STEP VS DIA
Step vs Dia Browser
Dia bet on AI in the URL bar. Step bet on memory in the browser. Two completely different answers to the same question: what should the next browser do?
Dia is The Browser Company's pivot from Arc, putting an AI agent in the URL bar so you can ask questions about what you're looking at. It's a smart bet for people who don't want to read every page. Step's bet is the opposite: that the value isn't in summarizing what you're looking at right now, but in remembering what you were doing across days. We respect Dia. We picked the other path.
Side by side
| Dimension | Step | Dia |
|---|---|---|
| AI assistant | None. Step is local-first by design | Built-in AI agent in URL bar |
| Page summaries | Not a feature | Native summaries and chat |
| Cross-tab AI queries | Not a feature | Pull data across multiple open tabs |
| Browsing history search | Graph Find: full-text across every page in a Space | Reasons over recently opened pages, not history content |
| Persistence after close | Tabs, scroll, annotations, splits all restored | Standard session restore |
| Annotations | Native Marginalia layer | Not built-in |
| Navigation graph | Step Trail records branches and forks | Linear history |
| Local-first storage | SQLite on your Mac, no required account | Cloud-backed for AI features |
| Privacy on browsing data | Zero telemetry on what you browse | AI features require sending content to LLM providers |
| Engine | Chromium | Chromium |
| Platform | macOS | macOS |
AI assistant
Page summaries
Cross-tab AI queries
Browsing history search
Persistence after close
Annotations
Navigation graph
Local-first storage
Privacy on browsing data
Engine
Platform
Where Dia wins
- Dia's AI integration is genuinely useful when you don't want to read.
- Cross-tab AI queries ("summarize these three articles") are a real productivity boost for some workflows.
- If you trust LLM providers with your reading data, Dia is a stronger fit.
Where Step wins
- Step indexes the actual content of every page you visit. You can find a phrase you read last week.
- Step preserves the shape of your exploration with Step Trail, not just a list of recent pages.
- Step is local-first. Your browsing data never leaves your Mac unless you choose to share it.
- Step has zero LLM dependency. No API keys, no rate limits, no provider outages.
- Persistence model is fundamentally different: Step assumes you'll come back tomorrow and need everything where you left it.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Step if
- You read pages, you don't just want them summarized.
- You want a browser that remembers without an AI provider in the loop.
- You care about local-first and want zero telemetry on your browsing.
- Your work is research, not consumption.
Pick Dia if
- You consume more web content than you produce, and AI summaries save you real time.
- Cross-tab AI queries fit your workflow.
- You're comfortable with browsing content being sent to LLM providers.
Frequently asked
Will Step ever add AI features?
Can I use both?
More comparisons
Step vs Arc Browser
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Step vs Zen Browser
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Step vs Google Chrome
Step is built on the same Chromium engine as Chrome. So what's the actual difference? The shell. The persistence. The privacy posture. Here's a clean, honest comparison.