Sidebar AI assistant that works on any webpage.
Browser
Sider is a browser-extension AI assistant that layers a sidebar chat interface over every webpage you visit — read a page and ask questions about it, translate a passage, summarize an article, rewrite an email, generate an image, or query the underlying frontier models directly without leaving the tab you are already on. Launched in 2023 as a ChatGPT wrapper extension and iterated aggressively through the AI-assistant boom of 2024-2026, Sider (rebranded from "Sider ChatGPT Sidebar") has grown into one of the most-installed browser AI extensions on the Chrome Web Store — over 5 million users by 2026 — and a legitimately useful daily-driver tool for a specific buyer.
Sider's positioning matters because the browser AI category has diverged into three lanes. First: browser-integrated AI baked directly into a specific browser (Brave Leo, Arc AI, Edge Copilot) — these require you to switch browsers. Second: standalone AI assistants used through separate tabs or apps (ChatGPT, Perplexity) — these require constant context-switching. Third: browser-extension AI assistants that layer over your existing browser (Sider, Merlin AI, MaxAI) — these give you the always-available sidebar without asking you to switch browsers. Sider is the most-installed and most feature-complete of the extension tier.
The one-line positioning: Sider is the tool you use when you want a ChatGPT-style AI sidebar available in every browser tab on Chrome, Edge, Safari, or Firefox — without switching browsers to Brave or Arc, and without constantly opening a separate ChatGPT tab. It is not the deepest AI assistant on the market. It is the most convenient one for anyone whose browser of choice does not have a native AI sidebar.
Sider's honest limitation is that it is a wrapper — a sophisticated one, but a wrapper. Under the hood it routes queries to GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, and its own hosted models, adds page-context awareness and a sidebar UX, and charges a subscription for orchestration. That business model works because most users would rather pay $10-15/month for a slick single subscription than manage separate ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, and Gemini Advanced accounts. The trade-off is that Sider's privacy posture is meaningfully weaker than Brave Leo's architectural anonymity — Sider has an account, logs queries, and passes traffic to third-party model providers. For privacy-first users, Sider is a compromise. For convenience-first users, it is a winner.
Sider's product surface has widened considerably from the original ChatGPT-sidebar wrapper. The features that earn the subscription are the multi-model access, the page-aware chat, and the always-available sidebar UX.
Sidebar chat available in every tab. Open Sider with a keyboard shortcut or the extension icon; a chat panel slides in from the right side of any webpage. Ask questions, paste content, generate text, translate — the standard AI assistant surface, always one shortcut away regardless of what site you are on.
Page-aware Q&A and summarization. With one click, Sider ingests the current page and injects it into the chat context. Summarize an article, extract structured data, ask questions about a legal document, translate a passage — the "AI reads the page with you" workflow that browser-integrated tools have converged on.
Multi-model access. Sider routes to GPT-4 (and successors), Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini 1.5 Pro, and Sider's own hosted models. Per-conversation model selection lets you pick the model best suited to the task — Claude for careful writing, GPT-4 for coding, Gemini for long-context ingestion. Free tier is limited to Sider's default model; paid tiers unlock frontier model access.
YouTube and PDF summarization. Load a YouTube video URL or upload a PDF; Sider transcribes (or extracts text) and provides summarization, Q&A, and chapter extraction. This is one of the highest-value features for research and study workflows.
Image generation. Sider bundles access to DALL-E 3 and Stable Diffusion for image generation, priced against credit consumption. Not as feature-rich as Midjourney or dedicated image tools, but sufficient for casual generation without a separate subscription.
Writing tools. Grammar check, rewrite, translate, summarize, and expand text via a right-click context menu on any webpage or text field. This is the workflow that replaces Grammarly for many users.
Chat with any web page or document. Beyond simple summarization, Sider lets you have a full multi-turn conversation about a page or document, asking follow-up questions and drilling into specific claims.
Prompt library and custom bots. Save custom prompts and reusable "bots" (system-prompt-configured chat modes) for repeated workflows. Useful for teams standardizing on specific AI-assisted tasks.
