- I've been using Google Chrome for years.
Google Chrome is the web browser.
But lately, it's gotten more and more stale.
I've been curious about trying other browsers.
And when I saw that Opera offers native support
for Web3 domains and other privacy focused features
like a free VPN, I knew I had to give it a try.
But is it really practical
to switch to a browser like Opera?
That's what I'm finding out
in today's video of Opera versus Chrome.
And you might not realize,
they're basically the same browser.
So I've gone down the path
of trying other web browsers before
and all roads keep leading back to Google Chrome.
This is because I'll try another browser
and it might be missing a feature that I need
or it's not reliable,
and I end up using Chrome in the end.
This cycle has been going on for years.
And you might be asking,
"Christian, what's the problem with Google Chrome?
If you're happy with it, why not stick to it?"
And you could stick to it, but let's not forget
that Google is a data collection company.
Their goal is to collect your user data
and use it for advertising and other purposes.
Everything you do on the internet,
Google can see when you use Google Chrome
because it's their web browser.
At its core, Google Chrome has been the same product
for the past five or six years.
Yes, Google is adding in a couple new features here or there
but they haven't been innovative
and they don't have to be.
That's because Google Chrome
has a reputation of being the browser.
Ask any developer,
"What browsers do you support with your website?"
And they're probably gonna tell you
just download Google Chrome,
don't bother with any of those other browsers.
Google Chrome has been put on this pedestal
as the browser to use.
Like if you're using another browser,
what are you even doing?
And I get it.
It's good.
It's reliable.
It just works.
But when we step back and look at the bigger picture
and realize innovation's not happening
and we're feeding all of our user data
to this big company,
it starts to crumble a little bit.
Now going into this comparison,
I was sure it would never make sense
for me to switch to Opera.
I've tried Opera in the past
and it just wasn't there yet.
But I committed to trying it again for a number of reasons.
The native support for Web3 domains
really caught my attention.
The privacy focus features like a free VPN
made me see Opera is really trying to be innovative.
I can see that they're pushing the bounds of a web browser
and seeing what they can do
to think outside the literal box of a web browser
and just make it more interesting.
I like the ambition and I wanted to try it again
and see what they've come up with.
I installed Opera and immediately had some challenges.
First I had to get used to the UI.
As soon as I long launched the browser, it was different.
And of course it's different. It's not Chrome.
But I've just been used to Chrome
for so long that any other browser I open,
I go, "Oh, could I just go back to Chrome?
This is uncomfortable."
But I push through it,
I'm getting used to the UI,
and then the second challenge that I faced
was using browser extensions.
I had this idea that there would be
a lot of native extensions for Chrome.
I thought I'd be able to use 1Password and Honey.
And a lot of these extensions that I use on Chrome,
I figured they would just have Opera versions.
And I found out they actually didn't.
See, what you have to do is get this extension
for Opera that allows you to install Chrome extensions.
What?
Like, is this gonna be reliable?
Is this gonna work out?
I don't know.
I had to do further testing
and get to the bottom of it.
After getting over the initial pain point
of installing Opera and getting used to the UI,
my experience was generally uneventful.
I really expected to run into more problems, but I didn't.
Performance was fast and snappy,
Chrome extensions ran reliably
and the built-in ad blocker just works.
I didn't even bother with installing an ad blocker extension
like have to do in Chrome.
Then I started noticing the little features
that make Opera unique.
Let's start with the sidebar.
It allows you to access message apps with a click,
access other features like the player and crypto wallet
and access favorites, history and downloads.
All right, this sidebar is kinda goofy.
I personally would disable it
if I can continue using Opera.
It's essentially a bunch of embedded websites
for Messenger, Telegram, Instagram, Twitter and Spotify.
And I just don't really get it.
I don't know what it's adding to the experience,
but it's easy to disable.
And excluding the gimmicky sidebar,
the other unique features to Opera,
I found highly useful.
It's the little features that made the difference.
Things like auto picture-in-picture
on YouTube and video conferencing services.
I can start a YouTube video and click to another tab,
and it's picture and picture automatically.
I don't have to think about it.
The same thing is true for Google Meet.
I was on a video call,
I switched tabs to look something up,
everybody in the call just shrunk down
to a little window in the browser.
It's brilliant.
You just have to try it.
And honestly, I don't wanna go without this feature.
There's other cool features, too.
Things like a context menu.
When you highlight text that will automatically pop up
and let you search text or copy text
without having to right-click.
There's all also a screenshot
and PDF generator tool built into the browser.
There's a built-in tracker blocker,
so you can make sure that these sites
aren't collecting a bunch of data on you
and cross referencing with other sites.
There's a built-in VPN,
there's native support for Web3 domains.
Opera is really trying to innovate
and add features that are legitimately useful.
