Best Chrome Themes and How to Make Your Own

What does a Chrome theme actually change?

A Chrome theme recolours the browser itself: the window frame, the tab strip, the toolbar and the New Tab page background. It does not touch the websites you open, which is why a dark theme can still leave you staring at bright white pages.

That split matters when you choose. If you want a new look for the browser, a theme or Chrome's built-in colours are enough. If you want to change how pages look, or what appears when you open a tab, you need an extension instead. Our customization extensions hub covers that wider group.

Theme

A colour and image package for the browser frame, toolbar and New Tab background. It has no settings and runs no code.

Customize Chrome panel

Chrome's built-in side panel, opened from the New Tab page, where you pick gallery themes, upload an image, choose a colour and switch Light, Dark or Device mode.

New Tab extension

An extension that replaces the New Tab page with its own dashboard, wallpaper or to-do list. It overrides the background your theme would show there.

Page-styling extension

An extension such as Dark Reader or Stylus that changes how websites render. This is the only way to theme the pages themselves.

How do you change your Chrome theme?

Open a New Tab page, click Customize Chrome at the bottom right, then choose Change theme under Appearance. Everything happens in one panel, and you can undo it at any time.

1. Open Chrome on your computer and open a new tab with Ctrl+T (or Cmd+T on a Mac).
2. At the bottom right of the New Tab page, click Customize Chrome.
3. Under Appearance, select Change theme.
4. Pick a theme category or special collection from the gallery, then click the image you want.
5. Chrome suggests a browser colour that matches the image. If you don't like it, pick a different colour under Appearance.
6. Optional: open a collection and turn on Refresh daily to get a new background every day.

Google notes that customizing the New Tab page this way requires you to be signed in to your Google Account and to use Google as your default search engine. If the Customize Chrome button is missing, check those two settings first.

How do you get a dark Chrome theme?

Open Customize Chrome, and under Appearance choose Dark. That darkens Chrome's own interface. Choose Device instead if you want Chrome to follow your operating system's light or dark setting.

Chrome's Dark mode stops at the browser frame. Search results, docs, news sites and most web apps keep their own colours. To carry the dark look into pages, you need a page-styling extension.

For the full comparison of dark-mode tools, see our dark mode extension picks. Most people end up with Chrome set to Dark plus Dark Reader, then add exceptions for sites that already look fine.

How do you make your own Chrome theme?

The fastest way is to upload your own photo in Customize Chrome. Chrome uses it as the New Tab background and builds a matching browser colour from it. No tools or code needed.

Option 1: Upload an image (two minutes)

1. Open a new tab and click Customize Chrome at the bottom right.
2. Under Appearance, select Change theme.
3. Choose the upload option and select an image from your computer.
4. Look at the colour Chrome suggests for the toolbar and tabs. If it clashes, pick another colour under Appearance.
5. Switch between Light, Dark and Device to see which mode suits your image best.

Pick a wide image with a calm area in the middle. The search box and shortcuts sit in the centre of the New Tab page, and busy photos make them hard to read. You can also hide shortcuts with Show shortcuts in the same panel for a cleaner look.

Option 2: Let Chrome generate one with AI

Google's help page for the New Tab page links to a separate guide on creating Chrome themes with AI. It is a good middle ground if you want something original but don't have a suitable photo. Availability can depend on your account and region, so if you don't see it, use the upload route.

Option 3: Build a theme package (full control)

A theme you can share or keep across installs is a small folder with a manifest.json file and your images. The manifest sets colours for the frame, toolbar and tabs, and points to a New Tab background image. Colours are written as red, green and blue values.

{
  "manifest_version": 3,
  "name": "My Forest Theme",
  "version": "1.0",
  "theme": {
    "images": {
      "theme_ntp_background": "images/background.png"
    },
    "colors": {
      "frame": [11, 61, 46],
      "toolbar": [20, 80, 62],
      "tab_text": [255, 255, 255],
      "ntp_background": [11, 61, 46]
    }
  }
}

To try it, go to chrome://extensions, turn on Developer mode, click Load unpacked and pick the folder. Our guide to Chrome Developer mode walks through that screen. Edit the colours, reload, and repeat until it looks right.

