I’m what’s known as a chronic hopper. I’m always on the lookout for new software, especially when it comes to browsers and Linux distros, but I’m here to ask you about browsers specifically. I’m fairly sure I know most of them, but I want to really know why you run what you do. In return, I will give you my experiences with the browsers that I have tried and why I hopped from them if I did.
Don’t feel the need to read the list. I’ll be more than happy to just hear your answers!
- Firefox: One of the grand-daddy browsers. I honestly didn’t hop from it due to anything specific, but more that I’ve used it so much that I needed a change.
- Chrome: I used this very little. Just being on it made my skin crawl. However, I still keep it around in a container because some sites straight up tell you that you have to use it to access their dashboards or application forms. While that is now much less these days (as most things will now ask for Chrome or Firefox now), it still does happen, especially on dated government sites that get updated like… once a decade…
- Opera GX: Yup, I fell into the hype. I think I used this for all of a month before recognizing it as over-engineered and needlessly bloated. It pulls you in with gimmicks and pretty lights and that’s pretty much all it has. A browser that’s literally built on smoke and mirrors and pushy advertising.
- Brave: There’s been a lot of huff about Brave lately, but back when it launched and wasn’t very mainstream it was the smoothest and a relatively more secure browser than the competition. There was a time when nearly everyone ran Brave. The problem started when they began to opt you into gimmicks and extra things you didn’t need without your permission. That was a turnoff for me. I outed before things really went downhill. -Floorp: A random find from exploring Linux for the first time. I was running Pop!_OS and found it on the store. I’ve never experienced such a smooth Firefox fork before. It really is barebones, but has a lot of customization built in. Instead of the custom options piling on one another, most of them change how it works on a foundational level. The style of your UI and tabs, side tabs, fading URL bar buttons, and a lot more. At it’s core, Floorp is a stripped down and security first FF fork developed in Japan. I took the time to translate the TOS pages, and most of it is promising that there is no data collection. It’s fairly vetted and trusted from what I’ve researched.
- Vivaldi: Still one of my favorite browsers when I went back to Windows, but probably has the most bugs I’ve seen in any browser. It got better once they swapped to React portals, but Vivaldi (Windows version) would occasionally freeze my whole PC or else I’d BSOD. This was a combination of the browser’s stability and making my own custom CSS for it, but overall it frustrated me more than other browsers.
- Qutebrowser: Still one of my favorites, and a must-have for me even if its not my main browser. I was diving into the Vimium extension for Firefox, which in turn led me to Neovim, which led me to Qutebrowser. There’s a few main points as to why I don’t use it as my go-to. First, its not very good at squashing first-party ads. Even though you can combo custom ad block lists, Brave adblock, and python-adblock, it just can’t seem to get them all. Second, I rely on my history when browsing YouTube and if you want to get around ads, your best bet is to write a custom shortcut that opens links in MPV/VLC. There are Greasemonkey scripts that should increase ad speed to a fraction of a second and auto-skip, but none of them ever worked for me and most are ancient.
- Nyxt: My next logical step after Qutebrowser was Nyxt. However, I’ve never managed to figure out how to work it. I haven’t really done any extensive bug testing, but when it opens its just a blank window and there’s not much I could find for documentation on it. Part of me wonders if there’s something that only trusted people know that gets it working, the other part wonders if I’m just missing some sort of library or dependency. From here I went back to Floorp for a while. -Zen: I was very excited when I found this browser. Another Firefox fork, it aims to be much like Arc browser, but adds a lot more on top of that. However, in recent months I find they’ve become a little too ambitious. If you asked me two months ago, I would tell you that Zen felt just as smooth as Floorp, but these days its much, much laggier. The scrolling is choppy, the pages load slow. I use the same exact extensions on Zen as I do Floorp and the difference now is night and day. I’ve also tested this on fresh, no-extras no-extension installations and the results are the same. Zen tends to change things and instead of letting the user opt into the additions or changes, they force the changes in their updates. That type of development model just isn’t really for me. I don’t want to have to re-figure out how to use my browser every few days.
So there it is. I hop a LOT. Honorable mention is Ladybird and I’ve tested it a little. It is extremely alpha, being just a portal with the basics you need for browsing, but I’m amazed at what they’ve done so far and very excited for it’s release. For now I’ve returned to Floorp and am very happy with it. I’m very curious to know why you like what you do, whether its just because its what you’ve used for a long time or if there’s something that you can’t do without.
Also, please excuse me if this question has been asked before. I didn’t want to necro an old post and I want to be able to reply and ask more questions! I’ve seen many posts discussing a single browser, but I want a more general view. I’m very interested, because the Lemmy community often values their privacy and their rights, which is a major factor in choosing software for me.
Edit: I feel like I’m answering very quickly, but want you to know that I’m not a bot nor using AI. I type at 110wpm in Dvorak. Typing is a huge hobby of mine and would never use AI to do something I love to do for me. I’m set on getting to 200wpm (100 was my first goal). That being said, I can’t answer everyone, so I’m sorry if I missed your reply!
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I use Firefox and Librewolf.
