- I tried six of the most popular web browsers
to see which one could dethrone Chrome
as the top web browser.
Getting started, the most widely apparent thing
as soon as you open these web browsers is the interface.
Now, a web browser is a web browser,
so they look similar,
but Chrome, Edge, Brave and Opera are all running Chromium,
which is the open source web engine developed by Google.
So they're all using the same starting point.
They're kinda just different flavors of the same thing.
Now, I am testing Edge on Mac,
which I realize
is probably not the best representation of Edge,
but I can say it feels really similar to Chrome.
Firefox does look relatively similar to Chromium browsers,
though it is using a proprietary web engine.
Safari definitely has the most unique
unconventional interface of all the browsers.
The tabs are below the browser bar in the normal mode,
and if you have it in the compact mode,
they're actually in line with the browser bar.
I've never seen anything like it.
Continuing the theme of similarities,
the speed and performance of these browsers
are all pretty comparable.
Chrome is fast enough,
and the other Chromium browsers are pretty similar.
Opera does have a lot of bugs and glitches.
And every time I've tested it,
I get fed up with pages freezing and not loading fast.
And Brave does claim that it's more RAM efficient
than any other Chromium browser,
but I haven't really noticed this in my usage.
I mean, it seems just as fast as any other browser.
Firefox is a bit clunky with performance,
it is fast,
but because it's not based on Chromium,
I find that sometimes web pages don't load properly.
Developers optimize their pages for Chromium
since that has the biggest market share.
So sometimes you visit the website in Firefox
and something just doesn't work right,
and then you open it in Chrome and it loads perfectly.
Safari is well optimized for Mac,
claiming to have the best battery life
and up to 50% faster page loads than Chrome.
And because Safari is made by Apple,
I think it's safe to say it probably is the most optimized
and efficient browser for Mac.
But I will say take all of these metrics
with a grain of salt
because none of these companies
disclose their testing methods.
And at the end of the day,
all of these web browsers are pretty speedy.
The thing that's gonna set most of these browsers
apart from each other is features.
Google Chrome does have some standout features
like user profiles,
syncing data between devices using your Google account
and picture-in-picture when watching video.
But Google doesn't really innovate
or add any new features because they don't have to.
Google Chrome is just seen as the browser to use.
So if people are gonna download it and use it mindlessly,
why would Google be motivated to make improvements?
Now, Brave is based on Chromium,
but there's a number of innovative features
that make it a better browsing experience.
First, there's a built-in ad blocker and tracker blocker.
Google recently announced some changes for Chromium
that's gonna make it more difficult
for third party ad blockers to function,
but because Brave's ad blocker is built in,
it's not gonna be affected by these changes to Chromium,
even though Brave runs on Chromium.
So Brave is really committed to privacy
and making sure
that you're not gonna see those pesky ads on websites.
Brave also has native support for IPFS
and decentralized domain names like craylor.crypto.
And Brave has a built-in crypto wallet
for storing your Bitcoin, Ethereum or BAT,
which is Brave's cryptocurrency
that you can get through Brave Rewards.
And speaking of Brave Rewards,
Brave has an optional ads program
that allows you to earn BAT
through viewing non-invasive ads
in different parts of the browser.
You don't view ads on websites.
Instead, they'll put them in sections like the new tab page.
I think this feature is a great option to have,
but I personally don't use it.
I don't wanna see ads anywhere,
even if I'm being offered some cryptocurrency.
Opera follows Brave's pitch as a privacy focused browser.
It has a built-in ad blocker,
support for Web3 domains
and an app side bar
for easy access to common messaging platforms.
I do like that Opera has automatic picture-in-picture
when you switch tabs.
This is the one feature
that really makes me wanna use Opera,
and I have yet to find it in any other web browser.
Firefox is the most vanilla browser besides Chrome.
It does have a built-in tracker blocker,
but you still have to get a third party extension
to block ads.
