LinkRouter vs Velja vs Choosy vs Finicky: Best Browser Picker for Mac

Where LinkRouter stands out

• Email links open as the right you. LinkRouter finds every Google account signed in to each Chrome, Brave or Edge profile. Pick one and Gmail compose opens inside the profile that owns it, with the address, subject and body filled in. Email rules by recipient domain (mail to @yourcompany.com always composes from your work account) come with it. Velja's FAQ says it handles browser links only, and Choosy's and Finicky's pages don't mention email links.
• The lowest price for one Mac. $5 for 1 Mac, $10 for 3 and $15 for 5, paid once. Velja and Choosy are $10 each.
• It runs on older macOS. LinkRouter needs macOS 14 Sonoma. The current Velja needs macOS 26 and the current Choosy needs macOS 15.6.
• Cleaning that never goes online. Outlook and Teams Safe Links, Proofpoint, Google, Slack, Facebook and LinkedIn redirects are unwrapped on your Mac, and tracking parameters are stripped, before your rules see the link. A rule for github.com still works when your company's mail scanner wraps the link.
• A keyboard-first picker at the mouse. Press 1 to 9 or type to filter. Hold ⇧ for a private window, hold ⌘ to make it a rule, press ⌘C to copy the link instead.
• Bounce without an extension. Opened in the wrong profile anyway? ⌃⌥B moves the front tab of Chrome, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Arc or Safari to another browser or profile and closes the original.

Where Velja is better

Velja is a polished, focused browser picker by Sindre Sorhus, and on macOS 26 it is a strong choice.

• More browsers with profiles. Besides Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Firefox and Zen, it lists profiles for Comet, Helium, Thorium, Wavebox and Brave Origin. LinkRouter opens Comet without choosing a profile.
• Links to apps, not only browsers. Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Figma links go to their desktop apps out of the box, and Google Meet links go to Chrome.
• Automation. Shortcuts actions (open URLs, open a browser profile, remove tracking parameters), a URL scheme, macOS Services and Handoff. LinkRouter has none of these.
• A bigger tracking list. Velja removes 200+ tracking parameters from clicked and copied links, and it can expand short URLs. LinkRouter's list is shorter and it never expands short links, because that means asking the shortening service over the internet.
• Browser extensions for Safari, Chrome and Firefox, and private windows in Opera too.
• Bought through the Mac App Store, if you prefer buying that way.

Where Choosy is better

Choosy has been making this kind of app for a long time and it shows in its rule system.

• One key for every Mac you use. Choosy is $10 and its help page says you can use the same key on all your Macs. If you have four or more Macs, that is cheaper than LinkRouter's $15 tier, and LinkRouter's largest tier covers 5 Macs.
• Richer rule conditions. Besides web address and source app, Choosy rules can check modifier keys, how many browsers are running, the link type, URL shortening services, and links from AirDrop, the Share menu or Handoff. A rule can open a link in several browsers at once or send it to a Share menu service.
• Prompt styles. A row or a circle of browser icons under the mouse, with several looks.
• Extensions and an API. Extensions for Safari, Chromium browsers, Edge and Firefox send the current page to another browser, and a URL-based API works from Terminal or AppleScript.

Where Finicky is better

Finicky is an open-source tool for people who like their setup in code.

• It costs nothing and the source is open (MIT license). Install it from GitHub or with Homebrew.
• Fully programmable. Rules can use wildcards, regular expressions or JavaScript functions, and can look at the app that opened the link. A rewrite step can change any URL before it opens: force HTTPS, strip parameters, or send x.com links to another site.
• Apps and background opening. One config can send links to apps as well as browsers, and it can open links in the background.
• If you never want a picker and enjoy editing a config file, Finicky is the natural pick. It suggests pairing with Browserosaurus when you do want a picker. The 4.4 alpha adds a visual rules editor and Firefox profiles.

What about OpenIn and Bumpr?

Two more apps are worth knowing about, because both handle email links too.

• OpenIn 4 is $11.99 on the Mac App Store and needs macOS 15.1 or later. It opens links in profiles of Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Brave, sends mailto: links to a mail app or to webmail like Gmail or Fastmail, and routes by domain, source app, modifier keys or Focus mode, with JavaScript for advanced rewriting. If you need Safari profiles, pick OpenIn: LinkRouter can't do that.
• Bumpr is $2.99 on the Mac App Store and runs on macOS 10.13 or later. It lets you pick a browser or an email app per click, can open mailto: links in Gmail in your browser, and has domain rules. Its page doesn't mention browser profiles.

What LinkRouter adds over both is the identity part: it finds each Google account in each Chrome-family profile by itself and opens compose inside the profile that owns the account you chose.

Where LinkRouter falls short

To be fair about our own app:

• No Safari, Arc or Dia profiles. LinkRouter opens these as a whole browser. (Velja doesn't support their profiles either; OpenIn supports Safari profiles.)
• No links to desktop apps like Zoom or Figma, no Shortcuts actions and no browser extension.
• No short-link expansion. bit.ly-style links open as they are, because expanding them means contacting the shortening service.
• Gmail account routing needs a Chromium browser such as Chrome, Brave or Edge. With Firefox, email links go to a mail app or a webmail template instead.
• Links clicked inside a browser stay in that browser (that's macOS); Bounce with ⌃⌥B is the fix.
• Updates are a download, not automatic. They are included with your license.

The verdict

For most people, LinkRouter is the better pick. If the problem you want solved is "this link opened as the wrong me" (a Slack link in your personal Chrome profile, an email composing from the wrong Gmail account), LinkRouter covers both web and email links. Of the four, it is the only one whose own page says it handles mailto: links, and it composes as the exact Gmail account inside the profile that owns it. It starts at $5, runs on macOS 14 Sonoma or later, and its cleaning and rules never leave your Mac.

Pick something else if:

• you are on macOS 26, only care about browser links, and want app routing (Zoom, Teams, Figma) and Shortcuts: Velja;
• you use more than five Macs, or want rule conditions like "how many browsers are running": Choosy;
• you want open source and like writing rules in JavaScript: Finicky;
• you need Safari profiles: OpenIn.