The page rests
The browser frees the memory that page was holding. The tab stays in the strip with its title and icon, in the same place.
Keep every tab.
Give back the memory.
Chrome tabs using too much RAM, a fan that never stops, a laptop that crawls by mid-afternoon. Latr puts the tabs you are not using to sleep: each one stays exactly where it is and loads again when you click it.
- No account, ever
- Free, and not a trial
- Nothing leaves your browser
What sleep means
A tab suspender that never closes a tab
Every open tab keeps its page loaded in memory, whether you looked at it a minute ago or last Tuesday. Forty of them add up. Sleeping a tab lets the browser drop the page behind it while the tab itself stays put.
A click wakes it
Click the tab and the page loads again. You keep the tab you meant to keep, without it costing anything while you are not looking at it.
Never the one you are using
The tab you are on and any tab playing sound are never put to sleep, because a page that wakes fresh can lose something it had not saved yet.
By hand, free
How to put inactive tabs to sleep
Three sizes of the same move, all free and all from Latr's list of open tabs - in the popup's Open tabs section or on the Windows and tabs page.
- 1 One tab: Put this tab to sleep.
From the tab's menu in the list. Useful for the one heavy dashboard you want to keep but are not using.
- 2 One window: Put this window to sleep.
From the window's menu. Every tab in it rests except the one in front and any playing sound - ideal for a research window you will come back to this afternoon.
- 3 Everything: Put inactive tabs to sleep in every window.
From the All windows menu. One press frees the memory of every tab you are not looking at, across every window, and each one shows as Asleep in the list.
The first time, Latr asks the browser for permission to see your tabs; after that it is one click. The same list shows every tab across your windows, so you can also close the duplicates that are using memory twice for one page - see the tab manager for the rest of what it does.
Automatic
Automatically suspend idle browser tabs
If you would rather not think about it, Latr can do it on a timer, and keep a lid on how many tabs a window holds.
Latr Pro
Sleep after 15 to 120 minutes
Turn on Put idle tabs to sleep automatically and choose 15, 30, 60 or 120 minutes untouched. It checks every window and leaves alone the tab you are on, anything playing sound, pinned tabs and video calls. Part of Latr Pro, a one-time $19.
Free, with a Pro option
A tab limit per window
Choose 10 to 40 tabs per window. Past it, a new tab opens in a new window instead (free) - or, with Pro, the window's oldest untouched tab goes to sleep. Nothing is ever closed.
Fairly
Doesn't the browser already save memory?
It does, and you should leave it on. Chrome has a memory saving mode in its performance settings, Edge has sleeping tabs, and Firefox can unload tabs by itself when the computer runs low on memory.
The browser's own memory saving decides for you, by its own rules and timing, which is a good default. Where Latr differs is control. You choose exactly which tab or window rests, right now, from a list that shows every tab across every window and which ones are already asleep. With Pro you set the idle time yourself. The two work together; you do not have to choose.
And some tabs do not need to be asleep; they need to be gone, without being lost. For those there is Save and close forgotten tabs (free, off until you turn it on): tabs you have not looked at for a day - or whatever span you choose, from six hours to thirty days - are saved to your library and closed, up to 20 at a time, never a pinned tab, the one you are on or one playing sound. For a page you do want back at a particular moment, snooze the tab with a time, or save tabs for later and close them for good.
Questions
Sleeping tabs, asked directly
Does putting a tab to sleep close it?
No. A sleeping tab stays exactly where it was in the tab strip, with its title and icon. Only the page behind it is dropped from memory, and clicking the tab loads it again. Latr marks it Asleep in its list, so you can see which tabs are resting.
How much memory will it save?
It depends on the pages - a heavy web app or a page full of video holds far more than a plain article - so Latr does not promise a number. To see for yourself, open the browser’s own task manager (Shift+Esc in Chrome and Edge on Windows, about:processes in Firefox) before and after sleeping a window.
Can it suspend idle tabs automatically?
Yes, with Latr Pro. Turn on Put idle tabs to sleep automatically and choose how long a tab must go untouched: 15, 30, 60 or 120 minutes. Every window is checked, and the timer leaves alone the tab you are on, anything playing sound, pinned tabs and video calls. Putting tabs to sleep by hand is free.
Will I lose anything when a tab sleeps?
The tab and its address stay, and the page loads again when you click it. What can be lost is anything the page was holding and had not saved - a half-written comment, say - because the page starts fresh when it wakes. That is why Latr never sleeps the tab you are using or one playing sound.
Is the tab limit going to close my tabs?
No - nothing in Latr’s sleep or limit features closes a tab. Set a limit of 10 to 40 tabs per window and, past it, a new tab opens in a new window instead. With Pro you can choose instead to put the window’s oldest untouched tab to sleep. Both are off until you choose a limit.
Is there a tab sleeping extension for Firefox and Edge?
Latr works in Chrome, Edge and Firefox, and sleeping tabs works in all three. Edge takes the identical package to Chrome, and Firefox has its own build from the same source. Each browser also has memory saving of its own, which you can keep on alongside.
Why does Latr ask for permission before sleeping tabs?
Sleeping a tab means seeing your tabs, which browsers rightly warn about. So Latr asks the first time you use it, not at install - the install dialog shows no warnings at all. Decline and every other part of Latr carries on working.
Close the tab.
It will come back.
Free, no account, and nothing leaves your device. About ten seconds to install, and one keystroke to use.
Also on Brave, Vivaldi, Arc and Opera - straight from the Chrome Web Store listing.