Comparison

Balance Browser vs Crest Browser

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Balance Browser

A modern web browser designed for productivity, offering built-in notes, AI assistance, and split-screen browsing. Enhance focus and efficiency with tools like a command palette, customizable sidebar, and reader mode.

Highlights
  • Productive sidebar with notes and history
  • Split View for side-by-side browsing
  • Local AI chat assistant
  • Command Palette for quick actions
  • Reader Mode for distraction-free reading
  • RSS feed reader
  • Password manager
Features
Read full description

Balance Browser is a modern web browser that combines fast and native browsing with powerful productivity tools and private AI. Stay focused, organize your work, and browse more efficiently with built-in notes, AI assistance, Reader Mode, Split View, maps, and more. Productivity Command Palette Quickly search browser commands, switch tabs, and perform actions with a single keyboard shortcut. Productive Sidebar Access Notes, History, Downloads, RSS feeds, and your favorite pinned websites from one customizable sidebar. Split View Browse and interact with two websites side by side in a single window. Built-in Notepad Capture ideas, snippets, and to-do lists without leaving your browser. AI Local AI Chat Chat with a private, on-device AI assistant for writing, coding, brainstorming, and everyday questions. Your conversations stay on your Mac. Interactive Map Workspace Extract locations from your open tabs and visualize them on an interactive map. Smart Address Bar Automatically recognizes URLs, domains, and search queries, so you can get where you're going faster. Reader Mode Enjoy a clean, distraction-free reading experiences. RSS Reader Subscribe to RSS feeds and access them directly from the sidebar. Password Manager Securely save and autofill passwords while browsing. Profiles Separate work and personal browsing with independent profiles. Optionally connect an IMAP account to view unread email counts for each profile. Chrome Extension Support Install compatible extensions from the Chrome Web Store to personalize your browsing experience. Flexible Tabs Choose horizontal tabs, vertical tabs, or hide the tab bar entirely to create the browsing experience that works best for you. More Features • Native macOS interface • Privacy controls and content blocking • Native PDF viewer • Customizable homepage • User Agent switching Balance Browser is designed for people who spend their day on the web and want a browser that helps them stay productive, organized, and focused.

About

Crest Browser

Organize your online life with distinct browsing contexts for work, personal use, and private browsing. Each context has its own tabs, history, and data, ensuring a clean separation of your digital activities.

Highlights
  • Isolated browsing contexts (Spaces)
  • Separate tabs, history, and cookies per Space
  • Customizable Space identity
  • Focused sidebar for tabs and history
  • Peek for temporary link previews
  • Optional iCloud sync
Features
Read full description

Work, personal life, and everything between deserve their own Space. Crest is a native browser for iPhone and iPad that keeps your accounts separate, your tabs organized, and your browsing distinctly yours. KEEP YOUR ACCOUNTS SEPARATE Each Space has its own tabs, cookies, website data, history, passwords, and site permissions. Stay signed in to different accounts on the same website. Switch from work to personal browsing without carrying the wrong session with you. GIVE EVERY TAB A PLACE Pin the sites you use every day. Save pages in folders. Keep today's tabs close and completed work in the archive. Select and move tabs, folders, and Split View groups together. On iPhone, bring in the sidebar with a gesture; on iPad, keep it beside your page. MAKE IT YOUR OWN Start from Winter, Lion, or another template in Crest Studio, then choose a color for each part of the crest and the sidebar. Choose a crest, emoji, monogram, or symbol. Appearance settings adjust the window border, sidebar material, tab corners, borders, and default page zoom. KEEP RELATED PAGES TOGETHER Group two to four pages in Split View. On iPad, browse them side by side and resize the columns. On iPhone, swipe across the compact toolbar to move between pages in the group. Peek lets you check supported links without losing your place, then keep the page as a tab when you need it. TOOLS FOR EVERYDAY BROWSING Choose one default search for every Space and another for Private Browsing, or pick one for a single Space. Search from a new tab to find the pages and tabs you use most. Translate webpages on device with Apple's Translation framework. Read supported articles in Reader, find text on a page, adjust zoom, share links, and export pages. Content blocking and site permissions give you control over each Space. Language availability varies, and translation may require a language download. PRIVATE WHEN YOU NEED IT Private Browsing uses temporary website storage. Private tabs stay out of saved history, restoration, archive, and sync. Crest does not run an advertising SDK, collect browsing analytics, or require a Crest account. PICK UP ON ANOTHER DEVICE Optional iCloud sync keeps supported Space and tab organization available across your Apple devices through your private iCloud database. Crest is also available for Mac. Crest is free and open source, built with Apple's WebKit. Requires iOS 26.1 or iPadOS 26.1 or later. Some website features and integrations vary by device.

Screenshots

Balance Browser3 screens
Crest Browser4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Balance Browser at 5.0 against Crest Browser's 4.2. Balance Browser also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 weeks). Crest Browser's advantage is ratings volume (20 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Balance Browser holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Crest Browser has 20 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Balance Browser ships an update every 2 days, Crest Browser every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Balance Browser versus Crest Browser: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBalance BrowserCrest Browser
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.2 (20 ratings)
Positive reviews—25.0% of reviews
Number of ratings120 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.0 — better26.1
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB73 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperBryce AgostiniPaul Davis

Customer experience

Balance Browser

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Crest Browser

All ratings11 ratings
Positive63.6%
Neutral18.2%
Negative18.2%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

None

Balance Browser

No in-app purchases

None

Crest Browser

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Balance Browser free?
Balance Browser is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Crest Browser free?
Crest Browser is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Balance Browser or Crest Browser?
Balance Browser is rated higher. Balance Browser averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Crest Browser averages 4.2 from 20 ratings.
Do Balance Browser or Crest Browser have ads?
Neither Balance Browser nor Crest Browser shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Balance Browser or Crest Browser?
Balance Browser ships an update every 2 days, and Crest Browser every 2 weeks. Most recently, Balance Browser was updated on November 10, 2026 and Crest Browser on November 10, 2026.

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