Kagi announced the end of development of the Orion web browser for Linux.
Orion’s native GTK port for Linux was announced in 2025 and a public beta launched earlier this year. The goal was feature parity with the macOS version. Recent betas have come close to this reality but, alas, have fallen short – and that’s where things will stay.
At least officially.
Kagi announces plans to open source the Orion codebase for Linux, as well as its WIP port of Orion for Windows. This could give the FOSS community the opportunity to step up and “push them forward” – although developing an independent web browser will be easy.
“Creating a cross-platform browser is typically done by venture capital-backed companies or large open source communities”it said in a statement, adding that it employed only a handful of developers funded by users of its paid search engine.
It might have made life easier if it had done what most modern browsers do and relied on Chromium. Kagi said he believes the web “needs more than one engine” and, ideally, more than one company that can shape the look of the web.
I find Orion on macOS to be a truly solid browser and I had hoped that, despite the Herculean task, Kagi’s team had the skills and ideas to pull it off – slow as it was.
Orion for Linux finally becomes open source
Orion was not open source from the start, which for some in the FOSS community had soured any enthusiasm for it. Bittersweet news, it is now.
Kagi’s business model (i.e. funded by users and therefore built only for them) would have meant a browser developed for users, without the need to stuff the user interface with attention-diverting gimmicks or integrate partner agreements to increase revenue.
And, in a sense, it’s this business model that brings Kagi’s focus back to Orion for macOS and iOS: that’s where its users are.
Hopefully the decision to open source where they ended up can help Orion move forward in some way, or at least get its parts picked up for the benefit of other independent web browser efforts.
Development on Orion for macOS and iOS is unaffected by this change, but the Linux beta will not see any further updates. If you have it installed, you can continue using it, although Kagi says he doesn’t recommend using it as a daily driver because security issues won’t be fixed.
Kagi said he will share more details about the open source of the code base in the coming month.
Gn tech
