Tab suspender for Chrome, on demand
UtilEngine is a browser extension that puts one tab or a whole window to sleep when you ask. Chrome frees the memory, every tab keeps its address and its place, and a click wakes it.
Get it for $49
What a tab suspender does
Every open tab holds memory, including the ones you have not looked at since Tuesday. A tab suspender unloads the page behind a tab and leaves the tab in the strip, with its title, its icon and its address. Click it and the page loads again.
Chrome can do this natively. It calls it discarding, and its own Memory Saver uses it on tabs that sit idle. UtilEngine uses the same discard and hands you the switch, for one tab or a whole window.
Suspend one tab, or the whole window
Run Manage Sessions from the launcher. Your open windows sit on one board, and every tab and every window has a moon.
Sleep one tab
Hover a tab and press the moon. Its memory goes back to Chrome.
Or the whole window
The moon on a window puts every tab to sleep except its active one.
Click to wake
A sleeping tab reloads the moment you open it, right where it was.
From the keyboard
The actions menu, Cmd+K or Ctrl+K, has Sleep Tab and Sleep Window too.
Memory Saver's tabs show too
Tabs that Chrome's Memory Saver put to sleep are dimmed on the same board.
Memory Saver does the automatic part
Memory Saver is built into Chrome and puts idle tabs to sleep on its own. Turn it on. UtilEngine adds the manual half, and one place to see it all.
| Chrome Memory Saver |  UtilEngine | |
|---|---|---|
| When tabs sleep | Chrome Memory SaverOn its own, after a tab sits unused | UtilEngineWhen you choose |
| How soon | Chrome Memory SaverThree levels, Moderate, Balanced or Maximum | UtilEngineNo timer. Sleep is always your call |
| Sleep a tab by hand | Chrome Memory SaverNot from Chrome's own menus | UtilEngineOne tab, or a whole window at once |
| Which tabs | Chrome Memory SaverOnes Chrome picks. It leaves audio and video, downloads, pinned tabs and half-filled forms alone | UtilEngineAny tab except a window's active one |
| Exceptions | Chrome Memory SaverA list of sites to always keep active | UtilEngineNothing sleeps until you ask |
| Where you see it | Chrome Memory SaverAn optional ring around the tab's icon | UtilEngineDimmed on the Session Manager board, Chrome's sleeping tabs included |
| Price | Chrome Memory SaverBuilt into Chrome | UtilEnginePart of UtilEngine, $49 once |
Memory Saver is under Settings, then Performance, at chrome://settings/performance. Our guide to reducing Chrome's memory use walks through its settings.
Real tabs, not placeholder pages
Older suspenders replaced each tab with a page of their own and tucked the real address inside it. When The Great Suspender was pulled from the Chrome Web Store as malware in 2021, the tabs it had suspended went with it.
UtilEngine asks Chrome to discard the tab instead, the same way Memory Saver does. The tab keeps its real address, its title and its spot in the window, and it doesn't need UtilEngine to come back. More on The Great Suspender.
Check it in Chrome itself
Open chrome://discards, Chrome's own list of every tab and its state. A tab UtilEngine put to sleep reads discarded there, the same as one Memory Saver handled.
To see what a tab was holding, open Chrome's Task Manager from the three-dot menu under More tools, or with Shift+Esc on Windows and Linux. Sort by memory footprint, put the heavy tabs to sleep, and their rows leave the list.
Which tab suspender should you use?
If all you want is automatic suspension, two of these are free and one is already in your browser.
- Chrome Memory SaverOn its own, after a tab sits unusedSet and forget, with nothing to installBuilt into Chrome
- Auto Tab DiscardOn its own or by hand, with Chrome's native discardAn idle timer you tune yourselfFree
- The Marvellous SuspenderOn its own, after an idle time you setThe Great Suspender as it used to work, in a maintained open-source forkFree
- UtilEngineBy hand, one tab or a whole window, with Chrome's native discardChoosing what sleeps and seeing all of it on one board, with saved sessions behind it$49 once, launcher included
Checked against each tool's own listing in November 2026. Sleep in UtilEngine is one part of a launcher that also saves windows as sessions and runs 60+ commands. See everything it replaces.
Tab suspender questions
How do I suspend a tab in Chrome?
Chrome's menus have no button for it. Memory Saver suspends idle tabs on its own once you turn it on under Settings, then Performance. To suspend one yourself with UtilEngine, open the launcher, run Manage Sessions, and press the moon on a tab or on a whole window. The actions menu, Cmd+K or Ctrl+K, has Sleep Tab and Sleep Window too.
Do I still need a tab suspender now that Chrome has Memory Saver?
For automatic suspension, no. Memory Saver covers it and you should turn it on. An extension is worth having when you want to decide for yourself, like putting a whole research window to sleep before a call, and when you want one place that shows every sleeping tab.
Does UtilEngine suspend tabs automatically?
No, and that's on purpose. Chrome's Memory Saver already puts idle tabs to sleep on its own. UtilEngine adds sleep on demand, for one tab or a whole window, and shows every sleeping tab on one board, including the ones Memory Saver put to sleep.
What is the difference between a tab suspender and Memory Saver?
Both free the memory a tab is using while keeping it open. Memory Saver is built into Chrome and decides on its own when a tab has sat unused long enough. A tab suspender is an extension you control by hand. Older suspenders swapped the page for their own placeholder. UtilEngine uses Chrome's own discard instead, the same mechanism Memory Saver uses.
Is a tab suspender safe to install?
It depends on who makes it and how it works. The Great Suspender was sold in 2020, picked up tracking code, and was removed from the Chrome Web Store as malware in 2021. Before you install one, look at who publishes it, when it was last updated, and how it makes money. Prefer one built on Chrome's own discard, so your tabs never depend on the extension. UtilEngine is paid software from UnveelWorks, and a tab it puts to sleep is a normal Chrome tab.
How much memory does suspending a tab free?
It depends on the page. A sleeping tab hands back almost everything its page was holding, so a heavy web app returns far more than an article. Chrome's Task Manager shows what each tab is using before you put it to sleep.
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. The active tab of a window never sleeps.
What happens to sleeping tabs if I remove UtilEngine?
Nothing. A sleeping tab is a normal Chrome tab with its real address, so there is no placeholder page and nothing that depends on the extension.
Do saved sessions remember which tabs were asleep?
No. A saved session keeps each tab, its order, and whether it was pinned. When you restore it, the tabs open awake.
Does tab sleep need extra permissions?
No. It uses the tab access UtilEngine already has for sessions and tab search.
Which browsers does it work in?
Chrome, Brave, Edge, and other Chromium browsers. Firefox support is on the roadmap.
Sleep tabs, keep your place
Tab sleep, sessions, hourly snapshots, and 60+ commands.
Get it for $49One-time payment. 14-day refund, no questions asked.
