Permission · activeTab

What the activeTab permission means for a Chrome extension

Live Chrome Web Store extensions that declare activeTab: 101 631, which is 38% of the 270 859 whose permissions we have read. Counted after our catalog pass of 2026-10-10.

What it lets an extension do

Act on the current tab, but only after you click it activeTab

Routine for an extension

Routine for an extension: on its own it does not reach your browsing data or the pages you open.

What Chrome says when you add one

We know of no install warning Chrome shows for this permission on its own. Chrome may still warn about the site access an extension declares alongside it.

How common it is in each category

How common it is in each category
Category	Share of extensions	Extensions
Productivity · Developer	49%	13 908 of 28 348
Lifestyle · Household	46%	228 of 493
Productivity · Tools	43%	45 820 of 106 510
Productivity · Education	43%	4 940 of 11 516
Lifestyle · Shopping	40%	3 497 of 8 708
Productivity · Communication	39%	2 795 of 7 120
Make Chrome Yours · Privacy	36%	1 947 of 5 449
Make Chrome Yours · Accessibility	35%	2 849 of 8 075
Productivity · Workflow	35%	15 934 of 45 721
Lifestyle · Travel	29%	244 of 855
Lifestyle · Social	28%	1 971 of 7 160
Lifestyle · Entertainment	24%	1 557 of 6 363
Lifestyle · News	24%	396 of 1 631
Make Chrome Yours · Functionality	22%	2 452 of 11 127
Lifestyle · Art	20%	698 of 3 519
Lifestyle · Well Being	19%	549 of 2 878
Lifestyle · Fun	15%	1 299 of 8 489
Lifestyle · Games	8%	547 of 6 897

Counted over the live extensions of each category after our latest full pass of the store. A share is context, not a verdict: what is normal depends on what the extension is for.

Widely installed extensions that ask for it

Google Translate No site access · 5 permissions 38.0M users ★ 4.2
uBlock Origin Lite Access to every site · 8 permissions, 1 site pattern 21.0M users ★ 4.5
360 Internet Protection Access to every site · 9 permissions, 1 site pattern 19.0M users ★ 4.5
Read&Write for Google Chrome™ Access to every site · 13 permissions, 1 site pattern 19.0M users ★ 3.4
Claude Access to every site · 16 permissions, 1 site pattern 18.0M users ★ 2.9
ClassLink OneClick Extension Access to every site · 6 permissions, 3 site patterns 17.0M users ★ 1.7
VPN for Chrome: NordVPN proxy protection Access to every site · 16 permissions, 1 site pattern 15.0M users ★ 4.2
Malwarebytes Browser Guard Access to every site · 12 permissions, 1 site pattern 12.0M users ★ 3.8
MetaMask Access to every site · 12 permissions, 6 site patterns 12.0M users ★ 2.7
Clever Access to every site · 5 permissions, 1 site pattern 12.0M users ★ 2.4

Each links to what that extension can access and how its permissions have changed.

How to check your own extensions

Type chrome://extensions in the address bar and find the extension in the list.
Open its details. The Permissions section lists what Chrome granted it, in Chrome's own words.
Open its details. The site access setting shows where it can run; set it to run only on click and it reaches a page only after you press its icon.
To uninstall it, choose Remove on the same page.

Figures come from the public Chrome Web Store, which our own crawler reads up to 2 times a day. We do not install or audit extensions and publish no contact details for their developers. Catalog pass of 2026-10-10.

Browse the catalog

Where the data comes from: how the catalog is built