- I put Brave and Firefox head to head
to compare speed, privacy and features.
I've been using Brave for the past few months
but I decided to test Firefox for the last seven days
to see if I could make the switch.
So I was an avid Chrome user for years.
Chrome is often seen as the default web browser
or the right web browser to use.
It was to the point that every time I got a new computer,
I would install Chrome as the very first task
and not think twice about it.
But as the years went on, I started thinking about privacy.
Google isn't exactly known for protecting user data.
In fact, they're kind of in the business of
collecting user data.
This is what they do with services like Google Search,
Gmail and Google Maps.
They're collecting user data and demographic information
so they can serve targeted ads to users.
I realized I was voluntarily feeding
all my browsing data to Google.
So a few months ago, I made the switch to Brave.
Brave is well known for its commitment to privacy
and it's similar to Chrome.
Because of this, I didn't have much trouble switching
but then I started to wonder
about other privacy-focused browsers.
Firefox is used by millions of users
and it's well known for its commitment to privacy
so I wanted to know if it might be better than Brave.
Both Firefox and Brave have a very similar appearance.
We are in an era where all web browsers
kind of look the same
but this is especially true for Firefox and Brave.
In fact, upon downloading Firefox,
I kind of felt like I hadn't switched web browsers.
This could be because the CEO and co-founder of Brave
is also the former CEO and co-founder of Mozilla,
the parent company of Firefox.
Both Firefox and Brave have an emphasis on privacy
but I do feel that Firefox has the upper hand
since it's not based on Chromium.
Both browsers offer built-in tracker blockers
but Brave offers a built-in ad blocker.
On Firefox, you'll have to use a third party extension
to block ads.
I used AdGuard when I used Google Chrome,
and it's also available on Firefox.
It works great and it's totally free.
There's no pushy upsells
trying to get you to upgrade to some premium version.
And speaking of extensions, this is where I thought
I wouldn't be able to use Firefox.
In order to understand why I need to back up
and explain how extensions work in other browsers.
The majority of web browsers like Chrome, Edge, Brave
and Opera use an open source web engine called Chromium.
Chromium is developed by Google
and was originally created for Google Chrome.
Since then, Google has allowed other developers
to use Chromium to make their own web browsers.
Since so many web browsers use Chromium,
developers create extensions to work on Chromium.
In other words, they can develop one extension
that will work on Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera
and all Chromium browsers.
The main two browsers that offer proprietary web engines
are Firefox and Safari.
So in order for an extension to work on Firefox,
it has to be coded from scratch for Firefox specifically.
So because of this, many developers are choosing
to opt out of developing an extension just for Firefox
when they could instead develop one extension
that's gonna work on the majority of browsers.
I used quite a few Chrome extensions in Brave
and when I tested Safari,
I was missing a lot of the core extensions
that I need to be able to use a web browser.
I was worried this would be the same case in Firefox,
but I was pleasantly surprised
to find quite a few extensions.
All the core extensions that I need,
like 1Password, Rakuten, Honey, vidIQ, TubeBuddy
and Grammarly were all available in Firefox.
Some of my nice to have extensions,
like Unsplash Instant or loyalty rewards shopping extensions
are not available in Firefox.
But I will say that Firefox has all of the extensions
I need in a web browser.
It is missing some of the extensions I want
but I could survive indefinitely in Firefox
with the extensions that they offer
and I wouldn't have any problems.
But what about speed and functionality?
How do these compare and Brave and Firefox?
When I initially downloaded Firefox,
I felt like it was generally sluggish
but then I decided to do some side by side tests
with Brave and Firefox
where I would visit the same websites back to back.
And when I did this, it felt like Firefox was snappier.
I wanted a more scientific answer
so I decided to run some speed tests on browserbench.org
and these revealed that Brave is in fact the faster browser.
Firefox did score slightly better in graphics rendering
but Brave was way faster when it came to everything else.
The speed of both browsers did feel pretty comparable
in my day-to-day testing.
But one thing I did notice
was the accuracy of loading pages.
I had some times in Firefox where a page would just
load funny or something would be broken
and I couldn't click on something
and then I would go load that same page in Brave
and it worked perfectly every time.
This is because web pages are all gonna be optimized
for Chromium, since that's the majority of web browsers,
so sometimes you're gonna come across pages
that just don't load right in Firefox.
