Development has ended on Orion for Linux

Kagi has announced it is ending development of its Orion web browser for Linux to focus on the macOS and iOS versions.

A native GTK Linux port of Orion was announced in 2025 and a public beta launched earlier this year. The goal had been to offer feature parity with the macOS version. While recent updates have edged closer, it seems that’s where it’ll remain – for now.

Kagi will make Orion for Linux – and the WIP Orion for Windows port – open-source so that the wider FOSS community to step up to “carry them forward”.

“Orion is built by a very small team, just a handful of developers, funded entirely by Kagi users”, it said in an announcement, adding it chose to not fork Chromium as it feels the web “needs more than one engine” overseen by one company.

Ultimately, it feels it bit off more than it could chew and spread its limited resources too thinly.

“Building a cross-platform browser is something usually done by companies backed by venture capital or by large open-source communities”, it said. “Kagi is neither.”

Development will continue on the macOS and iOS versions, but no further updates will be released for those using the Linux beta. That build will continue to work but, with unfinished features, bugs and, going forward, not security patches either, Kagi says it doesn’t recommend sticking with.

Orion wasn’t open-source from the get-go which soured some enthusiasm for it. I was hopeful; it is a good browser on macOS, and made by a company with no incentive to adding ads, sponsored results, chase search deals or gamify elements to increase its own bottom line.

Hopefully, open-source can help drive it forward – or at least have its parts picked over to benefit future efforts.

Kagi said it will release more information on the open-sourcing during the the next month.