailMeNot's extension automatically surfaces coupon codes, cashback offers, and deals when you are shopping at supported retailers. It pops up on checkout pages with available codes and tests them automatically. It also provides cashback on select purchases that can be cashed out via PayPal.
Why it is useful: RetailMeNot has one of the largest coupon databases on the web, and the extension brings that database directly into your shopping experience. While Honey is the most popular coupon extension, RetailMeNot sometimes finds codes that Honey misses, and vice versa. For maximum savings, install both — they do not conflict with each other, and whichever finds the better code wins. The cashback offers stack with the coupon savings, providing a double discount on qualifying purchases.
Free or paid: Completely free. Supported by retailer commissions.
Install RetailMeNotInstall Honey, Rakuten, and Capital One Shopping together. They do not conflict. Honey finds coupon codes, Rakuten earns cashback, and Capital One Shopping compares prices across retailers. Add Keepa for Amazon price history. This four-extension stack runs silently in the background and saves money on every purchase with zero effort. Average annual savings for regular online shoppers: $300-800.
Fifty extensions is a lot. You should not install all of them. Too many extensions slow your browser, create security vulnerabilities, and overwhelm you with competing popups. Here is how to build the right set for your needs.
If you are a developer, prioritize the Developer Tools section (1-12) and pick 2-3 from Productivity. If you are a founder, prioritize SEO (23-30), Productivity (13-22), and Shopping (45-50). If you are a power user, pick one AI extension (31-38) and the full Security stack (39-44). Do not install extensions for workflows you do not actually use.
A good target is 10-15 active extensions. Each extension adds memory overhead, potential security exposure, and visual clutter. Chrome profiles can help — create a "Development" profile with developer tools and a "Personal" profile with shopping and productivity extensions. This keeps each browser instance fast and focused.
Every three months, review your installed extensions. Remove any you have not used in the past 30 days. Check that every extension has been updated recently (abandoned extensions are security risks). Verify that extensions you rely on have not been acquired by companies with different privacy practices — this happens more often than you might think.
Before installing any extension, check what permissions it requests. An extension that asks to "read and change all your data on all websites" has full access to your browsing activity, including passwords, banking details, and private communications. Only grant these permissions to extensions from trusted developers with strong track records. If a coupon extension asks for access to your email, that is a red flag.
"The best browser setup is the one with the fewest extensions that cover all your actual needs. Every extension you do not install is one less potential security vulnerability and one less process consuming your memory."
chrome://extensions and toggle them off. They stay installed but consume zero resources until you need them again. This is better than reinstalling and reconfiguring every time.chrome://extensions/shortcuts and assign keyboard shortcuts to the extensions you use most. Triggering an extension with a key combo is faster than clicking an icon. For example, set Ctrl+Shift+L for Lighthouse, Ctrl+Shift+J for JSON Viewer, and Ctrl+Shift+B for Bitwarden.chrome://extensions and click "Details" on each extension to review its current permissions. Revoke access that seems unnecessary.Shift+Esc in Chrome to open the built-in Task Manager. Sort by "Memory footprint" to see which extensions consume the most RAM. If an extension uses 200MB+ of memory, it is either doing something intensive or has a memory leak. Consider replacing it with a lighter alternative.chrome://extensions, enabling Developer Mode, and clicking "Update." Do this after learning about a security vulnerability in an extension you use.If you found this Chrome extensions guide useful, we have similar in-depth guides covering tools, productivity, and growth across many other categories:
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