Parallex or browser profiles?
A browser profile is the free, built-in way to be signed in to two accounts of the same website. It doesn't reach Mac apps. Parallex does, and can also make a separate browser of its own, opened on its own, with links sent where you choose.
At a glance
| Parallex | Browser profiles | |
|---|---|---|
| Works for | Mac apps, and websites as apps of their own | Websites in that browser |
| Separate | Sign-ins, cookies, data and, for copies, keychain items | Cookies, history, extensions and saved passwords |
| In the Dock | Copies and website instances have their own icon | One icon for the browser |
| Links from other apps | Go where you choose, with rules per site | In Chrome, to the profile you used last |
| Cost | Free to try | Free, built in |
When a profile is enough
If both accounts are websites you use in the browser (two Google accounts, a client's Jira, a second Slack in a tab), a profile does it, for free. Chrome, Edge, Brave, Firefox and Safari (since Safari 17) all have them.
When Parallex is better
- The second account is in a Mac app: Slack, WhatsApp, Discord, Telegram, Claude, Cursor, Teams, Zoom. Profiles don't reach them.
- You want the second account as an app of its own, with its own Dock icon and badge, instead of a window among windows.
- You want links to land in the right place: Parallex can send links from other apps to a browser instance or to a profile like “Chrome/Work”, with rules per site.
Using both
Parallex works with profiles rather than replacing them. A workspace can send its links to a Chrome, Brave or Edge profile, and a browser instance (a separate Chrome with its own data folder) sits beside your profiles, with its windows outlined in its color. Two separate Chromes has the details.
Questions
Do Chrome profiles have separate Dock icons on a Mac?
No. Every Chrome profile is a window of the same Chrome, with one Dock icon. Chrome can make a desktop shortcut per profile, but the windows still belong to one app.
Does Parallex work with Safari?
Safari can't be copied, as it's one of Apple's apps. Safari has profiles of its own, and Parallex's website instances (each a small WebKit app of its own) work for any website.
Get Parallex
Free to try, for macOS 14 and later. In Terminal:
curl -fsSL https://parallex.mandip.dev/install | shOr download the disk image, or with Homebrew: brew install --cask mandipadk/parallex/parallex.