I’ve used Firefox for a long tine, and I strongly favour it as the only true independent browser engine left. Everything else is under Google or Apples control, and many of the various chrome forks are commercial and compromised. I dont trust Brave or Vivaldi in terms of privacy. And google has severely limited privacy options in chromium based browsers with its recent changes.
Mozilla is far from perfect and I’m disturbed by some of its actions but it remains the least bad option. Librewolf adds a layer of privacy and separation that I like although its not my main browser. I main Firefox with lots of privacy extensions.
I do have chromiun and chromium ungoogled installed and exclusively for streaming video. Not because Firefox isn’t capable but because I have loads of extensions in Firefox so its easier just to contain all my subscribed streaming services in its own browser and not have to faff with DRM or ad block issues. I watch YouTube in Firefox, but use Chromium to watch BBC, Channel 4, and Netflix (when I had it). I use Jellyfin media player to stream my own content.
I’ve been meaning to check out Jellyfin. I’ve been dabbling in Stremio lately and did look into Kodi for a bit. I think Plex is now pulling some shady business? So my next stop is Jellyfin.
I think there was just a post on Lemmy (maybe !SelfHosted) saying that Plex have just changed their terms to allow them to sell users’ data to third parties.
Firefox. Little fuckery, and it’s what I’m used to.
https://www.privacyguides.org/en/desktop-browsers/
The default browser for any operating system that isn’t created by Microsoft or Google is probably suitable for most people.
This looks like a good read. I’m sure many of the Firefox recommended settings can be applied to it’s various forks, too. Thank you for this! I’ve got it bookmarked and will be checking it out soon.
Librewolf. It does everything i need, and nothing i don’t. It doesn’t have bloatware or adware, and it respects my privacy. That’s all I care about, besides that it can still do everything I need a browser to do.
I need to try Librewolf. I’ve seen the praises it gets here on Lemmy. I’ve been holding off, because I feel like Floorp is very similar. I may try Firedragon as well, but I feel like it may be rather bloated as far as FF forks go.
IIRC, Firedragon is Floorp with the best of Librewolf.
I was using it until a couple of months ago, when an update not only wiped all my open pages but also all the workspaces I’d created.
Ohhhh, okay. That would give me more of an incentive to try it. I always just assumed it was Garuda’s browser to match its KDE Sweet theme aesthetic. Excuse me while I go download a fifth browser for this PC.
I’ve tried a good amount of Firefox forks and Librewolf is hands down my fav. God tier browser imo
Firefox.
Because it’s not Chromium based so it’s not subject to any changes to the underlying code that might do something stupid like stop ad blockers from working.
I had been using FireFox since it’s launch. The only reason I ever switch to Chrome originally was because, at the time, Firefox was crashing like every 10 minutes after an update it had. Chrome ended up being faster and, at that time, used less resources.
Switched back the moment news about Manifest V3 started being reported on a few years back.
That’s a big one for me. It’s why I mainly use Firefox forks. I’m feeling pretty anti-Google these days, anyway. Though there is a stripped down Chromium browser that’s supposed to be de-Googled and I think still allows ad blockers. I think, I’m not 100% sure. It’s just simply called Chromium. I used to run it on my Pi4, because it took the least amount of resources and was the smoothest experience.
Chromium is just the open-source component of the Chrome browser, so it will still come with any code changes that Chrome make to break ad blocking and so on.
You mention right at the top that there were no issues with FF. It might not be exciting, but it doesn’t prevent ad blockers or anything else for that matter. There’s a reason why it’s the first browser I recommend to anyone for anything.
No, I agree. I’ve had 0 problems with it and it will be my first recommendations to newer users, as well. I always tell people to be careful with extensions though, as Mozilla states that they do not review every extension and you could add something nefarious.
I mean, that could be the same for Chrome, but it’s been so long since I’ve touched that browser that I don’t even know what it looks like anymore, let alone what their addon policy is.
I use Vanadium/Trivalent (GrapheneOS fork of mobile Chromium and its desktop equivalent) for general internet use on a general-use system, and Firefox inside of specific qubes for specific purposes otherwise.
On a general-use system, the additional security of Vanadium and Trivalent give me a bit of peace of mind when using the same browser for admin work, sensitive stuff like banking, and general browsing.
With the Qubes model, everything is segmented and isolated anyway, so I can use Firefox, which despite its flaws has been my favorite since the Netscape days.
I have a Pixel 7 Pro I’ve been itching to put Graphene on. The fact that everything can be containerized in a stock environment is just too good. ROMs have come so far since the old days of Resurrection Remix. I remember flashing that on my old Moto X, specifically because I bought it secondhand and there was no connections at all, even after factory resetting.
LTE, 3g, Wifi, nothing worked. So I rooted it and made sure to install the drivers alongside Resurrection Remix (which were called the modem drivers, iirc) and was surprised that everything was working. The fact that we now can run whole systems in containers is an amazing win for technology.
Vivaldi, hands down my favorite. I haven’t had any bug issues of pc freezes or anything. And I have maaaany tabs open. Built-in stuff like ad blocker etc means less 3rd party extensions, I cannot live without mouse gestures, the multiple workspaces is perfect for me with all my tabs open (neatly sorted). Only downside imo is that it’s chromium.