Cross-device sync. Chats and prompt libraries sync across Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox, iOS, and Android via Sider account. Not available on Brave Leo, which is intentionally anonymous.
Sider prices per seat with tiered access to frontier models and generation credits. Pricing has iterated multiple times and continues to; check sider.ai for current numbers.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | Model access | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | — | Basic Sider model, limited daily queries | Watermarked images, standard queue |
| Basic | ~$10 | ~$8 | GPT-4o mini, Claude 3 Haiku | Standard usage, no watermark |
| Pro | ~$20 | ~$16 | GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini 1.5 Pro | Priority access, higher rate limits |
| Unlimited | ~$30 | ~$24 | All models, unlimited generation | Best fit for heavy daily use |
Free tier is usable for casual queries but rate-limited and restricted to Sider's default model. Basic at $8/month annual is the entry point for regular use — GPT-4o mini and Claude 3 Haiku are competent enough for daily driving. Pro at $16/month annual is where most working users land — frontier model access, higher rate limits, and priority processing.
The honest read on pricing: Sider Pro at $16/month annual is roughly comparable to ChatGPT Plus at $20/month for the specific job of "one subscription that gives me access to multiple frontier models with a browser sidebar." Against the alternative stack (ChatGPT Plus + Claude Pro + Gemini Advanced = $60/month), Sider is dramatically cheaper for users who want cross-model access without triple-paying. The trade-off is the routing overhead and Sider's own margin — you are not getting the deepest features of any individual model, just the ability to switch between them from one interface.
Against browser-integrated alternatives: Brave Leo Premium at $12.50/month annual with anonymity guarantees is cheaper and more private, but requires switching to Brave.
Pros
Cons
Researchers and knowledge workers using multiple browsers. Sider works on Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox — the same subscription follows you across whatever browser you use for a given task.
Users who want ChatGPT-plus-Claude-plus-Gemini access without triple-paying. One Sider Pro subscription at $16/month annual covers all three model families for casual and mid-depth use.
Students and academics doing research. PDF summarization, YouTube transcription, and page-aware Q&A are legitimately useful for consuming long-form academic content.
Writers and content creators. Right-click rewrite, expand, and translate on any webpage or text field replaces multiple standalone tools.
Small teams standardizing on prompts. Prompt library and custom bots enable a shared workflow across a team without a full enterprise deployment.
Users on Chrome or Safari who do not want to switch browsers. This is Sider's home use case — the "I like ChatGPT but hate switching tabs" buyer who is not moving to Brave or Arc.
Sider's competition splits into three lanes: other browser-extension AI assistants, browser-integrated AI, and standalone AI subscriptions.
Brave Leo — the browser-integrated privacy-first alternative. Requires switching to Brave, but ships architectural anonymity that Sider cannot match. Winner if privacy matters more than browser flexibility.
ChatGPT — the standalone default. Deeper feature set (image generation, code interpreter, tool use, GPTs). No native sidebar in Chrome or Safari; requires a separate tab or the official ChatGPT extension. Winner if you use ChatGPT's advanced features and only want one model.
Perplexity — the search-first alternative. Better citations, live web grounding on every query, deeper research capabilities. Different job — Perplexity is a search engine with AI, Sider is a chat assistant in a sidebar. Winner if research and citation are your primary use.
Merlin AI — the closest direct competitor. Similar multi-model sidebar extension positioning, similar pricing structure. Some users prefer Merlin's mobile app; Sider edges Merlin on feature depth.
MaxAI.me — another multi-model sidebar competitor. Cheaper entry tier, weaker feature parity on page-aware Q&A.
Monica AI — sidebar AI extension with strong focus on writing tools. Comparable to Sider on general use, edges Sider on grammar and writing-specific workflows.
Arc Browser AI — browser-native AI in The Browser Company's Arc browser. Sophisticated interaction model, weaker privacy story than Brave. Winner if aesthetic and interaction design matter and you are open to switching browsers.
For most users comparing browser AI, the honest matrix is: ChatGPT for depth, Perplexity for research, Brave Leo for privacy, Sider for convenience across existing browsers. Pick the axis you care about most.
