Which browser to use?

VPN
1

I know this is like the most default question you could ask here. And I get the most optimal answer is probably “the one you enjoy using the most” or “no browser is perfect” or something like that, but the thing is, I haven’t tried most browsers, so I don’t know if I’m missing out, and I don’t want to try all of them cuz that’s just be time-consuming.

I could tell you what I care/don’t care about in a browser and based on that, if you could shoot me recommendations, that would be awesome.

I’ve been using Opera GX for like 2 years now, and for the most part I liked it, but some websites are incompatible with it and the performance hasn’t been anything special in my experience (definitely not like what the ads say). The default adblocker is really great and it wasn’t even affected by youtube’s attempt to block adblockers so that was a huge plus, and the in-built VPN that Opera GX has is also a nice feature but not that important to me. I’ve just been thinking about trying a different browser.

When it comes to privacy, I honestly don’t care about it too much, like I’m not looking to completely “degooglify” or whatever is the term yall use. I do prefer using DuckDuckGo as a search engine instead of google sometimes but that’s because it gives me better results not really cuz of privacy. Doesn’t mean I’m against having better privacy options, just saying that it isn’t the main thing for me.

Good adblocking is important to me, but I guess you can install adblocker on any browser, though I feel like on some browsers they go to greater extents to block ads than just a simple adblocker

Website and addon compatibility is also important (Opera GX had an addon where you could also use all chrome addons, and when it comes to websites, there were only a few that weren’t supported)

And lastly, the optimization and speed/performance of the browser is important. The lower the CPU/RAM usage the better. There are always memes about how Chrome just eats all your RAM but honestly, my experience with Firefox and Opera GX is that they eat just about the same

2

NAVER Whale is a good browser that is little known and misunderstood as a browser for South Koreans only, but you can turn off nearly all the Korean features and you are left with a great browser experience.

3

I’d say Firefox is the best browser, Vivaldi and then Brave. Each are secure but Firefox won’t be affected by Googles changes to extensions next year.

4

3 (more like four) recommendations.
If you want a simple browser which will shield you from most stuff and it just works most of the time, use Brave. Configure it for 10 minutes and ur done.
If you want something which is open source, but also will work, use Firefox

If you are a power user, use Mercury or Thorium. These typically lag in security updates, but they run better and don’t have a shit ton of bloat. Brave added crypto and firefox has whatever they are on right now, i think it’s pocket.

If you have common sense, can turn off Do not Track in Thorium settings, and are on Debian or Windows, and can take the hassle out of your day to update your browser like every two weeks, your fine.

Security is in layers, you can have the most hardened browser ever, but if your on bootleg PirateBay, your new security update won’t do anything against that phising login or download button!

5

I’d recommend Firefox/Floorp with Betterfox.

Choose Firefox if you want regular updates from Mozilla. Floorp is based on Firefox ESR which is only updated to a new major version once a year.

Go with Floorp if you want a lot of customisations. Despite the yearly base update, Floorp has its own development cycle and updates are provided regularly too. It’s just that it lags behind the rapid release Firefox and if something interesting comes you would have to wait until the next ESR major update.

Here is the Firefox release calendar: https://whattrainisitnow.com/calendar/

I can’t recommend Chromium browsers anymore because of Extension Manifest V3. Sure there are browsers with integrated adblocker but they just can’t match up with extensions like uBlock Origin or Adguard in terms of features, new syntax support for example, which is an important one.

6

EDIT: Removed Thorium from recommendation as a fellow redditor mentioned something regarding security. I don’t know if this is a valid source but here’s at least one: https://eightify.app/summary/mobile-technology/top-web-browsers-avoid-thorium

I’ve used Firefox, Opera, Chrome… Brave, and finally using Thorium.

I’d recommend Brave. Thorium is like Chrome but it’s less secure, although it comes with uBlock Origin installed and it has the benefits of Chrome, like automatically logging in to Gmail, YouTube etc, but it’s not using up-to-date security patches from the research that I’ve done, so I recommend against it if security is important to you.

Brave is also really good with a built-in ad-blocker and stuff, but from my experience, it tends to slow down a bit after some time of using it, but I’d still use it over Thorium in the case of security.

Either way, you still can’t go wrong with either Brave or Thorium. Want a better response time and faster loading? Go for Thorium. Just make sure you check for updates. If you want automatic updates due to security concerns or you simply want a built-in ad-blocker and God knows what else, go for Brave.

7

Well firefox is the most ram efficient, but honestly if you have 16+gbs it really does not matter for ram efficiency.

However you say you like adblockers, and all browsers based on chromium will no longer be able to adblock YouTube successfully after quarter 1 of 2024, so firefox and its forks are really your only option. Opera GX, brave, whatever, they are all chrome under the hood and will not be able to evade these changes for long without difficulty. I recommend researching some firefox forks and finding which one you like, but I just use the base version and like it well enough.

8

I love chrome but it’s not open source so i started to use brave browser like 1 year ago. But 2 month earlier i heard about thorium. It’s perfectly replicating chrome user experience and open source at the same time. I never seen a feature that is on chrome but not on thorium. It’s slightly slower than chrome (like 1-2%) and if you’re concern is speed. I don’t recommend any chromium browsers at all. But if it’s not a problem, i suggest thorium.

Browsers are very big programs actually. So taking 1-2 gb ram is inevitable. And you said that too, browser to browser speed is not that much changes.

9

firefox
vivaldi
brave
thorium
opera gx
naver

half of the world does not even know they exist

10

I’m having the same question

I’m used to Chrome, have been using it for god knows how long now, but it’s bugs are horrible. I’m on MacOS and chrome forced “inactivity zones” for ALL APPS, and it just goes into everfreeze if you have move than 1 monitor, also forcing Command Center (HOW TF?!) to go into everfreeze.

Chrome Canary fixes that, but crashes af if you get a system popup window. Crashes not in a nice way.

Safari is just crap: Command+L works only if you do a dance and no mouse buttons support. Didn’t look past that, I don’t care.

Firefox is … unexpectedly clunky still. I’ve used it years ago when it only came out, then the clunkiness and slowness were introduced. They’re still there. It’s like Thunderbird - my favorite mail client, but only because the rest are so much worse.

Haven’t tried Opera since they went over to China and haven’t tried Brave or Vivaldi yet in general - those two will be my focus this week. Thorium - first time I’ve heard of it in this thread.

11

anything Gecko engine if you wanna use YT, cuz Chromium browsers are about to go the way of the dodo if Google manages to do what it wants with this next update

so, getting suggested to me, most popular to least… Firefox, Waterfox, Floorp, Iceweasel, Librewolf

12

Thorium browser comes with ublock origin pre installed

13

he literally said he don’t care about privacy and allat

14

Well firefox is the most ram efficient

That’s Edge.

15

Firefox is not the most ram efficient.
Sorry.

16

I’l look into the forks, though I might just try and use the base firefox as well, thanks! Just a quick question, will firefox addons work just fine on firefox forks as well or will there be any compatibility issues? Because I don’t want to choose a fork that will essentially be incompatible with everything (don’t know exactly how this works, so sorry if this is a stupid question lol)

17

does chrome extensions especially ublock origin on vivaldi will also get affected once they move to manifest v3?

18

I didn’t mention privacy, only security.

19

Yeesh, can’t say you’re wrong. Did some research and seen a few security concerns.

Welp, back to Brave!

20

It will work just fine as long as its one of the major forks like waterfox or librewolf, maybe for some super small unsupported weird one it wont but it will work for all major forks. ALso, unlock origin is a must just an FYI, too many people still installing the old adblock