Choose your permanent web browser! (2025)
Overview & some history lesson:
The history of web browsers has come a long way from the year 1990 to the present day. With the introduction of the World Wide Web (WWW), invented by a British computer scientist named Tim Berners-Lee, he created the first version of HTML, the first web server and the first web browser.
He went on to recruit Nicola Pellow to write the Line Mode Browser, which displayed web pages on terminals. The Mosaic web browser was released in April 1993 and was later credited as the first web browser to find mainstream popularity. Its innovative graphical user interface made the World Wide Web easy to navigate and thus more accessible to the average person.
This, in turn, sparked the Internet boom of the 1990s, when the Web grew at a very rapid rate. Marc Andreessen, the leader of the Mosaic team, started his own company, Netscape, which released the Mosaic-influenced Netscape Navigator in 1994. Navigator quickly became the most popular browser.
Now that the history lesson is complete, it is time we pick a permanent web browser of your choice. In this blog post, we will detail the sources, history, pros and cons of many web browsers of today. To make this list simple, we will put them into different categories to make it far easier to select the web browser of choice.
Choose your permanent web browser!
(July 2023) (Updated to 2025 with better info)
Popular or overrated web browsers:
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is an independent, cross-platform web browser developed by Google. Released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, it was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews from both critics and users.
The Daily Telegraph summarised the verdict of early reviewers, "Google Chrome is attractive, fast and has more impressive new features." It's the number 1 most popular web browser of all time, with a whopping 70% of the desktop browser market share worldwide.
Pros:
- A more reliable browser than any other competitors
- Many built-in security features for a secure web browsing experience
- Clean and simple design
- Available on all devices
- Built on its free and open-sourced Chromium engine
- High CPU usage and Memory issues
- Huge controversy over privacy concerns as a whole
- Lack of customisation and options available
Download Google Chrome here: Google Chrome
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is an internet browser made by Microsoft (obvious name here) in early 2015. It is already pre-installed by default on all new Windows devices.
Edge was originally developed to replace its predecessor (Internet Explorer) as a brand new browser that runs faster and has more features than its competitors. Despite the forced nature, Edge has made big efforts to improve the browsing experience, and it has paid off. It has garnered a measly 10.95% in market share since April 2023.
Pros:
- Proven to be faster than any other web browser
- An advanced built-in security feature for a secure web browsing experience
- Allow to sync your data from any web browser to Edge
- Can detect what device you're using when downloading Edge
- Also built on its free and open-sourced Chromium engine
Cons:
- Very much being forced to use it (Unless you're in Europe)
- Has its own bloated features
- When trying to download other web browsers, the first page is Microsoft Edge, begging you to use their services.
Download Microsoft Edge here: Download Microsoft Edge
Opera GX
Opera GX is a popular web browser designed specifically for a gaming audience, while its other brand (Opera) is a multipurpose browser. The browser was announced and released in early access for Windows on 11 June 2019, during E3 2019, while the macOS version was released in December of the same year. Both browsers do nearly the same, but Opera GX comes with more features out of the box, like letting you configure the browser to use a small percentage of RAM or a battery-saving mode for laptops.
In terms of features, Opera GX has surprisingly many cool features for your enjoyment. Features such as CPU/RAM and Network limiters, social media sidebars, gaming-related newsfeeds, etc. It can be used within games or as a regular browser. Opera GX is a gaming-oriented variant of Opera.
Pros:
- Developed specifically for gamers
- Amazing built-in features for better customisation
- Many integrated features are located in the sidebar
- Beautiful layout and design
- Faster CPU usage and better performance
- Its VPN doesn't encrypt your data, and it's a privacy concern
- Some sites don't recognise Opera GX as a browser
- Its shares in the company are owned and controlled by a Chinese tech company
- Many controversial histories with the Opera company itself
Secured and private web browsers:
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free web browser that puts individuals in control online. It was released on November 9, 2004, by a non-profit organisation (Mozilla) dedicated to internet health and privacy, which provides the user with a safer and more reliable browsing experience. "No shady privacy policies or back doors for advertisers. Just a lightning-fast browser that doesn’t sell you out." - Firefox
Firefox has challenged Internet Explorer's dominance with 60 million downloads within nine months. It is the spiritual successor of Netscape Navigator, as the Mozilla community was created by Netscape in 1998, before its acquisition by AOL. As of April 2023, according to StatCounter, it had a 5.65% usage share as a desktop web browser, making it the fourth-most popular desktop web browser after Google Chrome (66.1%), Safari (11.87%), and Microsoft Edge (11%). Across all platforms, it again places fourth with a usage share of 2.77%.Pros:
- Built specifically for "privacy"
- Offers many helpful extensions
- User experience is virtually the same
- Simplistic and bold design
- Highly secured web browser
Cons:
- Several compatibility issues on all platforms
- Consumes a lot of your computer's memory
- Some websites just don't work on Firefox
- Recent events have happened, Firefox really isn't that privacy-focused
Download Mozilla Firefox here: Get Firefox for desktop — Mozilla (US)
Brave Browser
Brave is a fast, private and secure web browser for PC, Mac, and mobile devices. It features a built-in ad blocker that prevents tracking and is optimised for mobile data and battery savings. It was developed by Brave Software, Inc., based on the Chromium web browser.
