---
title: "Profile Porter vs Browserosaurus · Profile Porter"
description: "Browserosaurus is retired. How it compares with Profile Porter, what each does with browser profiles, and what to use next."
url: "https://profileporter.com/compare/browserosaurus/"
---

Compare

# Profile Porter vs Browserosaurus

Checked on 21 October 2026

Browserosaurus was a free picker: click a link and choose the browser. Its developer retired it in August 2025. Here's how it compares with Profile Porter, if you're looking for what to use next.

On this page

1. [In short](https://profileporter.com/compare/browserosaurus/#short)
2. [Side by side](https://profileporter.com/compare/browserosaurus/#table)
3. [Where Browserosaurus is better](https://profileporter.com/compare/browserosaurus/#rival-better)
4. [Where Profile Porter is better](https://profileporter.com/compare/browserosaurus/#pp-better)
5. [Price and platforms](https://profileporter.com/compare/browserosaurus/#price)
6. [Which to choose](https://profileporter.com/compare/browserosaurus/#choose)

## In short

**Browserosaurus** is a free, open-source Mac app that shows a menu of your browsers every time you click a link in another app. You choose; it opens. It has no rules and doesn't open browser profiles. The project was archived on 2 August 2025, and its last version is 20.12.0, from 27 July 2025. It still runs, but won't be fixed.

**Profile Porter** works the other way round: it picks the profile where you use the site and opens the link there, and only shows a picker when two profiles are about even.

## Side by side

|  | Profile Porter | Browserosaurus |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Picks a profile without rules | Yes: from sign-ins, saved passwords and history | No: you pick each time |
| Rules | Optional: a site, or every link from an app, to one profile | No |
| Asks you | When two profiles are about even, or when you hold Shift | Every link |
| Learns from your picks | Yes, from each pick and each Undo | No |
| Chrome, Edge, Brave profiles | Yes | No: browsers only |
| Firefox profiles | Yes, old and new style | No |
| Firefox containers | Yes, with the _Open external links in a container_ add-on | No |
| Safari profiles | Yes, on a Mac (Safari 17 or later) | No |
| Opens links in apps | Yes, when the site says its app opens the link (Zoom, Figma) | Yes, in the picker (Zoom, Spotify, Slack, Figma and others) |
| Removes tracking from links | Yes, built in | No |
| Expands short links | Yes, if you turn it on | No |
| Undo a wrong pick | Yes | No |
| Private window | Yes: hold Shift as you pick (not Safari) | Yes: hold Shift as you pick |
| Price | €12 once for 1.x, on up to 3 computers; 14-day refund | Free |
| Platforms | macOS 14 or later; Windows 10 or 11 | macOS |
| Open source | No | Yes (GPL-3.0) |

## Where Browserosaurus is better

- **It's free and open source** (GPL-3.0).
- **You always choose.** If you want to decide every link yourself, a picker on every click is exactly that. Space opens your favourite, and each browser can have its own key.
- **Apps in the same menu.** Zoom, Spotify, Slack, Figma and others sit next to your browsers.
- **It reads nothing of yours.** No history, no cookies, no Full Disk Access.

## Where Profile Porter is better

- **It's maintained.** Browserosaurus gets no more fixes, so a change in macOS or a browser can break it for good.
- **It opens profiles.** Chrome, Edge, Brave, Firefox (profiles and containers) and Safari profiles. Browserosaurus only chooses the browser, so the link opens in whichever profile that browser shows last.
- **No click on every link.** It decides from where you're signed in, and asks only on a close call.
- **Windows too.**

## Price and platforms

**Browserosaurus** is free, for macOS, and no longer maintained. Its developer suggests Browserino, a community fork, or Velja. There's also a Windows port, Browseratops.

**Profile Porter** is €12 once for every 1.x update, on up to 3 computers, Mac or Windows, with a full refund within 14 days if it isn't for you. It needs macOS 14 or later, or Windows 10 or 11.

## Which to choose

### Stay with Browserosaurus (or a fork) if…

- you want to choose the browser for every link yourself;
- you use one profile per browser, so the browser is all that matters;
- you want it free and open source.

### Choose Profile Porter if…

- you have more than one profile in a browser, for work and personal or for clients;
- you'd rather it decide, and ask only when it's a close call;
- you want something that's still being updated, on a Mac or Windows.

Get Profile Porter for €12, once.

Everything included, no account, and a full refund within 14 days if it isn't for you. macOS 14 or later, or Windows 10 or 11.

[Download](https://profileporter.com/download/)

[All comparisons](https://profileporter.com/compare/)

Checked on 21 October 2026 on their official pages: [Browserosaurus on GitHub](https://github.com/will-stone/browserosaurus); [its last release](https://github.com/will-stone/browserosaurus/releases/tag/v20.12.0); [the retirement post](https://wstone.uk/blog/the-retirement-of-browserosaurus/); [Browserino](https://github.com/AlexStrNik/Browserino). Something out of date? Tell us at [support@profileporter.com](mailto:support@profileporter.com).