So, recently been thinking Chrome has been an ever increasing ram hog and it got me to thinking about alternatives.
I use Chrome by default, DDG when I feel like it, and recently Opera and found the social media plugins…
Forgot to mention the good old Tor Browser!
What's everyone's thought and preferred browser?
Can someone please add Tor Browser to the poll? Can't seem to add it… :(
iOS: Safari (alternative DuckDuckGo Browser)
macOS: Safari (alternative Opera)
Android: Brave (alternative Vivaldi)
Linux Distro: Firefox (alternative Chromium)
Windows 10: Edge (alternative Firefox)
…winner? Depends on what devices you use!
Overall, I would say it is Firefox. The mobile browser is now the same as the desktop browser, with a different UI and some battery life improvements. But it is powerful, private, fast and full-of-features. So it would work great between your Android Phone, Android Tablet, Windows Laptop, and Windows Desktop. However, if you have an iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro, and a Mac Pro… just stick to Safari. It's the fastest alternative, and combined with some other AdBlocking Apps, it makes it pretty private.
The open-source Chromium and it's derivatives are great (eg Edge, Brave, DuckDuckGo), but aren't very well optimised for a range of devices. Whatever you do, stay away from Google's Chrome. There is Opera Browser, but they have fallen massively this past decade, so they're very hit-and-miss…. their saving grace is the Vivaldi Browser which seems pretty great on certain devices.
I love vertical tabs, it's one of the reasons I still use firefox is because of the tree style tabs extension (apparently due to the way chrome's api is no one is able to implement a good vertical tab system)!
Yup me too. I love the tree system!
Was Chrome but then found Edge was smoother and offered the exact same extensions. Would like Edge better if there was hotkeys to group tabs, pretty much hate any feature that has no hotkeys.
And there were some random articles I saw saying Chrome had worse off security.
Chrome - convenient, sync tabs, things work, lots of plugins.
Having 32gb ram helps i suppose although have always used Chrome after switching from firefox many years ago
Use edge, does the same as chrome but faster with less resource use. All your plugins will work
Why would anyone use anything other than Brave for their casual use. It's free money.
Because they don't want to get paid to watch ads in a silly "privacy" scheme?
Yeah I use Brave a lot but all ads are off.
Still using IE
Only the <60 year old substitute teachers at schools…
Not the maths teachers that taught you greater than or less than signs?
… hush
Primarily Firefox and some Edge on PC
Safari on iPhone
Duckduckgo is also a browser?
Try it if you’re Brave
No option for compiling Mozilla from source so you can be sure?
Firefox or Chrome and Duck duck go for searching, using google when i need the extra cross-media search features.
Will be embarrassing if Scotty looks at this comment and sees Webkit in the meta data.
Always used Chrome (10+ years), never saw the need to change.
It's a memory hog. You should give Edge a go.
I did give Edge a go last year, used it for 2-3 months before reverting back to Chrome. Didn't like the UI as much as Chrome's, but it's still a perfectly good browser.
DDG on mobile devices
Chrome on Desktop (to use extension)
Brave, the better Chrome.
Firefox but it's awful. Apart from anything else the sync login dialog randomly popping up instead of appearing when you open the browser is reason enough to avoid it.
I'm probably going to move to one of the forks.
Ever since the new Edge launched I’ve been using that. Way more memory efficient compared to Chrome.
Forgot to add Tor Browser - if anyone can include it…? Thanks!
Chrome for everything
Used to be a mozilla fire fox user but I did a 360 on that which is kinda weird
Someone told me that microsoft edge can enable 4K HDR Netflix but I have not been able to test it (busy with life etc yada yada)
if you want to see what kind of stream you are getting hit ctrl + shift + alt + d for video stats and find the resolution in the middle next to playing bitrate
a lot of stuff is displaying still in 1280 x 720 for me aka 720p even though I am in an ultra hd 4k family plan
yeah that is me for right now
The new Edge is so much better than Chrome. Faster, more smooth, less memory and all the same extensions work.
Firefox with Pi-hole running in a VM. Ad-free for years!
Chrome but I wish I could convince myself to try Edge, I've heard good things about it.
WaterFox Classic as a secondary…………..must have my old extensions that FireFail and Whale Goon banned
Waaaaaaah poll only accepts one click!!!! Brave as primary
On Android, I think that Chrome runs a lot faster but since I've gotten a better phone, I stick to Firefox because it has extensions (even if they are limited compared to the desktop version). And because I want sync, I use Firefox on Desktop as well
Firefox mostly. Chromium on the raspberry. Safari on iPhone.
As someone who has used firefox as their main browser for nearly 20 years, i am genuinely suprised to see it with the most votes in this poll!
Me too. I think it's because of the demographics on ozb.
Overall the leader would be chrome though.
Remember when Firefox introduced tabs and everyone switched over from IE6? Firefox 2 or 3 I think.
Firefox all the things!
(Firefox) Nightly on mobile, stock (Firefox) (PortableApps) at work, and (Firefox) Nightly (I think…?) at home.
Firefox with duckduckgo
I think Edge is the best now. Faster than Chrome, less RAM usage, seamless sleeping tabs, more features, can use the same plugins as Chrome. It is surprising that this is a Microsoft product given how good it is
The fox, but Chrome on mobile
From OzBargain Stats September 2021
Top Browsers (by Sessions)
Chrome 61.82%
Safari 24.72%
Samsung Internet 3.34%
Firefox 3.30%
Edge 2.67%
Ozbargain Android App 1.90%(+.07%)
Comment brought to you via MS Edge.
I use different browsers for different things, mainly because I pin a lot of tabs and like to compartmentalise things. Main browser is FF then Brave, Chrome and then Edge.
I've decided to boycott Opera, it used to be good but they started putting an icon in my system tray when I haven't used it for months without asking so bye bye.
surprise nobody mentioned Ecosia? New trees planted for searches made. i use it for this reason!
Firefox but have been using edge for work and it's surprisingly good. Especially like the inbuilt vertical tabs.