It does have a profiles feature,
but there's no interface to easily change users.
You have to go to some backend settings page
to be able to do it,
and it feels extremely unfinished.
Microsoft Edge is a Chromium browser
with an emphasis on productivity.
It has features like vertical tabs,
collections, package tracking
and AI assisted text composition.
Now, every web browser in this video
gives you the ability to hit that subscribe button,
so be sure to take advantage of that feature.
Safari uses Apple's proprietary web kit engine.
And while there is a built-in tracker blocker,
there's not much else to Safari feature-wise.
You are able to use Apple Pay in Safari on Mac,
but other than that,
Apple pretty much claims that Safari is better
because, well, Apple.
They say it's faster and more battery efficient on Mac OS
than any other browser.
Taking a look at the privacy of each browser,
Chrome is a Google product,
and Google is a data company.
So why then would Google make a web browser?
Like what's the incentive?
Well, it makes it easier
for users to access their products and services,
things like Google Search, Gmail and Google Drive.
These are all products that Google wants people to use,
they want them to work properly,
and they wanna be able to collect data on users
so they can target ads to them
on Google Search, YouTube and their other websites.
Edge, Opera and Brave are also Chromium browsers,
so there's definitely some data privacy concerns there.
Edge is created by Microsoft,
which is definitely not the most privacy focused company.
I'd say they're better than Google,
but they still do have Microsoft advertising
where they run targeted ads on Bing
and their other services.
So Microsoft does have an interest in collecting user data
to be able to sell more ads.
Opera is owned by a Chinese company,
so do with that information what you will.
Brave was created by the co-founder of Mozilla,
so there's a huge emphasis on privacy,
yet it still uses Chromium.
Safari uses Apple's own web kit engine.
This means that all the code is controlled by Apple,
unlike Chromium browsers
where Google theoretically could track user data
even with a browser like Brave or Opera.
Now, I personally think
Apple is pretty trustworthy with user data
because they're not a data company.
Apple makes their money
by selling you hardware and subscription services.
But I know some people still aren't gonna trust Apple
because they are a big company.
And in that case,
Firefox is gonna be your best bet.
Firefox runs on their own proprietary web engine,
and their parent company, Mozilla,
is a nonprofit organization
that is committed to user privacy
and making the internet a better place.
I think privacy is among two huge deciding factors
in which web browser you should use.
That other factor
is which third party extensions are available.
Google Chrome and Chromium have a sizable extension library.
This is because developers can make one extension
that works with all Chromium browsers.
And since Chromium powers the majority of web browsers
like Chrome, Opera, Edge, Brave and more,
it makes so much more sense
to build an extension for Chromium
than focus on all the other web engines out there
like WebKit and the Firefox web engine.
Firefox and Safari both have their own extension libraries
due to the fact that they run on proprietary web engines.
Firefox has the second largest extension library,
and it's not that far behind Chrome.
Safari is the most lacking,
and I miss extensions that I like to use like vidIQ,
TubeBuddy and reward shopping portals.
I do see why Google Chrome is most people's go-to browser.
It's smooth, it's simple
and it has all of the browser extensions.
But I personally didn't like using a Google browser.
I kept trying to get away from Chrome,
but I wanted the reliability of Chromium,
and that's why I settled on Brave.
It has the built-in ad blocker
and it has all the privacy features,
but it still has the reliability of Chromium
and all of the Chrome extensions.
At the end of the day,
you're gonna have to prioritize
either privacy or performance.
And Chromium is the best performing web engine,
though there are concerns about data privacy.
If you wanna get away from Chromium entirely
and you're okay
with sacrificing the extension library and the reliability,
I think the best non-Chromium browser on Mac is Safari.
It's gonna be the most reliable and most optimized.
And if you're on Windows,
well, really your only choice is Firefox.
Every other Windows browser runs on Chromium.
So if you wanna know why I chose to use Brave
over Chrome specifically,
I have an entire video about that here.