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Chrome side panel extensions worth installing in 2026

The Chrome side panel was designed to give you a persistent workspace alongside your tabs. Most people have never put anything in it worth keeping there.

20 May 2026 · 4 min read

Why the side panel is underused

Chrome's side panel has been available for a couple of years, but most users have never installed anything in it — or have the built-in Reading List there and nothing else.

The reason is partly discovery: the Chrome Web Store doesn't have a prominent "Side Panel" category, so finding good side panel extensions requires knowing to look for them. And partly it's that the side panel requires a specific type of tool — one where you want persistent, quick access without a full tab — which is a narrower category than browser extensions in general.

When you do find the right tools, the difference is noticeable. A task list that opens with a click without losing your scroll position. A pinboard that's always ready to capture a page. A timer running while you work without cluttering your tab bar.

Here are the extensions that actually make use of the format.

Worth installing

Easy Todo Note

A task list and scratch notepad that lives in the side panel. Nested tasks, drag-and-drop ordering, per-task countdown timers (5, 15, 25, or 60 minutes), and a freeform notepad below the list.

The side panel is the right format for this because you can open it mid-browsing, add or check off a task, and close it without leaving the page you were on. Compare this to a tab-based todo app where opening the app means navigating away from your current context.

Local-only, no account. Install: Easy Todo Note

Easy Tab Focus

Tracks how much focused time you're spending on each tab and domain, with daily soft limits you can set on sites that eat your attention. The side panel shows live focused time per tab and a daily breakdown — always available without opening a new tab.

Useful as a persistent awareness layer: you can glance at the side panel to see where your time is going without interrupting what you're doing. Local-only, no account. Install: Easy Tab Focus

Browse & Pin Buddy

A pinboard for saving pages with optional notes, organized into collections. When you find something worth keeping — an article you've read, a product you're comparing, a page you'll need later — one click pins it to the side panel with whatever note you want to attach.

The alternative (bookmarks) doesn't support notes, and the alternative (opening a notes app) breaks your browsing context. Local-only, no account. Install: Browse & Pin Buddy

Easy Bookmark Manager

Chrome's built-in Bookmarks Manager is a separate page. Easy Bookmark Manager puts your full bookmark library — searchable, editable, with folder tree, bulk actions, and duplicate detection — in the side panel. Access it without navigating away from what you're doing.

Useful if you have a large bookmark library that you actually reference regularly. Local-only, no account. Install: Easy Bookmark Manager

Toolbelt

A collection of client-side utilities: image resize, crop, convert, and icon set generation; terminal output formatter; Markdown preview; CSV viewer with virtualized rows for large files. All processing happens locally — files never leave your machine.

Useful for developers and people who handle images or data files regularly. The side panel format means the tools are always one click away without opening a dedicated app or a new tab. Install: Toolbelt

Job Pin Board

A kanban board for tracking job applications — pin listings from LinkedIn, Indeed, or any company careers page, attach notes and follow-up dates, and track status through the pipeline. Designed to replace the job-search spreadsheet with something that lives in the browser.

Particularly useful if you're searching while employed and want everything local (no cloud sync that could appear on a work machine). Install: Job Pin Board

How to choose

The side panel works best with one primary tool and occasional secondary access to others. Think about what you do most during a typical browsing session:

All six are free and built on the same local-only architecture, so there's no cost to installing a few and seeing which ones you actually reach for.

FAQ

What is the Chrome side panel exactly?

The side panel is a vertical panel that opens on the right side of the Chrome window, alongside your current tab. It was added as a stable API in Chrome 114. Extensions that use it can display content without opening a new tab or popup. It persists as you navigate between tabs, making it useful for tools you want to reference while browsing.

Can I have multiple extensions in the side panel at once?

Only one extension occupies the side panel at a time. You switch between them using the side panel icon in the toolbar. Most people have one primary side panel tool and switch to others occasionally — trying to use multiple constantly tends to mean the panel is open too much of the time.

Do side panel extensions slow Chrome down?

Side panel extensions use the same resources as any other extension — they run a background process and render a panel when open. Well-built ones have minimal idle impact. Extensions that are constantly syncing data or running complex background logic will affect performance regardless of whether they're in the side panel; that's an extension quality issue, not a side panel issue.

Are these extensions available on Chrome for mobile?

The side panel API is a desktop-only feature. These extensions work on Chrome for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Chrome for Android and iOS does not support side panel extensions.