And speaking of VPNs,
you've heard me talk about VPNs before on this channel.
And the VPN in Opera is just okay.
It's a free VPN, so I can't complain,
but it's very basic.
Opera has a disclosure at the top
that your connection speeds may vary
when you connect to the VPN.
So they're not really guaranteeing that it's a fast VPN.
And you can't connect to precise different locations
for region lock streaming,
it's not really amazing.
But it gets the job done.
It changes your IP address,
it hides your data from your internet service provider
and it's free, so I can't complain.
It's pretty cool.
These might seem like small features,
but I've really enjoyed what they've added
to my browser experience.
And this is on top of the fact
that I haven't really found many cons to Opera.
My biggest con so far is that reverse image search
via Google is not supported in Opera.
This is where you right-click on an image
and say search image on Google
and the browser will throw that image into Google,
Google will tell you where that image is used
on other websites on the internet
as well as show you similar images.
It's a really useful feature.
I use it quite a bit on Chrome
and it's not supported in Opera.
This is strange to me because it's supported in Chrome,
Firefox, Safari and other major browsers
according to Google's support documentation,
but it's not supported in Opera.
Also, my producer, Matthew, pointed out
that Opera doesn't have any equivalent
of user profiles in Chrome.
He really enjoys having separate profiles
for work and for personal,
especially because he works from home on the same computer.
He can have a work profile
that has all of his work bookmarks,
all of his work accounts logged in.
And then at the end of the workday,
he can switch over to the personal profile,
have all of his personal bookmarks, personal sites.
It's almost like two different experiences
in the same browser.
This is a feature that Google's added recently
and perhaps is one of the more innovative additions
to the browser in recent years.
Opera just isn't doing anything like it.
I wish they had user profiles, but they don't.
Overall, I've really enjoyed my experience using Opera.
It's the little features that make me want to keep using it.
And I was shocked at how smoothly Chrome extensions run.
And speaking of Chrome extensions,
you might not know that opera is based on Chromium.
What is Chromium?
Chromium is an opensource project by Google
that powers Google Chrome.
Wait a minute, Christian,
you're telling us that this whole time
you've been trying to get away from Google Chrome
because of data privacy concerns
and Opera is using the same exact engine powered by Google?
Yep. But Chromium is a lot bigger than you may realize.
It powers browsers like Brave and even Microsoft Edge.
It's opensource and this means that it's a lot simpler
for developers to build a browser based on Chromium.
But what about user data?
Is it being fed to Google?
Chromium says on their a website
that chromium provides users full transparency
and control over the information managed by the browser.
Now this may be true, but what about full transparency
over user data supplied to Google?
This statement just glosses right over that
and says, don't worry, Chromium has features built in
so that you can decide what data is shared with the browser.
But what about the company
that actually is behind the project?
Opera is a browser that claims
to emphasize security and privacy.
It's the features like the built-in ad blocker,
tracker blocker, free VPN.
They've done a lot of of things
to show that they're very committed to privacy and security
and handling user data properly.
Yet, they don't really address Chromium.
They don't say anything on their website.
At least I didn't find anything
front and center without digging.
And it really makes you wonder,
is data being shared with Google?
After doing some reading online,
many users say that even if Google didn't have a direct line
within Chromium to see everything users are doing,
Chromium is built in a way where it reports back
to Google for various features.
At the end of the day, if you want to avoid Google
having a hand in your browsers data,
you may want to consider alternative browsers.
Firefox and Safari are some of the last major browsers
to have their own proprietary web engines.
So after trying Opera again,
will I be making the switch?
For now, I think I'll stick to Opera.
But will it stick?
Will I be using it a year from now?
Or will I have gone back to Chrome?
I don't know.
It's too early to tell.
I think I'm gonna try some all alternative browsers
like Firefox and Safari that don't use Chromium.
Because if I'm gonna go through the trouble
of not using the web browser, Chrome,
the king of web browsers,
why would I want to use another web browser
that's still Chromium?
I'm torn because I really enjoy my experience with Opera.
But I also know it's still Chromium,
Google still has a hand in it.
And if I'm not gonna use Chrome,
I kinda want to commit and go all out
and avoid Chromium altogether.
So for now, I'll be sticking to Opera.
But I also wanna test some other browsers.
And I don't know, maybe I'll just go back to using Chrome.
But I like Opera.
But Opera is Chromium.
It's so confusing.
I remember when web browsers
used to be Chrome or not Chrome.
And now these other browsers have gotten so good,
partially because of Chromium,
and it just leaves me confused
on what the best web browser is.
But I'm determined to get to the bottom of it.
I'd like to know, which web browser do you use?
Drop a comment down below.
And if you liked this video,
do be sure to hit that Subscribe button
and click the bell so you don't miss
when I release new comparisons.
With that said, I'll catch you guys next time.