Users can turn on optional ads that reward them for their attention in the form of Basic Attention Tokens (BAT), which can be used as a cryptocurrency or to make payments to registered websites and content creators. Brave Software's headquarters are in San Francisco, California. As of August 2022, Brave reported more than 57.42 million monthly active users, 19.3 million daily active users and a network of more than 1.6 million content creators.
Pros:
- Fast browsing speed and performance
- Web Tracker and Native Ad Blockers
- Surprisingly light on hardware resources
- Builds on the strength of Chromium
Cons:
- Unfair to publishers and content creators
- Has its own Ad-based revenue model
- Most extensions aren't very good
- Unable to sync your data from other web browsers
- Limited customisation compared to other browsers
Download Brave Browser here: Download Brave | Brave Browser
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo is a private browser that provides comprehensive online privacy protection with just one click. The app offers a seamless browsing experience and is available for free download. DuckDuckGo was founded by Gabriel Weinberg and launched on February 29, 2008, in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Weinberg is an entrepreneur who previously launched Names Database, a now-defunct social network.
The company emphasises privacy and anonymity in part to avoid the filter bubble of personalised search results. The company is based in Paoli, Pennsylvania, in Greater Philadelphia, United States, and had 200 employees as of November 2022. The company name is a reference to the children's game Duck, Duck, Goose.
Pros:
- It's private by default
- No gimmicky rewards scheme
- Hides annoying web clutter
- Built-in private YouTube viewer
Cons:
- Exposed a few years ago for selling user data to advertisers
- Doesn't support extensions
- You'll still see ads while browsing
Download DuckDuckGo here: DuckDuckGo — Privacy, simplified.
Other web browsers:
Vivaldi Browser
Vivaldi is a freeware, cross-platform web browser with a built-in email client developed by Vivaldi Technologies, a company founded by Tatsuki Tomita and Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, who was the co-founder and CEO of Opera Software. Vivaldi was officially launched on April 6, 2016.
Vivaldi has many customisations available by default and is best at protecting user data by using built-in tracking protection and a strict "do not track" philosophy. Whichever browser you prefer, chances are it offers a lot of functionality.
Pros:
- It's fast, stable and has improved its performance over time
- Built-in tools and features, as well as the option to utilise browser extensions
- Supports many add-ons from other browsers
- Do offer many customisable user interfaces
- Built-in privacy features and security tools
Cons:
- Not the fastest Chromium-based browser
- Consumes too much of system resources
- The extensions could break many websites
- The overwhelming interface is difficult for some users
Download Vivaldi Browser here: Download Vivaldi | Vivaldi Browser
Opera
Opera is a multi-platform web browser developed by its namesake company, Opera. The browser is based on Chromium but distinguishes itself from other Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, etc.) through its user interface and other features. Opera was initially released on 10 April 1995, making it one of the oldest desktop web browsers still actively developed. It was commercial software for its first ten years and had its own proprietary layout engine, Presto. In 2013, it switched from the Presto engine to Chromium.
In 2016, Opera was acquired by an investment group led by a Chinese consortium. Later, the company released a gaming-oriented version of the browser, Opera GX, in 2019, and a blockchain-focused Opera Crypto Browser into public beta in January 2022. In April 2023, the company announced a major overhaul to the browser, called Opera 100 and codenamed "Opera One", adding a new user interface and several AI-related features. This was later released on June 20, 2023.
Pros:
- It has a built-in free VPN
- Smooth animations and a clean design
- Less resource dependent
- Many Firefox features are also built into Opera
Cons:
- Its VPN doesn't encrypt your user data, and it can be a privacy risk
- Automatically sets itself to the default without permission
- Its download speed for many add-ons and plugins is slow
- Lack of updates/bugfixes
- Fewer customisation capabilities
- And again, the majority of the company's shares are owned and controlled by a Chinese tech company
Download Opera here: Opera Web Browser | Faster, Safer, Smarter | Opera
Pale Moon
Pale Moon is an obscure web browser released back in 2009. Pale Moon is an open-source web browser with an emphasis on customisation; its motto is "Your browser, Your way". There are official releases for Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, macOS, and Linux, as well as contributed builds for various platforms.
Pale Moon offers a browsing experience in a browser completely built from its own, independently developed source that has been forked off from Firefox/Mozilla code several years ago, with carefully selected features and optimizations to improve the browser's stability and user experience, while offering full customization and a growing collection of extensions and themes to make the browser truly your own.
Pros:
- No telemetry, data collection or phoning home
- Completely free and open-source
- Built upon the Mozilla Firefox engine
- Offers a range of features but focuses on customisation and efficiency
Cons:
- Not compatible with Firefox or Chromium extensions
- Excluded support for some modern browser features
- There's no official port of Pale Moon on mobile and MAC devices
- Outdated retro-style design
Download Pale Moon here: Pale Moon downloads
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