Ferdium alternatives for several accounts: one app per site
Ferdium, Franz, Rambox and Wavebox put many web services in one window with a sidebar, and they can run several accounts of the same service. Pake takes the opposite route: one small desktop app per site, each with its own icon, window and sign-in. If you want one place for every chat and inbox, keep Ferdium. If you mostly want a few sites to behave like separate apps, Pake fits, with limits covered below.
What the all-in-one apps do
Ferdium's site describes it as a way to add all your services in one place, add the same service more than once to log in to multiple accounts, group services into workspaces such as work and personal, keep a todo panel, add custom services, and use it without an account or sync with one. It also says services hibernate to reduce slowdowns. Its repository says it is "All your services in one place, built by the community", is licensed Apache-2.0, and is a fork of Franz. Its package.json lists Electron as a development dependency (version 44.2.0 on the develop branch, read 19 October 2026), which is how an Electron app gets packaged.
Franz is the commercial original. Its page, read on 19 October 2026, lists a free Starter plan with up to 3 services and 1 workspace, Pro at $60 a year, Max at $120 a year and a lifetime option. Rambox now describes itself as a desktop workspace manager with ready-to-use workspaces and multiple logins for the same app, for macOS, Windows and Linux, with a free start and paid upgrade. Its old Community Edition repository is archived and says it is no longer maintained. Wavebox presents itself as a desktop browser for macOS, Windows and Linux that keeps you signed in to several accounts of the same service without switching Chrome profiles, with split screen and Chrome Web Store extensions.
Why one window costs what it costs
All of these follow the same design: each service is a web page, and the app is the frame around many of them. That gives you one switcher and one place for notifications. It also means the cost scales with how many services you keep loaded, because every page is a live web page with its own scripts. Ferdium's hibernation exists for that reason: a service you are not looking at can be put to sleep, and you pay a reload when you return. It is not on by default, though: in Ferdium's source on the develop branch, read 19 October 2026, isHibernationEnabled defaults to false, with a five-minute strategy once you turn it on and choices from 10 seconds to an hour. If you switched for memory reasons, turn it on before you judge Ferdium.
If memory is your reason to switch, measure with your own services open, in Activity Monitor on a Mac or Task Manager on Windows, for a day of real use. The same applies to Pake: its FAQ says a heavy single-page app such as Gemini, Slack or ChatGPT uses a comparable amount of memory in any WebKitGTK browser, and that the small installer is the trade, not a lower runtime footprint.
The Pake approach: one app per site
Pake builds a Tauri app around one address, using the web view your system already has, WKWebView on Mac and WebView2 on Windows. How Pake works has the details. You end up with a separate app for each site in the Dock or Start menu, with its own window size, always-on-top, tray icon and sign-in. There is no sidebar, no shared inbox and no switcher.
With the CLI, a site is one command after setting up the CLI:
pake https://app.slack.com --name Slack --show-system-tray
pake https://web.telegram.org --name Telegram --hide-on-close--show-system-tray adds a tray or menu bar icon and --hide-on-close keeps the app alive after you close its window, which matters for chat sites that notify you. Notifications go through the operating system, with the limits described in Website notifications in a desktop web app, and the menu bar and tray guide covers the tray options.
Several accounts on the same site
Every Pake app carries its own identifier, so the same site under two names becomes two apps with separate cookies and storage. That is how Pake does multiple accounts, and it is spelled out in Use two accounts on the same website with Pake:
pake https://example.com --name work-example
pake https://example.com --name personal-exampleThe Pake desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux is still in development. Its manual describes Add Another Account in the ⋯ menu of My Apps, which copies an app's settings and icon under a new name and starts signed out, and says that creating it counts as a new app. Ferdium's way is lighter: one entry added twice, inside one window. Pake's way is two real apps, which is clearer to keep apart and heavier to manage past a handful of accounts.
Side by side
| Ferdium, Franz, Rambox | Wavebox | Pake | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shape | One window, a sidebar of services | A browser with grouped apps | One app per site |
| Same service twice | Add the service again | Supported, per its site | A second app under a new name |
| Unread badges | In the app, per Franz's site | In the app, per its site | Per app, such as a Dock count on Mac |
| Engine | Electron for Ferdium; Franz and Rambox do not say on their sites | A browser, with Chrome Web Store extensions | System web view |
| Price | Ferdium Apache-2.0 with donations; Franz and Rambox have paid plans | Free Basic plan and paid plans | CLI free and open source |
Where Pake does not fit
Pake does not merge anything. There is no unified inbox, no combined unread count, no sync of your list of services between computers beyond moving settings files, and no built-in way to hibernate a service. Sites that refuse embedded sign-in, Google above all, behave the same in Pake as anywhere that uses a web view; the sign-in guide explains. The engine is also the system's, so a site that needs a Chromium feature WebKit lacks may behave differently on a Mac.
Who should keep Ferdium
Keep Ferdium, Rambox or Franz if you live in a dozen chat and mail services at once and want to jump between them with a keystroke, or want workspaces to separate work from home. Keep Wavebox if you want a full browser with extensions and several accounts per service. Use Pake for the two or three sites you open all day and want in the Dock as their own windows, with a tray icon and a window size you chose.
FAQ
Is Ferdium free?
Its site does not state a price and the repository is Apache-2.0 licensed with a donation link. Check the download page for current terms.
Can Pake replace Ferdium completely?
Not for a single-window switcher. It replaces the habit of keeping one site open in a browser tab.
Does Pake share cookies between its apps?
No. Each app has its own identity and storage, which is why two accounts need two apps.