Duotang vs Session Buddy

Duotang

Session Buddy

Tabs stay alive on switch

✓ Yes

✗ No

Requires manual save

✗ No

✓ Yes

Price

Free

Free

Account required

No

No

Data storage

Local only

Local only

Workspace navigation

Sidebar on every page

None

Tab search

Workspace-scoped, from any page

None

Tab/workspace limit

None

None

Session Buddy-specific

Primary use case

Workspace switching

Crash recovery

State saving

Continuous

Periodic snapshots (every 15 min)

Export

Yes (workspace export)

Yes (CSV, JSON)

Restore after crash

Via Chrome's built-in restore

Yes

Insurance vs infrastructure

Session Buddy's job is to take periodic snapshots of your open tabs so that if Chrome crashes, you can get back to where you were. It's a safety net — you hope you never need it, but it's there when you do.

Duotang isn't a backup tool. It keeps your tabs continuously loaded in named workspaces — there's nothing to restore because nothing was ever lost. Workspace state is saved continuously as you work, so if Chrome crashes or you close a window, your workspace reopens exactly as you left it — not as it was 15 minutes ago.

These aren't competing products. One handles the crash case. The other handles the everyday workflow.

Session Buddy doesn't manage active workflows

Session Buddy has no concept of switching between projects throughout the day. It saves a snapshot of what's open at a point in time — it doesn't organize tabs into named contexts, and it doesn't let you move between those contexts without closing and reopening tabs. It's a librarian for saved sessions, not a workspace manager.

If what you're looking for is a way to switch between a Work context and a Personal context without losing your tabs, Session Buddy isn't designed for that.

Can you use both?

Yes, and it's reasonable to. Duotang handles your active workspaces. Session Buddy can serve as a belt-and-suspenders backup in case something goes wrong at the OS or hardware level. They don't overlap.

That said, Chrome's own session restore handles most crash scenarios already. Session Buddy is most valuable if you want manual control over saved sessions — labelled snapshots you can return to weeks later, or tab lists you want to export and archive.

When Session Buddy is the right choice

• You want named, exportable snapshots of your open tabs at a point in time
• You need reliable crash recovery beyond Chrome's built-in restore
• You want to archive or share a set of tabs (Session Buddy can export to CSV/JSON)

When Duotang is the right choice

• You need to switch between projects throughout the day without losing your work
• You want tabs to stay loaded — drafts, scroll position, active sessions — across every context switch
• You want named workspaces you can navigate between instantly