By far, the most significant aspect
of both Brave and Firefox is privacy.
If you're putting these two browsers up against each other,
chances are you want to know
which one is gonna protect your data best.
Both Brave and Firefox offer built-in tracker blockers
but Brave has the advantage of a built-in ad blocker.
Firefox does offer this Facebook container
which loads Facebook in a completely isolated instance
of Firefox.
This way it's impossible for Facebook to track you
with your browsing activity and Firefox
and I think this is a cool feature
and I wish Brave offered it.
I'm a little bit confused as to why Firefox
doesn't offer these containers for any website,
because if I'm gonna visit Twitter
or another social media site, there's no container
and those sites are still gonna be able to track me
across my browsing data.
Both Brave and Firefox have a strong public mission
to protect user data,
but I do feel that Firefox has the advantage,
so long as they maintain their own web engine.
Brave is clearly passionate about user privacy
and you can see this when you read their website
but I just have a hard time getting past the fact
that it's a Chromium browser.
Let's remember that Chromium is an open source platform
offered by Google
and Google is in the business of data collection.
They offer other open source platforms, like Android,
so that people might use their products and services,
like Google Search, Google Maps, and Gmail,
and all so they can collect user data
and target ads to users.
So I feel like Firefox protects user data better
but it's ultimately gonna come down to your personal opinion
and which browser you trust most.
Now, what about standout features?
The extra features in a browser that makes it unique?
Firefox is honestly a pretty plain browser.
They do have a few extra features,
like a built-in password manager,
syncing data between devices
and picture-in-picture when playing videos.
Brave, however, has a lot of extra features
to enhance the browsing experience.
The native profiles feature
is something that I use all the time.
You can have a profile for work
and a profile for personal use to keep your bookmarks,
browsing data and logins completely separate.
Firefox does offer profiles but it's a hidden feature
that you have to enable in settings, and once you enable it,
there's no way to easily switch between profiles.
There is a third party extension to help with this
but if you're on Mac,
you have to download third party software
just for the extension to work.
The software runs in the background on your Mac
and this is not something that I wanted to do
so I'll just have to live without profiles in Firefox.
Brave also has an emphasis on crypto and Web3.
They have a built-in crypto wallet
and native support for Web3 domains.
I was able to get Web3 domains to load in Firefox
with a third party extension,
and the extension worked pretty well.
Brave Rewards is a way to earn BAT or basic attention token
through viewing non-invasive ads.
These ads are opt-in only,
but if you do choose to enable them,
you can cash out your BAT for cash,
gift cards or other crypto.
It's clear that Brave is the better browsing experience
all around.
It's got the most extensions available
since it's based on Chromium
and websites load faster and are more optimized.
Brave has the most extra features
and is a very innovative browser.
Firefox feels pretty stale.
They haven't added many new features over the years,
and honestly, I worry that developers
are going to start optimizing for Chromium
and building extensions for Chromium
and just forget about Firefox altogether.
Unfortunately, I think proprietary web engines like Firefox
are a dying breed.
I wouldn't be surprised if we see a day
where Firefox implements Chromium and waves their white flag
and decides it's easier to use the standard web engine
than continue to develop their own.
So is there any reason to use Firefox?
Well, sure, if you're trying to avoid a Chromium browser,
Firefox is an easy choice, and if you're on Windows,
Firefox is basically the only choice.
Firefox does have an impressive amount of extensions
so if they have the extensions you're looking for
and you're not interested in the flashy new features
offered in a browser like Brave,
you should feel right at home in Firefox.
But if you want the smoothest,
most reliable web browsing experience,
you'll wanna stick with Brave.
Brave is just like Chrome
but with extra privacy-friendly features built in.
Personally, I'm gonna stick with Brave
because it's clear to me that the internet
just works best on Chromium.
I wanted to like Firefox enough to make the switch.
I expected that the lack of extensions
is what would keep me away, but honestly,
I was surprised to see
that all the extensions I needed were available in Firefox.
So it wasn't the browser extensions that kept me away,
it was actually the speed and reliability of loading pages.
But I fully acknowledge that I'm choosing to use Chromium,
a Google software,
just to get the most reliable and polished experience.
I could use Firefox to avoid Chromium
but right now that's not a trade off I'm willing to make.
You might be asking if Brave is so similar to Chrome,
why not just use Chrome?
Well, I have an entire video on that here.