Kagi Ends Orion for Linux and Hands Off the Code

Kagi stopped Orion for Linux on October 2, 2026, and said it will publish the code within 30 days. The Windows port, aimed at a late 2026 launch, is cancelled under the company. Testers can keep the current Linux beta running, but Kagi says not to use it as a main browser because it will not get another patch.

The move is not a mystery about demand. Linux users asked for a WebKit browser that was not Chrome in a skin. The bill is that a user-funded team that refused a Chromium fork could not carry three operating systems, so the unpaid platforms go to whoever wants them.

Kagi Stops Orion for Linux After October 2

In a short post, Kagi said it is ending development of Orion for Linux and Windows so the same people can spend their time on macOS and iOS. The Linux beta still launches. Updates from Kagi stop after that October 2 date. The planned Windows shipping date will not come from this company. People on the Windows newsletter were told that mail is the last one.

Kagi also said it has already talked with open-source groups about long-term ownership. It will share how the code will be released in the next 30 days. It was blunt about its own role after that. It will not be the core maintainer. The projects, it wrote, need people who want to own them. Interested developers were asked to write to support@kagi.com.

THE LINUX AND WINDOWS CLOCK

1. June 2, 2025: Kagi says Linux is being built from zero and commits to a first version in March 2026, with full parity as the aim.
2. November 25, 2025: Orion 1.0 ships on macOS. Linux is listed as alpha. Windows is listed as in development for late 2026.
3. Early 2026: Public Linux testing opens after the alpha period, still short of the Mac feature set.
4. October 2, 2026: Kagi ends Linux and Windows work, warns off the Linux beta as a daily driver, and promises source details in 30 days.

That clock is the whole official product life of Orion outside Apple hardware. The Mac app took six years to leave beta. The Linux app got a public test window measured in months, then a freeze.

A WebKit Browser on a Tiny Team

Orion is not a Chromium reskin. It uses WebKit, the engine behind Safari, on purpose. In the 1.0 post, the company called that choice an act of resistance in a Chromium-heavy web. The October 2 note repeated the same bet in plainer words. Independence, it said, matters more than ever.

The web needs more than one engine, and more than one company deciding what a browser should be. Building a cross-platform browser is something usually done by companies backed by venture capital or by large open-source communities. Kagi is neither.

The Kagi team, October 2, 2026 announcement

The payroll matches that claim. The October post describes Orion as the work of a handful of developers, funded entirely by Kagi users. The November 25, 2025 1.0 post was more specific. It said Orion was built by a team of just six developers, and that the first two years were one person. It also said the browser had passed 1 million downloads and had 2480 paid subscribers. Tips start in the app. A supporter plan is $5 a month or $50 a year. Lifetime access is $150.

THE TEAM BEHIND ORION

• Browser staff: Six developers at the 1.0 launch, described as a handful in the October 2 cutoff post.
• Early years: One developer carried the first two years of Orion.
• Paid backers: 2480 paid subscribers listed with the 1.0 launch, plus a million downloads.
• Whole company: Kagi’s hiring pages describe a remote team of 40 people across more than 20 countries, a Public Benefit Corporation since early 2024, founded in 2018 by Vladimir Prelovac.

Forty people is the firm, not the browser crew. Search, Translate, Assistant, and the rest of the paid Kagi suite sit on that same headcount. When members told the company they wanted it focused, the October post says, the company agreed. The focus it chose is the platform mix that already pays.

Why Did the Linux Port Start From Zero?

Linux Orion could not borrow the Mac app. Kagi said in June 2025 that it was developing the Linux app from scratch because it could not reuse Mac code or UI, and that a tiny team was already juggling other products. The Linux build is a native GTK4 and libadwaita program on WebKitGTK. That is a different UI kit, a different packaging story, and a different engine port from the AppKit work that made Orion feel at home on a Mac.

The same June 2025 update set a public target. Kagi said Linux development was in full swing and that it wanted full parity with the then-current macOS build by March 2026. It also said it was committed to releasing the first version that month, with alphas for people who signed up. By the 1.0 launch in November 2025, Linux was still labelled alpha, and Windows had only just been started, with late 2026 as the aim and full parity including synced profiles as the hope.

Parity did not arrive. The public Linux beta that followed in early 2026 was still a test build. Testers who wanted Chrome, Firefox, and Safari extensions in one WebKit shell, the trick Orion sells on the Mac, did not get that finished product on Linux. Skipping Chromium is why that gap was so expensive. A Chromium shell can ride Blink’s existing Linux and Windows ports. A WebKit shop that wants a native GTK browser has to pay for that port itself, then keep paying when the engine moves.

