The Great Suspender alternative
The Great Suspender was sold to an unknown buyer in 2020 and removed as malware in 2021. UtilEngine puts tabs to sleep with Chrome's own discard, on a board that also saves and snapshots your windows. It is paid software, so the product is what earns the money.
Get it for $49Side by side
The Great Suspender suspended tabs on a timer, behind its own placeholder pages. UtilEngine sleeps them when you ask, as normal Chrome tabs, with backups underneath.
| The Great Suspender |  UtilEngine | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | The Great SuspenderRemoved from the Web Store in 2021 and disabled in Chrome | UtilEngineActively developed |
| How tabs suspend | The Great SuspenderOn an idle timer, or by hand | UtilEngineOn demand, per tab or per whole window |
| Suspension mechanism | The Great SuspenderReplaced pages with its own placeholder page | UtilEngineChrome's native discard, tabs keep their real URL |
| If the extension disappears | The Great SuspenderSuspended tabs were lost, with their URLs left in history | UtilEngineNothing changes, sleeping tabs are normal Chrome tabs |
| See what's asleep | The Great SuspenderGrey placeholder pages | UtilEngineA live board that marks sleeping tabs, including Chrome's own |
| Tab backup | The Great SuspenderA session manager inside the extension, gone when it was removed | UtilEngineSessions that sync across devices, plus hourly snapshots |
| Business model | The Great SuspenderFree, then sold to an unknown buyer who added tracking | UtilEngine$49 once. The software is the product. |
| Extras | The Great SuspenderSession manager, site whitelist, shortcuts | UtilEngine60+ commands. Sessions, calculator, JSON, AI with your key. |
Based on public reporting of The Great Suspender's removal in February 2021 and its Web Store history. If all you want is free automatic suspension, Chrome's built-in Memory Saver or the open-source Auto Tab Discard may be all you need.
What went wrong, and what is different here
The Great Suspender worked. The problem was ownership. Millions of people handed every postponed tab to a free extension, the extension changed hands quietly, and the new owner shipped tracking code. When Google removed it, the tabs it had suspended went with it, and the real addresses had to be recovered from Chrome's history.
The technical difference is the placeholder page. UtilEngine's sleep uses the discard built into Chrome, the same one Memory Saver uses. A sleeping tab keeps its real URL in the tab strip and needs nothing from us to wake up. Remove the extension tomorrow and every sleeping tab is still a normal tab.
The other difference is incentives and backup. UtilEngine is a one-time purchase, so there is no reason for your data to be the product. Your tabs don't depend on the extension either. Windows can be saved as sessions, snapshots run every hour, and saved sessions sync with your account.
How it works in UtilEngine
Sleep for the tabs you keep, sessions and snapshots for the windows you close.
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Launch checklistSleep the tab, keep the tab
Sleep one tab or a whole window from the Session Manager. Chrome's own discard frees the memory, and every tab keeps its real address and its place in the window. Click one and it wakes.
Switching from The Great Suspender
What happened to The Great Suspender?
The original developer sold it in 2020 to an unknown buyer, who shipped updates with tracking and remote code execution. Google removed it from the Chrome Web Store in February 2021 and disabled it, and the tabs it had suspended went with it. Their real addresses had to be recovered from Chrome's history.
Is The Great Suspender safe to install now?
The original is gone. The Marvellous Suspender is an open source fork that is still maintained, if you want the closest thing to the original.
Does UtilEngine suspend tabs automatically?
No, and that's deliberate. Chrome's built-in Memory Saver already suspends idle tabs automatically. UtilEngine adds what Chrome doesn't have, sleep on demand for a tab or a whole window, and one board that shows everything that's asleep, including tabs Memory Saver discarded.
What happens to sleeping tabs if I remove UtilEngine?
Nothing. Sleep uses Chrome's own discard mechanism, so a sleeping tab is a normal tab with its real address. There is no placeholder page and nothing that depends on the extension. That dependence is what cost The Great Suspender's users their tabs.
Do sleeping tabs lose anything?
The page reloads when it wakes, so unsaved form input may be lost. The tab itself, its address, and its spot in the window all stay. For anything you'd hate to lose, save the window as a session first.
Are there free alternatives?
Yes. Chrome's Memory Saver is built in and covers automatic suspension. Auto Tab Discard is open source and adds a configurable idle timer. UtilEngine is for people who also want manual control, session backup, and the rest of the launcher.
Sleep tabs. Keep everything
Tab sleep, sessions, hourly snapshots, and 60+ commands.
Get it for $49One-time payment. 14-day refund, no questions asked.
