An honest roundup

The 6 Best Momentum Alternatives in 2026

Momentum's free tier gives you a daily photo, a quote and a simple to-do — but the Pomodoro timer, integrations, sounds and customization sit behind Plus at roughly $40/year. If that deal doesn't fit, these six alternatives cover every reason people go looking.

Full disclosure: Cuewise is our product. It's marked clearly below, every claim about the others is verifiable, and we say plainly who each tool is best for — including when it isn't us.

TL;DR

Quick picks

Best free all-rounder

Cuewise (ours) — goals with subtasks, a full Pomodoro with heatmaps, curated quotes and insights. Everything free, open source, local-first.

Best minimalist design

Bonjourr — an iOS-inspired start page that's genuinely lovely, actively maintained, and the rare option with real Safari support.

Best for developers

daily.dev — turns the new tab into a personalized developer-news feed. A different job than Momentum, done extremely well.

At a glance

Extension Price Open source Account Browsers Maintained
Cuewise (ours) Free — every feature MIT Only for optional sync Chrome, Edge, Brave Yes
Bonjourr Free (donations) GPL-3.0 None Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge Yes
Tabliss Free GPL-3.0 None Chrome, Firefox, Edge Dormant since 2022
Mue Free BSD-3 None Chrome, Edge, Firefox Yes
Infinity New Tab Free + Pro tier Proprietary Needed for sync Chrome, Edge, Firefox Yes
daily.dev Free + paid Plus AGPL-3.0 For community features Chrome, Edge Yes
Momentum Free tier + Plus ~$40/yr Proprietary For sync and Plus Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari Yes

1. Cuewise — the free all-round replacement (ours)

Cuewise is the option on this list we make, so judge this entry accordingly — but the facts are easy to check. Every feature is free with no premium tier: goals with objectives and subtasks, a full Pomodoro timer with history and heatmaps, a quote library you curate across ten categories, ambient soundscapes and focus music, backgrounds you can make your own, and productivity insights with streaks and charts. It's MIT-licensed with the code on GitHub.

It's also local-first: your data stays on your device by default, with no account and no tracking. If you want your setup on multiple machines, the optional sync is end-to-end encrypted — the server only ever stores ciphertext it cannot read.

Honest limitations: Chromium browsers only today (Chrome, Edge, Brave — Firefox is on the roadmap), and there are deliberately no third-party integrations, so if you need Todoist or your calendar on the new tab, Momentum Plus still serves that better. For the full head-to-head, see Cuewise vs Momentum.

2. Bonjourr — the beautiful minimalist

Bonjourr is an iOS-inspired start page made by two independent developers, and it shows in the design: clean typography, dynamic backgrounds that follow the time of day, and just enough widgets — clock, weather, quick links, markdown notes, a simple pomodoro. It's GPL-3.0 open source, donation-funded, needs no account, and is the rare alternative with a real Safari extension alongside Chrome, Firefox and Edge. It's actively maintained, with releases as recent as this month.

Honest limitations: minimalism is the point. There's no goal history, no analytics, no task integrations — if you want a productivity system rather than a calm start page, it will feel sparse.

3. Tabliss — the classic, now dormant

Tabliss has been the default "free Momentum alternative" recommendation for years, and it earned it: fully free, GPL-3.0, no account, no data collection, and it famously requests zero extension permissions. Backgrounds from Unsplash or your own images, plus widgets for weather, quotes, to-dos and links.

The honest caveat: it appears dormant. The Chrome and Firefox store builds haven't been updated since April 2022 and the last code change was January 2024. It still works fine today — but you're adopting software that isn't moving, which matters whenever browsers change something underneath it.

4. Mue — the open-source Momentum lookalike

Of the open-source options, Mue is the closest to Momentum's actual shape: a daily photo, a greeting, a quote, and widgets — plus a community marketplace of photo and quote packs. It's BSD-licensed, fully free, needs no account, states that all data stays on your device, and shipped a new release this year. It runs on Chrome, Edge and Firefox.

Honest limitations: it's a small volunteer project with a small user base, so polish and pace are modest — closer to a labor of love than a product with a team behind it.

5. Infinity New Tab — the widget grid

Infinity New Tab replaces the new tab with a speed-dial grid: bookmark tiles, weather, notes, to-dos, wallpapers and search-engine switching, all in one place. It has around 400,000 users, is actively updated, and its free tier is generous; a Pro tier and optional account-based sync sit on top.

Worth knowing before installing: it's proprietary, the developer is based in China with the privacy policy hosted on a third-party extension-distribution platform, and its Pro listing discloses that some built-in shortcut tiles are affiliate links that earn the developer commissions. None of that is disqualifying — but it's a different privacy posture than the open-source options here, so read its policy and decide with open eyes.

6. daily.dev — for developers, a different job entirely

daily.dev doesn't try to be a dashboard — it turns the new tab into a personalized feed of developer news from over 2,000 sources, ranked by an active community. The core feed is free and the code is AGPL-3.0 open source; a paid Plus tier adds AI summaries and filtering. You can browse without an account, though voting and commenting require one.

Honest limitations: it replaces Momentum's calm with a stream. There's no clock, no goals, no focus timer — and a feed on every new tab is the opposite of distraction-free. Brilliant if reading dev news is what you actually do with new tabs; wrong tool if you're trying to focus.

How to choose

Start from why you're leaving. If it's the Plus paywall — you want the productivity features Momentum charges for — Cuewise gives you the deepest free toolset, and Mue the closest free recreation of Momentum's look. If it's simplicity you're after, Bonjourr is the most polished minimal option and Tabliss the classic one (dormancy noted). If your new tab is really a reading habit, daily.dev is the only one built for that. And if you want maximum widgets in one grid, Infinity New Tab does the most — just read its privacy policy first.

Every option here except Infinity New Tab and Momentum itself is open source, and four of the six work with no account at all. Whatever you pick, you can try it in minutes and switch back just as fast.

FAQ

Common questions

What is the best free Momentum alternative?

It depends on what you use Momentum for. For goals, a Pomodoro timer and productivity tracking, Cuewise is the most complete free option. For a beautiful minimalist start page, Bonjourr is hard to beat. If your new tab is mostly for reading developer news, daily.dev is built for exactly that. All three have fully usable free versions.

Is Tabliss still maintained?

Not actively. The Chrome and Firefox store builds have not been updated since April 2022, and the last code change on GitHub was January 2024. The extension still works today, but don't expect new features or fixes.

Which alternatives work without creating an account?

Cuewise, Tabliss, Bonjourr and Mue all work fully without any account. Cuewise only asks you to sign in if you opt into its end-to-end encrypted sync. Infinity New Tab needs an account for sync, and daily.dev needs one for voting and commenting.

Do any Momentum alternatives work in Safari?

Bonjourr is the standout — it ships a real Safari extension alongside Chrome, Firefox and Edge. Momentum itself also supports Safari. Cuewise, Tabliss, Mue and daily.dev are Chromium and/or Firefox only today.

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Works on Chrome and Chromium browsers · No tracking · Local-first, with optional end-to-end encrypted sync