Dev Brother Praises "Aside Browser is a Game-Changer," Switches Main Browser

The operator of the Dev Brother channel stated that he had used several AI browsers, including Arc, Zen, and Dia, but recently abandoned all of them to completely switch his main browser to 'Aside Browser.' He evaluated Aside Browser as a 'game-changer' that is on a different level from existing AI browsers. Dev Brother announced that this video would comprehensively cover Aside Browser's basic functions, how to use developer tools, and token efficiency. He explained that Aside Browser is an AI agent browser with distinct characteristics compared to common AI browsers today.

Dev Brother announced that in this video, he would cover Aside Browser's basic functions, how to use developer tools, and token efficiency. He described Aside Browser as an AI agent browser, emphasizing its unique differentiators despite the many AI browsers already on the market.

Currently, various AI browsers exist, including OpenAI's Atlas, Perplexity's Comet, and the Dia browser that Dev Brother had been using until recently. Despite this, Dev Brother emphasized that he chose to abandon all these browsers and switch to Aside Browser.

Aside Browser was developed based on Chromium. Notably, this browser is a Y Combinator batch startup, and all three founders are Korean, attracting significant attention. Dev Brother stated that after directly using Aside Browser, he was strongly impressed that it was an 'amazing product' completely different from existing AI browsers.

Aside Browser's first main feature is tab management. The right sidebar tab shows currently open browser tabs, allowing users to immediately ask questions about or summarize the page. Aside Browser fundamentally has a built-in Language Model (LM), enabling immediate use of the connected LM model. The left sidebar includes a chat function, through which users can assign long-term tasks. He explained that even complex tasks can be entrusted to the AI agent using this chat function.

Dev Brother demonstrated Aside AI agent's long-term task processing capability. He instructed Aside Browser to 'order a cleansing water from Coupang.' Aside Browser not only opened the Coupang website and searched for 'cleansing water' but also automatically opened the user's password manager, Bitwarden extension, to find and enter account information, and even logged in. Subsequently, it demonstrated automatically handling the entire process of selecting 'Round Lab Dokdo Cleansing Water' and completing the order.

Aside Browser uses its memory function to record agent chat content and browser usage history, improving future tasks by preventing errors. Additionally, a routine function can be added to set specific tasks to run automatically at a designated time each day.

Aside Browser has the advantage that the AI agent can use the browser while the user's session and cookie information are saved. He explained that this allows for many more tasks compared to existing agents like Playwright or Codex Inet Browser, which could not maintain login sessions, thus limiting their operations.

Aside Browser offers three main pricing plans depending on AI agent usage. Users can choose to use Aside's own pricing plan, but it is also possible to link and use existing coding agent subscriptions like ChatGPT and Claude Code. Dev Brother emphasized that connecting via API keys allows for using Aside Browser without additional cost, offering a significant advantage in cost-effective utilization.

Dev Brother explained that one of the main reasons he completely switched his main browser to Aside Browser was due to its particularly useful features for developers. He mentioned that he stopped using not only other browsers but also specific tools. Previously, he had to use tools like 'Playwright MCP' to instruct agents for visual testing in the browser.

To perform visual testing using Aside Browser, you must first install the CLI. Afterward, if skills or MCP are installed in the coding agent being used, agents like Claude Code or Codex can utilize Aside Browser skills. He explained that this enables performing actual browser visual testing using Aside Browser.

Aside Browser boasts excellent token efficiency. For example, while Playwright has 24 tools and its definition context exceeds 18,000 characters, Aside handles everything with a single skill, and its tool definition is less than 5,000 characters. Dev Brother had Playwright MCP and Aside read five pages including GitHub, Hacker News, MDN, Wikipedia, and Tailwind. The results showed that Aside used an average of 2.3 times fewer tokens. In some specific pages, it even used up to 4.2 times fewer tokens.

Dev Brother also compared Aside's token efficiency with Claude Code and Codex browsers in addition to Playwright. Aside proved to be the most token-efficient among all comparisons. Instead of exposing all tools like Playwright MCP, Aside offers a JavaScript REPL and provides documentation on how to use it, significantly reducing the fixed cost context incurred when reading pages.

Dev Brother stated that the most decisive reason for switching to Aside Browser was not merely token efficiency. The ability to maintain login sessions was a huge attraction. Browsers like Playwright MCP or Claude Code's Chrome extension are used with completely initialized browser profiles, making it difficult to utilize browser verification while maintaining sessions or login states. However, since a significant portion of tasks requiring visual verification using an agent involves screens that require login, Aside's login session persistence feature is extremely important, he emphasized.

Aside Browser's security aspect is also crucial. As all browser tasks are entrusted to Aside Browser, handing over login session information, security must be prioritized. After installing Aside Browser, security and privacy keys can be set in the settings. Here, users can decide whether to allow third-party cookies, and if they do not want Aside Browser to use user data for product improvement, it is recommended to disable that function.

He mentioned that the fact that Aside Browser's agent can use all the session information that a user has logged in with could be considered a potential security vulnerability.

To address these security concerns, Aside Browser provides permission model settings. When using Aside Chat, a permission model can be set, and 'Guard Mode' is generally recommended. Guard Mode limits the agent's access rights to reduce potential risks. Read-only mode and full-access mode are also available, allowing users to adjust the security level according to the importance of the task.

Dev Brother stated that he creates and uses multiple profiles in Aside Browser for enhanced personal security. He specifically mentioned that his third profile is set entirely to guest mode, with all important login session information logged out. By segmenting profiles for different purposes and using them for AI tasks, he proposed a method to strengthen security.

Using the Aside CLI, specific profiles can be requested for tasks, thereby enhancing security. Dev Brother explained that he set the third guest profile to be used when entrusting fully autonomous verification tasks to Aside. In this profile, important login session information is not included, and information such as browser history can be used in an isolated state, making it even safer. This allows for setting a default profile in the coding agent's rules file to increase the security level.

One of the most inconvenient aspects when switching to a new browser is the resetting of bookmarks, login sessions, and cookie information. However, Aside Browser alleviates this inconvenience by providing an import function that easily transfers bookmarks, login sessions, and cookie information from most existing browsers such as Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. He explained that this feature allows users to switch browsers more conveniently.