A Weekly Habit of Trying New Things: The Dia Browser Edition

Key Takeaways

• Dia Browser, built by The Browser Company and acquired by Atlassian in 2025, is a Chromium-based browser with a minimal UI, gesture-based space switching, and built-in AI chat.
• The UI and daily report features stand out, but sign-up bugs, crashes, and performance hiccups made the first few weeks frustrating.
• Dia’s pricing shifted from free to a 14-day trial followed by $100/month, with lower Free and $20/month tiers also available.
• Trying one new tool or workflow change per week, even a small one, adds up to meaningful improvement over a year.
• Small experiments like this reflect the same approach I use with clients: testing incremental changes before committing to a full workflow overhaul.

In my work, it’s important to try new things frequently. Whether it’s a new feature in an app, a new tool, or an idea to break out of your common workflows, there is always something to learn. It can be something big or something small but taking time to try a new idea helps you find new ways to work. Sometimes it benefits me personally and usually that brings something I can bring back to other organizations. 

My Browser History

I went all in on the Dia browser by The Browser Company, purchased by Atlassian in 2025. As a user, I’ve been browser agnostic for a while. Google’s Chrome hasn’t been my day-to-day browser for years now. Even though it’s the top browser by usage, it has had feature bloat, battery-killing issues, and massive data collection. Due to the nature of my work, any browser is usually good enough and I look for simplicity, speed, and integration. 

For a long time, that meant just using Safari. As an Apple person, the connected setup made it easy to go between devices, pull up history, and it consistently wins in battery life tests. It’s still my main browser for personal use. 

I’ve been using Microsoft’s Edge for the last year for my work. That might be surprising for someone so deep in the Apple ecosystem but I’m also running the Valdivya business tools out of Microsoft and many of my clients are Microsoft-based. I’ve honestly been pretty happy with it for the business work and its performance. 

Enter Dia

Enter the Dia browser. The Browser Company had been on my radar for a while but never enough to try their previous browser, Arc. Once the Dia browser was announced and Atlassian bought the company, Dia still sat in the background. It’s hard to get excited about a browser in 2026. I think I only went as far as to download OpenAI’s now-discontinued browser, ChatGPT Atlas, and then didn’t even open it. 

I was re-introduced to Dia at Atlassian’s Team 26 conference this year and had it on my list to give it a shot. Because it is also Chromium-based, I’d have access to the Chrome web store for plugins and the AI-integrated features seemed interesting enough.

What I Like

Simple, Minimal UI

The first thing I noticed is the simplicity of the UI. Everything is completely out of the way of the main browser window. Tabs are on the side and you can hide them until you hover over the area. There is the browser bar and a Chat button. It’s so minimal and I love it. 

Tool Connections and the Daily Report

It’s easy to connect your main tools. I’m sure you won’t find the full list of tools that you work with, but all the popular ones are there from Atlassian, Microsoft, Zoom, Notion, Linear, Granola, and Google. Once these are connected, Dia will use this information and your open tabs to generate a daily report. It’s beautifully styled and gives a simple overview of your day with action items and reminders. 

Spaces and Tab Grouping

I love the ability to switch between spaces (think profiles like personal, work, etc.) using a gesture. It’s another simple enhancement that keeps the UI minimal. It will smartly group tabs, which is a feature I have not liked in other browsers. That said, I think grouped tabs work in Dia by keeping the context clear through labels and new tabs opening within the group.

Chat Integration

The integration with Chat in the browser works really well at pulling in context. This isn’t anything novel since you can achieve the same thing in Edge with Copilot or any browser with the ChatGPT and Claude plugins. Dia appears to be running some version of Claude in the background. My first week, I attempted to use the Chat in the browser more, but I ended up back in my Claude subscription to have things in separate windows. The integration did work well if I wanted to work with Chat related to ideas in the browser. 

There are some gaps that are hard to look past. 

Bugs and Reliability

The first is that I’ve encountered many odd bugs. It actually took me a couple weeks to be able to sign up using my valdivya.com address. My account is tied to my Atlassian setup, which it recognized, but it would not let me proceed. I submitted a bug report through their chat agent, found a thread on Reddit about the issue, and then submitted another bug through email. I never heard back, but a couple weeks later a browser update let me proceed. Most users would have given up entirely at this point. I stuck with it due to my work in the Atlassian ecosystem and wanting to understand what is available. I’ve encountered odd little hiccups, crashes, and lock-ups. Some weird performance issues caused me to have to quit the app and restart it multiple times. My daily report doesn’t seem to generate until I’ve been working for a while rather than it being available when I start. These are little nuisances, but they add up to enough pain points that a less stubborn user would go back to their default. 

The Pricing

The other speed bump in this process is the monthly cost. As I struggled to get signed up, Dia changed their pricing model. What had been free now came with a 14-day trial that leads to a $100/month subscription. There is also a Free tier and a $20/month tier. I have 1 day left in my trial, and I can’t envision putting in my credit card at this point. My Claude subscription is also $20/month, and I can’t imagine replacing that OR even getting enough value of the Dia AI features that couldn’t be replaced by a similar Claude setup. They might have something more compelling at $5/month. Maybe even tie it into other Atlassian products and the updated usage-based pricing. 

There is a lot of good here, but it needs some more polish to justify the cost. After my trial ends, I’ll keep using the free version to see how the minimalism works on its own. 

The Verdict

I do think it is worth giving a download and trying it out. You can download from https://www.diabrowser.com/.

Why Trying New Things Matters

Whether a new idea sticks or not, it’s easy to get stuck using the same tools out of convenience. I think it’s worth seeing what else is out there. The switching costs tend to be a lot lower than you’d expect. Going from Edge to Dia, I don’t even think it took me 30 minutes to get back in the same spot.

As people, we tend to have resistance to any kind of change. With everything in tech moving so fast now, it can be really overwhelming to keep up. I find a few things helpful to stay on top of it:

1. Try one new thing per week. It can be a feature in a tool you use. A new app. Just try to carve any new path. You don’t have to commit to it. Just give something new a shot.
2. Give yourself time and space to do it. Our calendars are all busy and it feels like more work, but block off 30 to 60 minutes a week somewhere to give yourself time to try something.
3. Keep that new thing small. Don’t try to blow up your whole world and re-create your entire workflow. Ask your favorite AI about the apps you use and new features that have been released recently.
4. Keep a list of ideas. When you hit your time block on your calendar, you’ll have a list to try rather than thinking of something on the spot.

These little changes can add up. If you try one new thing a week, that’s 52 new ideas in a year. Something will stick, and you’ll have improved your workflow.

Little changes can have a big impact on a team and an organization. My work is focused on finding efficiencies in current workflows. That might be trying a new browser, simplifying your Jira setup, or trialing a new idea in your team’s day-to-day practices.

If you’re looking for new ideas to help your team take steps forward in their technical and operational setup, this is where I embed to build teams and culture.