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How to set your homepage and new tab in every browser

A complete 2026 walkthrough for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, Brave and Opera — including the one limitation almost every other guide forgets to mention.

Your browser actually has three separate "start" settings, and mixing them up is the single most common reason people can't get the page they want. Before the steps, it helps to know exactly what each one controls:

Homepage — the page that opens when you click the home button (🏠).
Startup / on-launch page — what opens when you first start the browser.
New tab page — what appears every time you open a new tab.

The homepage and startup page can be changed in settings. The new tab page usually cannot — Chrome and Edge lock it, and only a browser extension can override it. We'll flag that where it matters.

Google Chrome

Open the ⋮ menu (top-right) → Settings.
Go to Appearance → turn on Show home button → select the custom-address field and paste your address.
Go to On startup → choose Open a specific page or set of pages → Add a new page → paste the same address.

New tab in Chrome: the page you see when pressing Ctrl+T can't be changed in settings. Only an extension can replace it. Dayblaster offers a free new-tab extension for exactly this.

Microsoft Edge

Open the … menu → Settings → Start, home, and new tabs.
Under When Edge starts, choose Open these pages and add your address.
Enable the Home button and set the same address.

Like Chrome, Edge's new tab page needs an extension to change.

Mozilla Firefox

Open the ≡ menu → Settings → Home.
Set Homepage and new windows → Custom URLs → paste your address.
Good news: Firefox also lets you set New tabs here (via an add-on), so it's the most flexible of the mainstream browsers.

Safari (Mac)

Open Safari → Settings → General.
Set Homepage to your address.
Set New windows open with and New tabs open with to Homepage.

Safari is generous here — it lets you point new tabs at your homepage without an extension.

Brave and Opera

Both are Chromium-based, so the steps mirror Chrome: Settings → Appearance / On startup for the homepage and startup page, and an extension for the new tab. Brave additionally has a built-in new-tab dashboard you can simplify under Settings → New Tab Page.

The new-tab limitation, explained once and for all

If your goal is for every new tab to open your chosen page, settings alone won't get you there in Chrome, Edge, Brave or Opera. Google intentionally reserves the new-tab slot. The only supported way to change it is a lightweight browser extension that declares a "new tab override." That's not a hack — it's the official mechanism, and it's how every custom new-tab product works.

Want a new tab that's actually useful? Dayblaster turns each new tab into your shortcuts, live news and markets, and productivity widgets — one page, no setup. It works as a homepage in any browser, and as a true new-tab page via its free extension.

Open Dayblaster →

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