Kagi knew the size of the bet. The June 2025 note called Linux a monumental effort and told people waiting on Android and Windows to be patient, and to send more paying friends so the work could be funded. The friends came in on Apple hardware. The extra platforms did not get a second funded crew.

An Unfinished Browser Needs a New Owner

Open-sourcing the leftover ports sounds like a rescue. It is a transfer of the hardest remaining work. Kagi said a lot of good work went into both codebases and that they deserve a future even if the company is not the one that finishes them. It also said, in the same post, that it will not stay as core maintainer. Publishing a tree and running a browser are different jobs. The second job still needs someone who ships security fixes on a clock.

That is the part the handoff does not solve. Linux already has GNOME Web sitting on WebKitGTK. Another incomplete GTK browser, written while it was closed source, does not automatically attract the kind of crew that can track WebKit, GTK, Flatpak, extensions, and site compatibility. People who tried the beta treated it as Safari on Linux. Without a vendor, they will go back to Firefox and to Chrome-class browsers, because those are the ones that still get patches.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The cutoff: Kagi’s own Linux updates end after October 2, 2026, and the Windows launch will not come from Kagi.
• The dump: Linux and Windows source are promised, with details in the 30 days after that post.
• The owner: Kagi says it will not be the core maintainer and has asked foundations and other groups about stewardship.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• A named steward: No foundation, company, or maintainer group has been announced as the new owner.
• A license and repo: The actual license, host, and release date have not been published.
• Feature parity: Nothing in the cutoff post says a community fork will reach the macOS 1.0 feature set.

Orion was not open source at the start, which kept a lot of Linux packagers at arm’s length while the beta was still closed. The code is being offered now because the company is leaving, not because the Mac product is done and self-funding. The Mac and iOS apps stay with Kagi. The unfinished ports are the ones being put on the curb.

The Thin Bench of WebKit on Linux

WebKit is not missing from Linux. GNOME Web, still widely known as Epiphany, is the long-running desktop browser on WebKitGTK, and it is the one with an actual project behind it. Around it sit smaller WebKitGTK clients that have gone idle, been abandoned, or been discontinued. That is a thin bench, not a waiting army of browser vendors.

Orion’s pitch on Linux was never “another WebKit window.” It was a privacy-first, zero-telemetry browser with the same blocking defaults and, later, the same extension story as the Mac build. GNOME Web does not pretend to be that product. If nobody takes the Orion tree, Linux does not lose WebKit. It loses the one attempt by a paid search company to make WebKit feel like a full modern browser off Apple hardware.

Chromium does not need this dump. Firefox does not need it either. The people who needed it were users who wanted a third engine on the desktop without living inside Safari’s walled garden. Kagi said that group’s response to the Linux announcement was overwhelming, that they filed bugs, and that they wanted a WebKit browser that respects privacy. Those testers now own a frozen beta and a promise of source.

ORION AFTER OCTOBER 2

The table is the second-order point in one view. Engine diversity was the reason Kagi gave for doing Linux the hard way. The diversity it can actually fund lives on the platforms where Orion already has paying users and a mature WebKit stack.

Keep Using the Linux Beta at Your Own Risk

Kagi’s own warning is the practical line. The Linux beta will keep working, and the company does not recommend it as a main browser. An unpatched browser is a growing hole. Site breakage will pile up too, because WebKitGTK and the rest of the stack will keep moving while this build stays still. Anyone who installed it for daily mail, banking, or work should move off it.

The product site still describes Linux as currently in beta, with the same zero-telemetry promise as the other builds. The hiring pages still talk about Orion coming to Linux. Those pages have not caught up with the October 2 post. The Mac and iPhone apps are the live product. People who want the funded browser can download Orion for macOS and iOS as before. Kagi says those builds are not changing, except to get faster, more stable, and more capable, now that the split team is no longer covering extra operating systems.

WHAT LINUX TESTERS SHOULD DO

• Leave the beta: Treat the October 2 build as a souvenir, not a daily driver, because Kagi will not patch it.
• Watch the dump: Source details are due in the 30 days after the cutoff post, with support@kagi.com as the contact for groups that want to own it.
• Do not wait on Windows: The late 2026 Windows release will not come from Kagi, only from whoever picks up that unfinished tree.

Kagi thanked the people who tested builds, filed bugs, and believed in an independent browser beyond Apple machines. The next named step is still the one in that post. A steward has to raise a hand, and the company has to publish the code it says it will share.