All I Want for Christmas Is My RAM Back

TabBOO Blog · October 23, 2026 · By Dylan Trussell

Chrome uses a lot of memory because every tab is a small program of its own, and most of us keep dozens of them open. The fix is mostly fewer open tabs, plus a few free settings. Here is what works in any browser, and where TabBOO helps. In our test with the same six pages open, TabBOO used about 16% less memory than Chrome.

Why does Chrome use so much RAM?

Chrome uses a lot of RAM because it runs each tab as its own process, and every open page carries its own memory. Chromium describes a main browser process plus separate renderer processes, and says "in general, each new window or tab opens in a new process" (Chromium design docs).

The same documentation notes that Chromium assigns new tabs to existing processes when the total process count gets too high. So memory does not grow in a perfectly straight line. It still grows with every page you leave open.

Extensions, background tabs that keep playing audio or refreshing, and heavy web apps all add to the total. Your RAM is a shared closet, and your tabs are the coats nobody picked up.

Is Chrome using too much memory a bug?

Usually not. Most of the time it is the browser doing what it was designed to do with the number of tabs you gave it. A real bug is possible, such as one runaway page or one misbehaving extension, but the common cause is simply a big pile of open tabs.

A quick test helps. Close everything except one tab and see how the machine feels. If it recovers, the pile was the problem, not the browser.

How do you reduce Chrome memory usage for free?

Close what you are not using, turn on Memory Saver, audit your extensions, and restart now and then. None of these cost money, and all four work whether you stay on Chrome or move elsewhere. They are also the honest answer: a different browser will not rescue a habit of 60 open tabs on its own.

Turn on Memory Saver

Chrome's Memory Saver frees up memory by deactivating tabs you are not using. Chrome's help page says that "when you access an inactive tab, it automatically reloads." You can find it in Settings under Performance, with Moderate, Balanced and Maximum options (Chrome Help).

The tradeoff is small. Inactive tabs reload when you come back to them, and some tabs stay active, such as ones playing audio or video, pinned tabs and tabs sharing your screen.

Close tabs for real

Closing a tab releases its memory. Leaving it open "just in case" keeps it. If you are afraid of losing a page, save the link somewhere instead of keeping the whole page alive. Bookmarks, a reading list or a notes app all work.

Audit your extensions

Look through your extensions list and remove anything you have not used this month. Each extension is more software running inside your browser. If you cannot remember installing it, it can probably go.

Restart the browser

A restart clears out long-running pages that have piled up state. Chrome can restore your tabs afterward, but if you restore 60 tabs, you get 60 tabs back. Restart, then be picky about what you reopen.

Where does TabBOO fit?

TabBOO fits the part of the problem free settings cannot reach: the habit of opening one more tab. It is a free focus browser built on ungoogled Chromium, and it adds a Tab Manager where you set a tab limit, save pages for later, and swap saved links back into your workspace when you are ready.

The mechanism is plain: fewer open tabs means less memory, and a tab limit is what keeps you from piling up tabs in the first place. That is how the tab limit works. It is not a measured result, and the test below did not use it.

Here is how that looks in practice:

1. Set a limit. Pick a number of open tabs you can live with.
2. Save the overflow. When you hit the limit, save a page for later instead of piling it on.
3. Swap it back. When you want a saved page, bring it into your workspace and let another one go.

Your saved links live in the Tab Manager at tabboo.ai/saved. It is a way to ghost the clutter without losing the things you meant to read.

TabBOO also has a focus timer, focus music and ad protection, which help with the other thing too many tabs steal: your attention. If you are coming from another browser, guided migration helps bring your imports across.

What did we measure?

Here is what we measured, and nothing more. In controlled tests on an Apple Silicon Mac, we opened the same six live web pages in each browser and recorded memory use, with three runs per condition. No tabs were unloaded in any run, which means no suspending and no Memory Saver discards.

In our test, TabBOO 0.6.23 used 16.1% less memory than Chrome and 21.5% less than the previous TabBOO build. GB figures are rounded from MiB (MiB x 1.048576 / 1000).

Methodology

• Machine: an Apple Silicon Mac
• Pages: six live web pages open in each browser
• Runs: three per condition
• Tab handling: no tabs unloaded, with no suspending and no Memory Saver discards

Read this with care. These are controlled tests, not a guarantee for every website or platform. Your pages, extensions and machine will give different numbers. We also did not test Chrome's Memory Saver or TabBOO's tab limit, so nothing in this table speaks to either one.

Frequently asked questions

Does closing tabs really free memory?

Yes. Closing a tab ends the page and releases the memory it was holding. Chromium gives each tab or window its own process in general, so a closed tab stops costing you. Saving the link for later gives you the same relief without the worry of losing the page.

Is Chrome's Memory Saver enough?

It helps, and for some people it is enough. Memory Saver deactivates tabs you are not using and reloads them when you return. It does not stop you from opening more tabs. If your problem is the pile itself, you still need a habit or a limit that keeps the pile small.

Does TabBOO use less RAM than Chrome?

In our test, yes. With six live web pages open on an Apple Silicon Mac and no tabs unloaded, TabBOO 0.6.23 used 656 MiB (about 0.69 GB) and Chrome used 781.4 MiB (about 0.82 GB), which is 16.1% less. These are controlled tests, not a guarantee for every website or platform. Separately, the Tab Manager's tab limit is built to keep your open tab count down, and fewer open tabs means less memory.

How many tabs is too many?

There is no universal number. A few heavy web apps can cost more than many simple articles. A useful rule is to pick a count you can name from memory, such as the pages you are actively using today, and treat everything else as something to save for later.

Where can I get TabBOO?

Download it free at tabboo.ai/download. TabBOO runs on Apple Silicon Mac, Intel Mac and Windows. It is built on ungoogled Chromium, so the web works the way you expect, with a tab limit, saved pages, a focus timer, focus music and ad protection added.