Auto Tab Discard

Name: Auto Tab Discard
Rating: 4.5102 (927 reviews)
Author: tlintspr

Increase browser speed and reduce memory load and when you have numerous open tabs.

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Auto Tab Discard is a lightweight Chrome extension designed to enhance your browser's speed and efficiency by automatically discarding inactive tabs. It reduces memory usage by disabling JavaScript and DOM events on tabs that are not currently in use, helping conserve battery life on portable devices.

Key features include customizable options for discarding based on tab activity, exclusion lists for certain websites, preservation of tab states like scroll position and input content, and the ability to force discard specific hostnames. The extension supports pinned tabs, media playing tabs, and tabs with unsaved content, ensuring important tabs stay active. Additional plugins extend its functionality by enabling bulk discarding, timestamp storage for YouTube, and auto-discarding of new inactive tabs.

Unlike similar tools, Auto Tab Discard uses a native browser method to discard tabs, ensuring your sessions remain intact even if the extension is removed or the browser crashes. Overall, it effectively manages browser memory and battery consumption without sacrificing user experience.

Add-on Productivity Utilities Developer Tools

By:

Daily users:

Rating:

Version:

0.6.7 Last updated: 2022-12-19

Version code:

5500664

Creation date:

2017-12-21

Risk:

Permissions:

idle
storage
contextMenus
notifications
alarms
*://*/*

Size:

158.98KB

URLs:

Website

Full description:

Source:

Firefox Browser Add-ons

Updated:

a day ago

Ranking

# 256

Other rankings

#9 in Tabs

#15 in Appearance

#1 in auto keyword 65

#1 in auto save keyword 6

#1 in card keyword 18

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Other platforms

Auto Tab Discard (suspend) (v0.6.8.2)

100,000 4.17

(311)

Auto Tab Discard (suspend) (v0.6.8.2)

36,690 4.50

(39)

User reviews

Auto Tab Discard is a highly praised Firefox add-on that efficiently reduces RAM usage and manages large numbers of open tabs, keeping browsers running smoothly, especially on lower-memory systems. Users value its configurability and lightweight design. However, some issues occur, particularly interactions with other extensions like UBlock Origin, and occasional failures to discard pinned tabs. A few reviews note signs of abandonment and sporadic functionality problems. Overall, it is regarded as one of the best memory-saving tools for Firefox despite minor limitations.

Pros

Significantly reduces RAM usage and improves browser performance, especially on systems with limited memory.
Works well with a large number of open tabs, enabling users to keep many tabs open without slowing down.
Highly configurable and effective compared to similar extensions, with good compatibility.
Lightweight and easy to use, it effectively frees resources from inactive tabs.
Generally reliable and stable, with positive user experience across different setups.

Cons

Some interaction issues with other extensions like UBlock Origin affecting tab discarding on certain sites (e.g., YouTube).
Occasionally doesn't discard pinned tabs on startup as expected, with error logs indicating it's not ready.
Possibly abandoned or lacking recent updates, which may affect long-term reliability.
Some users experienced functionality problems that impact how well the addon works (e.g., recent failures reported as of June 6, 2025).

Recent reviews

by Le*****, 2025-06-20

its like marvellous suspender for chromium browsers but works better in every single way (for me). I had a lot of time consuming issues with various suspender versions after the official one died and swapped to firefox a few months ago, this one JUST WORKS! big fan.

by Sl*****, 2025-06-17

I can now play while having 70+ tabs, very simple, nice, useful, thanks!!!

by Fi*****, 2025-06-15

View all user reviews ›

Extension safety

Risk impact

Risk impact measures the level of extra permissions an extension has access to. A low risk impact extension cannot do much harms, whereas a high risk impact extension can do a lot of damage like stealing your password, bypassing your security settings, and accessing your personal data. High risk impact extensions are not necessarily malicious. However, if they do turn malicious, they can be very harmful.

Auto Tab Discard requires a few sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details

Critical Allows access to all websites, posing a significant security risk as it can monitor and modify data from any visited site.
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Risk likelihood

Risk likelihood measures the probability that a Firefox add-on may turn malicious. This is determined by the publisher and the Firefox add-on reputation on Firefox Browser Add-ons, the amount of time the Firefox add-on has been around, and other signals about the Firefox add-on. Our algorithms are not perfect, and are subject to change as we discover new ways to detect malicious extensions. We recommend that you always exercise caution when installing a Firefox add-on.

Auto Tab Discard has earned a fairly good reputation and likely can be trusted.

Risk likelihood analysis details

Low This extension was updated more than 6 months ago. Older versions are more likely to be stable and safe.
Low **** ********* *** ***** **** **** * ****** **** ***** ********** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
Low **** ********* *** **** **** ****** ******* ********** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
Good **** ********* *** **** **** *******

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