Why it's a strong pick

It is a maintained open-source take on The Great Suspender. It uses Manifest V3, Chrome's current extension format, and is licensed GPL-2.0. The README says it is free with no ads. Its latest GitHub release is from 17 September 2026, and the repo had a commit on 1 October 2026.

What it does

It will "automatically suspend tabs that have not been used for a default, or user-configurable, time interval", in the README's words. This frees memory and CPU. The project says it is based on The Great Suspender and cleaned up.

Key features

Timed suspend. Idle tabs sleep after a time you set.
Tab group support. Suspend and unsuspend whole tab groups (version 9.0.3).
Always suspend and whitelist. Keep chosen sites awake, or always suspend others.
Battery timeout. A separate timeout when on battery power.
Session backup and restore. Scheduled, with optional Google Drive.
Tab Health page and 18 languages.

Who it's for

It suits people who keep many tabs open and want memory back. It also suits people who want an open-source successor to The Great Suspender. If you rarely have more than a few tabs, you may not need it.

What permissions does The Marvellous Suspender ask for?

A broad set. It asks for host access to all http and https sites, plus tabs, history, storage, scripting, tabGroups, alarms and more. Google Drive backup uses an optional identity permission that you grant only if you want it. It needs Chrome 110 or newer. The list comes from the source manifest for version 9.0.3.

Does it track me?

The README says "No ads, no tracking". That is the developer's own statement. We could not read the developer's privacy policy when we checked; read it before installing. Version 9.0.0 added a News sidebar page that shows posts from the Marvellous Codeworks blog. We could not confirm whether it makes network requests on its own.

Can I keep some sites from being suspended?

Yes. The release notes describe a whitelist, and an "Always suspend" list next to it from version 9.0.2. Put sites you need awake on the whitelist, such as web mail, documents or calls. Check how your own sites behave before you set a short timer.

FAQ

Is it open source? Yes, under GPL-2.0.

Is it free? The README says it is free, with no ads.

Is it the same as The Great Suspender? No. It is based on it, and it is maintained by a different project.

Good to know

Whitelist pages where you type or stream, such as web mail, docs and video calls, before you set a short timer. Grant the optional Google Drive permission only if you want cloud backups. Because it can access all sites and your history, install it only if you trust the project.

Other tab managers to compare

The Marvellous Suspender is one of 8 picks in our tab managers guide:

OneTab: Turns all your open tabs into one list you can restore later. Free to install.
Toby: Save tabs into collections and spaces, and keep them in a side panel. Account required.
Workona: Save tabs into project spaces that sync through the cloud. Free plan, paid plans.
Session Buddy: Save open tabs into collections, search them and recover them after a crash. Free to install, no account.
Tab Wrangler: Closes tabs you have not touched for a while and keeps them in a list you can search. Free and open source.
Tab Session Manager: A free, open-source extension that saves your windows and tabs and brings them back later.
Auto Tab Discard: Cuts the memory use of inactive tabs with Chrome’s native tab discarding, without closing them. Open source.

Compare: Auto Tab Discard vs The Marvellous Suspender

See alternatives: The Great Suspender alternatives