Kagi Ends Orion Browser Development for Linux, Will Open-Source It

Kagi has announced it will stop developing the Orion Browser for Linux and Windows, ending its direct work on these platforms. The good news is that instead of dropping the project, the company plans to open-source both versions so other developers or organizations can keep them going.

For Linux users, this is a big shift for a browser that had just started to show real promise. Orion first came to Linux in early alpha at the start of the year, then officially entered beta in August.

Now, only a few months later, Kagi says the current Linux Beta will keep working, but it will stop getting updates from the company after October 2, 2026. Kagi also warns users not to use the beta as their main browser. The main reason is limited resources.

Kagi says only a small team of developers works on Orion, and the project is funded entirely by Kagi users. Expanding Orion beyond Apple platforms was always a big challenge, especially since the company chose not to use Chromium as its base.

Instead, Orion uses WebKit, which makes it one of the few browsers trying to offer an alternative to the many Chromium-based ones.

Kagi says that keeping a browser running on multiple platforms usually requires either a lot of funding or a big open-source community. Since Kagi has neither, it will now focus its limited resources on Orion for macOS and iOS.

The work done on Linux and Windows will be released as open source instead.

Kagi plans to publish the source code for both versions and share more details within 30 days of the announcement. The company has also reached out to open-source foundations and organizations about possibly taking over the projects in the long term.

However, Kagi makes it clear that it does not plan to be the main maintainer of either open-source project. Any future updates will depend on developers or organizations willing to take over the code.

In short, Orion for Linux’s future depends on what happens after the source code is released and whether a community forms to maintain it. For now, the current beta still works, but without future security updates or maintenance from Kagi, it likely won’t be a good daily browser for long.

For more details, see the official announcement