Install Sider from the Chrome Web Store or your browser's extension store. Available for Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox, plus mobile apps for iOS and Android. Free tier requires only an email signup.
Try three specific workflows in the first hour. Load a long article and ask Sider to summarize and answer follow-up questions. Load a YouTube video and ask for key points and timestamps. Load a PDF and ask specific questions about its content. These are Sider's high-leverage use cases; if they fit your work, the tool sticks.
Test the multi-model switching on a real task. Draft an email with Claude, generate code with GPT-4, ask a research question with Gemini — see which model handles your typical work better. This informs whether the multi-model access is worth the Pro subscription.
Configure the right-click writing tools. Grammar check, rewrite, translate, summarize — set the tools that fit your workflow and disable the ones you do not use. The sidebar becomes meaningfully more useful once the writing tools are tuned.
Upgrade to Pro after two weeks. Free tier is honestly usable — do not upgrade prematurely. If you find yourself wanting frontier model access two or three times a week, Pro at $16/month annual pays back easily. If the default model handles your needs, stay on free.
Is Sider the same as ChatGPT? No. Sider is a browser-extension AI assistant that routes to multiple underlying models (GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, and its own). ChatGPT is OpenAI's standalone product with only OpenAI's models. Sider's value is aggregation across model families; ChatGPT's value is depth on OpenAI-specific features.
Is Sider private? Meaningfully less private than Brave Leo. Sider requires an account, logs queries to the account, and routes traffic through third-party model providers under standard commercial API contracts. Third-party providers typically do not train on Sider traffic per contract, but the logging posture is fundamentally different from Leo's architectural anonymity. For privacy-first users, Leo is the better choice.
Does Sider work on Safari? Yes, via a Safari extension. Feature parity with Chrome is close but not perfect — some advanced features have shipped to Chrome first historically.
How does Sider compare to Brave Leo? Different trade-offs. Sider works on any browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox) and offers multi-model access, but has account-based logging and third-party model routing. Leo works only in Brave and offers architectural anonymity, but requires a browser switch. Convenience versus privacy.
Can I use Sider on mobile? Yes, via iOS and Android apps that sync with the desktop extension. Mobile experience is competent but not as feature-rich as desktop.
What happens if a model provider changes API terms? Sider's business model depends on continued commercial API access to GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini. If a provider changes rates, restricts access, or blocks resale, Sider's pricing and feature set could shift. This is a real strategic risk for wrapper tools that most users do not think about.
Is the image generation good? Competent for casual use, not competitive with dedicated image tools like Midjourney or DALL-E through ChatGPT directly. Bundled access is a convenience win; not a reason to choose Sider by itself.
Sider is the most convenient AI assistant for users who want a ChatGPT-style sidebar in every browser tab across Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox — without switching browsers to Brave or Arc, and without paying separately for ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, and Gemini Advanced. For the specific buyer whose primary constraint is "I like my current browser and I want AI everywhere," Sider Pro at $16/month annual is a legitimately good deal that undercuts the alternative multi-subscription stack by a significant margin.
Where Sider stops being the right answer: users who prioritize privacy (Brave Leo is architecturally private; Sider is not), users who need the deepest features of any individual model (ChatGPT Plus for GPTs and code interpreter; Claude Pro for artifacts; Gemini Advanced for long-context ingestion), users whose primary AI job is research and citation (Perplexity wins that job), and users on Brave or Arc who already have a native browser AI assistant.
The honest recommendation: install the free tier from the Chrome Web Store and use it for a week alongside your current AI assistant setup. Run the same queries in both and see whether the sidebar convenience is a real workflow improvement or just a novelty. For most casual users, it is a real improvement — the "always available, one shortcut away" pattern beats separate-tab workflows meaningfully in daily use. Pro at $16/month annual is the sweet spot for regular users who value multi-model access. For privacy-conscious users or users who need the deepest single-model features, keep the direct subscriptions and skip Sider — the convenience wins are not worth the trade-offs. For everyone else, Sider is the most-installed browser AI extension for a reason.