Safari Comparison

Vimsurf vs Vimari

Looking for vim-style navigation on Safari? Here's how Vimsurf compares to Vimari. Plus, Vimsurf works on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge too.

Vi

Vimari

Lightweight Port

Vimari is a "lightweight port of Vimium to Safari." It provides essential navigation features like link hints, scrolling, and basic tab control.

Last updated September 2020

VS

Vimsurf

Full-Featured, Cross-Browser

Vimsurf is a complete vim-style browser experience for Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. It includes command palette, visual mode, macros, reader mode, and modern UX patterns. One extension, all your browsers.

The Safari Extension Gap

For years, Safari users have been stuck with limited options. Vimium works great on Chrome, but Safari's extension restrictions meant ports like Vimari had to cut features. The result? Safari users got a stripped-down experience.

Vimari's own documentation admits it's a "lightweight port taking the best components" of Vimium. That's fine for basic use, but power users want more.

Worse, Vimari hasn't been updated since September 2020. As Safari evolves, an unmaintained extension becomes increasingly unreliable. Vimsurf closes this gap, bringing an actively maintained, full-featured vim experience to Safari and all major browsers.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Vimsurf	Vimari
Command Palette	✓ Raycast-style fuzzy command search	✕ Not available
Which-Key Hints	✓ Contextual shortcut discovery	✕ Not available
Visual Tab Switcher	✓ Tab previews with fuzzy search	✕ Basic tab cycling only (w/q)
Link Hints	✓ Home-row optimized hints	✓ Standard hint system
Smooth Scrolling	✓ Configurable smooth scroll	✓ Configurable smooth scroll
Reader Mode	✓ Full reader with TTS and themes	✕ Safari limitation prevents this
Visual Mode	✓ Full text selection with motions	✕ Not available
Marks	✓ Local and global marks	✕ Not available
Macros	✓ Record and playback	✕ Not available
Omnibar Search	✓ URLs, bookmarks, history, tabs	✕ Not available
Clipboard History	✓ Yank history with search	✕ Not available
URL Editing	✓ Edit URL in place (ge/gE)	✕ Cannot focus URL bar
Custom Key Mappings	✕ Not yet supported	✓ JSON config file
Insert Mode	✓ Proper mode switching	✓ Basic insert mode
Page Navigation	✓ [[/]] for pagination	✕ Not available
Browser Support	✓ Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge	~ Safari only

What Vimari Users Are Missing

Command Palette

Vimari has no command discovery. With Vimsurf, press , to search all available commands with fuzzy matching.

Omnibar Search

Vimari can't search bookmarks or history. Vimsurf's omnibar (o) searches URLs, bookmarks, history, and open tabs in one place.

Visual Mode

Select text with vim motions. Press v then use h/j/k/l, w/b, and other motions. Yank with y.

Which-Key Hints

Never forget a shortcut. Press any prefix key and see all possible continuations. Learning becomes effortless.

Macros

Record repetitive actions with q, play them back with @. Automate your browsing workflows.

Reader Mode

Distraction-free reading with gr. Includes themes, font controls, and text-to-speech with keyboard controls.

Shortcuts Comparison

Both extensions share common vim-style shortcuts for basic navigation. Vimsurf includes all Vimari shortcuts plus many more:

Shared

j/k - Scroll
h/l - Scroll horizontal
gg/G - Top/bottom
d/u - Half page
f/F - Link hints
H/L - History
r - Reload
gi - Focus input

Vimsurf Only

o/O - Omnibar
b/B - Bookmarks
T - Tab search
v - Visual mode
m/` - Marks
q/@ - Macros
yy/yf - Copy URL/link
gr - Reader mode

Vimsurf Only (cont.)

,/: - Command palette
? - Which-key hints
ge/gE - Edit URL
gu/gU - URL hierarchy
[[/]] - Pagination
yt - Duplicate tab
^ - Last tab
n/N - Search next/prev

Easy Migration

Switching from Vimari to Vimsurf is seamless. All the shortcuts you already know work exactly the same way. You'll just have access to a lot more.

Same scrolling keys Same link hints Same history navigation Same tab shortcuts + Many new features