diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/tab.py b/qutebrowser/browser/tab.py
index bfaef2194..8efe93352 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/tab.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/tab.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ from PyQt5.QtCore import pyqtSignal, pyqtSlot, QUrl, QObject, QPoint
 from PyQt5.QtGui import QIcon
 from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QWidget, QLayout
 
+from qutebrowser.keyinput import modeman
 from qutebrowser.config import config
 from qutebrowser.utils import utils, objreg, usertypes, message
 
@@ -35,6 +36,25 @@ tab_id_gen = itertools.count(0)
 Backend = usertypes.enum('Backend', ['QtWebKit', 'QtWebEngine'])
 
 
+def create(win_id, parent=None):
+    """Get a QtWebKit/QtWebEngine tab object.
+
+    Args:
+        win_id: The window ID where the tab will be shown.
+        parent: The Qt parent to set.
+    """
+    # Importing modules here so we don't depend on QtWebEngine without the
+    # argument and to avoid circular imports.
+    mode_manager = modeman.instance(win_id)
+    if objreg.get('args').backend == 'webengine':
+        from qutebrowser.browser.webengine import webenginetab
+        tab_class = webenginetab.WebEngineViewTab
+    else:
+        from qutebrowser.browser.webkit import webkittab
+        tab_class = webkittab.WebViewTab
+    return tab_class(win_id=win_id, mode_manager=mode_manager, parent=parent)
+
+
 class WebTabError(Exception):
 
     """Base class for various errors."""
diff --git a/qutebrowser/mainwindow/tabbedbrowser.py b/qutebrowser/mainwindow/tabbedbrowser.py
index 47751a47e..1a0313caf 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/mainwindow/tabbedbrowser.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/mainwindow/tabbedbrowser.py
@@ -381,20 +381,12 @@ class TabbedBrowser(tabwidget.TabWidget):
                                         window=window.win_id)
             return tabbed_browser.tabopen(url, background, explicit)
 
-        if objreg.get('args').backend == 'webengine':
-            # Importing this here so we don't depend on QtWebEngine without the
-            # argument.
-            from qutebrowser.browser.webengine import webenginetab
-            tab_class = webenginetab.WebEngineViewTab
-        else:
-            tab_class = webkittab.WebViewTab
-
-        tab = tab_class(self._win_id, modeman.instance(self._win_id),
-                        parent=self)
-
+        tab = tabmod.create(win_id=self._win_id, parent=self)
         self._connect_tab_signals(tab)
+
         idx = self._get_new_tab_idx(explicit)
         self.insertTab(idx, tab, "")
+
         if url is not None:
             tab.openurl(url)
         if background is None: