The Great Suspender Alternative
The Great Suspender was removed for malware. Nest suspends tabs you have not used for 1, 3 or 7 days with Chrome’s own tab discarding, and organizes the rest. Free.
Nest vs The Great Suspender
The Great Suspender suspended inactive tabs to save RAM — until it was removed for malware. Nest suspends idle tabs too, from a maintained, transparent extension, and adds organization and session restore.
| Nest | The Great Suspender | |
|---|---|---|
| Suspends inactive tabs automatically | After 1, 3 or 7 days | Yes (removed) |
| Available & maintained in 2026 | ✓ | — |
| Transparent, local-first by default | ✓ | — |
| Snooze tabs and auto-reopen later | ✓ | — |
| Save & restore named sessions | ✓ | — |
| Organize tabs into categories | ✓ | — |
| Notes attached to individual tabs | ✓ | — |
| Closes duplicate tabs for you, with Undo | Opt-in | — |
| Works free, no account required | ✓ | ✓ |
Why you need a Great Suspender replacement
The Great Suspender was a favorite for cutting Chrome’s memory use, but it was removed from the Web Store in 2021 after a new owner injected malicious code. If you still have it installed, it is unmaintained and unsafe — time to move on.
How Nest replaces it — safely
Turn on Suspend and Nest unloads tabs you have not used for 1, 3 or 7 days, your choice. It uses Chrome’s own tab discarding, so each tab keeps its real address and stays in your tab strip; click it and it reloads. There is no placeholder page, and nothing depends on Nest staying installed.
Suspend, tidy away, or snooze
Suspending is the lightest way to free memory: the tab stays where it was. When a tab has sat unused for weeks, Tidy away closes it and keeps it in Nest for 30 days. And when you know when you will need a tab again, snooze it to that time.
FAQ
In 2021 The Great Suspender changed owners and a new version added malicious code, so Google removed it from the Chrome Web Store and automatically disabled it for users. The original, safe versions are no longer available, which is why so many people now look for a trustworthy replacement.
If you want what The Great Suspender did, tabs unloaded after they sit unused, Nest’s Suspend does that: pick 1, 3 or 7 days and idle tabs unload while staying in your tab strip. Chrome’s built-in Memory Saver also unloads tabs, on its own schedule. Nest lets you choose when, and adds organization, snoozing and session restore on top.
No. The version pulled from the Web Store contained tracking/malicious code, and it is no longer maintained or available through official channels. You should remove any leftover copy and switch to a maintained, transparent alternative.
Yes. Turn on Suspend and Nest unloads tabs you have not used for 1, 3 or 7 days. It uses Chrome’s own tab discarding, so a suspended tab keeps its real address, stays in your tab strip and reloads when you click it; there is no placeholder page. It never suspends pinned tabs, tabs playing sound, the tab you are on or anything used in the last 30 minutes. You can also suspend every inactive tab at once from Organize, under Tidy.
Nothing. Because Nest uses Chrome’s own discarding, a suspended tab is an ordinary Chrome tab. It stays open and reloads when you click it, with or without Nest installed.
Replace The Great Suspender for good
Install Nest free and turn on Suspend: idle tabs unload after the days you choose and reload when you click them.
Add to Chrome — free