Which Chrome theme extensions are worth installing?

Go for an extension only when a theme can't do the job: darkening websites, restyling a single site, or replacing the New Tab page with something useful. Here are our picks, ranked by how many people they suit, with the catch for each.

1. Dark Reader: the dark theme for websites

Choose it if a dark browser frame isn't enough and you want pages themselves to go dark. Dark Reader applies dark mode to every website, so it covers the gap every Chrome theme leaves.

Drawback: it needs broad site access, and pages with unusual layouts sometimes need a tweak or an exception. Skip it if you mostly use sites that already have their own dark mode.

2. Infinity New Tab: wallpapers with tools

Choose it if you want a new wallpaper on the New Tab page plus widgets, bookmarks and a to-do list. Infinity New Tab turns the page you see most into a personal dashboard.

Drawback: it is freemium, and because it replaces the New Tab page, your Chrome theme's background won't show there. Skip it if you like Chrome's default page and just want a new colour.

3. Momentum: a calmer new tab

Choose it if you want a clean, image-led new tab that nudges you towards one focus and a short to-do list. Momentum suits people who find dashboards distracting.

Drawback: freemium, with fewer widgets than dashboard-style tools. Skip it if you want bookmarks and feeds front and centre. If it's close but not quite right, compare our Momentum alternatives.

4. Stylus: themes for individual sites

Choose it if you want one site to look different: a darker forum, a wider docs page, a custom font. Stylus injects custom CSS when a page loads, so each site gets its own look.

Drawback: you need to write CSS or find user styles someone else made, and site redesigns can break a style. Skip it if you just want everything dark; Dark Reader is simpler.

5. Awesome New Tab Page: a free dashboard

Choose it if you want shortcuts, apps and backgrounds on your new tab without paying. Awesome New Tab Page is free and focused on layout.

Drawback: like every New Tab replacement, it hides Chrome's own page, including Customize Chrome and your theme background. Skip it if you rely on Google's shortcuts and Cards.

6. start.me: a start page that works

Choose it if your new tab should be where you keep bookmarks, news feeds and widgets. start.me is closer to a browser home base than a theme.

Drawback: it's built around organising links, not decoration, so it won't help if you only want a pretty background. Skip it if you keep few bookmarks.

7. Custom cursor packs: the finishing touch

Choose it if your theme has a character or colour scheme and you want the pointer to match. Custom Cursor for Chrome has a built-in library and lets you upload your own; Sweezy Cursors leans towards animated and cute designs. See all of them in our custom cursor picks.

Drawback: purely cosmetic, and custom cursors only show on web pages, not in Chrome's own menus. Skip it if you care about a tidy, minimal setup.

Theme, built-in colours or extension: which should you use?

Start with what's built in, and add an extension only for a gap it can't fill. This table maps common goals to the lightest option that works.

Only one New Tab replacement can be in control at a time. If you install two, the most recent one usually wins, which can be confusing. Pick one and remove the rest; our guide on removing a Chrome extension shows how.

How do you reset or remove a Chrome theme?

Open Customize Chrome from a New Tab page and select Reset to Default Chrome at the bottom of the panel. That removes the theme and the colour and returns Chrome to its standard look.

1. Open a new tab.
2. Click Customize Chrome at the bottom right.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the panel.
4. Select Reset to Default Chrome.

If a New Tab extension is active, you won't see Chrome's own New Tab page or its Customize button. Turn that extension off at chrome://extensions, reset the theme, then turn it back on if you still want it.

Our verdict: the best Chrome theme setup for most people

For most people, the best Chrome theme is the one you make in two minutes: upload a photo in Customize Chrome, accept or adjust the suggested colour, and set the mode to Device. It's free, installs nothing and is easy to undo.

• Want dark everywhere? Chrome set to Dark, plus Dark Reader.
• Want a useful new tab? Infinity New Tab for widgets, Momentum for calm.
• Want one site to look different? Stylus.
• Want a theme to share? Build a small theme package and load it unpacked.

Browse the full customization category if you want to go further, from cursors to new tab tools.