I really love Vivaldi, but Zen took over for me. It has Workspaces and even tab tiling. It also has something called Essential Tabs, which tile as buttons at the top of your tab bar.
https://docs.zen-browser.app/user-manual/workspaces
There’s also Glance Mode, which will open a whole page in a hovering preview over your current page. It really can do some crazy stuff with tabs.
When you lock a tab in Vivaldi it also becomes a button in the tab bar.
I’m going to check out Zen, thanks! Does it have mouse gestures? I cannot live without. I had Firefox as a second browser which would access the internet without a VPN just for streaming services, but it was aids as I keep on doing mouse gestures and nothing happens because it’s not Vivaldi lol
I can’t either. Use the Gesturefy Firefox extension. Even has custom user gestures if you need and can you can change existing gestures.
I’ve tried the others, but Gesturefy seems to work best and I’ve been using it for years.
You tell me now haha! I don’t have Firefox anymore. Because I don’t have streaming services anymore. It’s all usenet now. One streaming service to see it all? I happily pay. Even 2, no problem. But now it’s so much, with ads and poor quality for insane prices… So, I’m a pirate again :)
If you want to have one streaming service to rule them all, that’d be Stremio. I don’t know how specific I want to get in this community, but there’s ways of turning it into a torrent streamer. I pay $3.75 a month for it using debrid and have access to everything, even obscure movies. However, I always seed what I watch to at least 5x.
Stremio has an app for Android, Samsung TV, Windows, and Linux. I think mac and iOS, too, but I don’t run those at all so I’m not sure. You can use catalog plugins to mimic Netflix, Hulu, etc. But you can also use it with your Netflix, Prime and other such streaming accounts.
Edit: Also, with debrid, you don’t need a VPN. It does all the anonymity for you. That’s the only thing that you have to pay for.
I have usenet and a fully automated system for movies (radarr) and for series (sonarr) running 24/7 on my NAS. I pay 7 per month and twice 25 euros per year for indexers. Every movie and series I add is automatically downloaded, repaired, extracted, renamed, moved to the right folder. All series are stored in the folder “Series” under its own subfolder, with in it subfolders for the seasons. Each episode is named as “[series name] S01E01 [episode name]”. Whenever a new episode airs, it is immedialty downloaded. As soon as I open Kodi I see what’s new and in sonarr and radarr are calenders as well. I decide the quality I want. I can download subtitles in kodi through opensubtitles.
I have a 32TB NAS and I’m going to host my own free streaming service for close friends as soon as they finally install a fiberglass connection in my street (planned for 2 years now). My current upload speed sucks, so now people can only download single episodes every time. But 1gb/s upload with fiberglass connection would do the trick.
Because I pay for usenet I pay for privacy rights and I dont upload. So I everything I do which is illegal is downloading but that info isn’t shared due to privacy. Next to that downloading isn’t punished in my country. Uploaders are being hunted, and downloading with torrents also uploads to others. Next to that, many torrent streamers are cloned and contain malware, crypto miners, ads, other junk. I don’t trust torrents anymore, there’s so much harmful junk spread through torrents these days. The usenet indexers I use are all closed communities so all trusted data. I’m also a member of some closed torrent communities but I rarely use them. Only for video games, as triple A game devs create expensive but boring bug simulators so they don’t deserve my money. But I still want to check it out sometimes, then to be disappointed after 2-3h as expected. I’d rather give my money to decent indie devs.
So legally I’m safe, I can watch anything I like and all I have to do for it is add it to my list, choose quality profile and what to download: everything, latest season, only future episodes, etc. I’m never switching to anything else anymore. I did when Netflix came, but now since everything is so fragmented, this is heaven so I dusted off my old pirate hat.
Whats also funny, because I don’t have a streaming service, I never agreed to their user agreements, so as a pirate I have more rights (and freedom, better quality, no ads, more choice, no junk clutter) than a paying customer.
That’s why I don’t have any subscription services as well (aside from VPN and Debrid). I’m now less legally bound than those who use “legal” services (if you count extortion as legal).
Ngl, I’m going to bookmark this reply and see if I can get something similar set up. However, I will still have to look around for when communities open registration. The closest thing I was in back in the day was Demonoid when it first launched. I got in early through a friend who was a trusted member. Yes, it was torrents, but it was a completely private torrent economy.
That being said, torrents are still a security risk. I’ve just been using them for so long that I know the right channels and uploaders to go through in the public scene. I haven’t had a single malicious file fot my last 8 years on Windows. Now that I’m on Linux, the risk is a bit less. There’s still risk, but not as bad.
Over the last two and half years (since I quit Windows and Vivaldi and went FLOSS only), bouncing around between Firefox, Floorp, Zen, Firedragon and Falkon as my principal browser, while also checking out Pale Moon, Servo, Dillo, Netsurf, Agregore, Kristall. Also “special purpose browsers” like Station, Ferdium and FreeTube. (Is FreeTube a browser? I think it’s an Electron app, which is basically a Blink/Chromium browser, used to browse just one website in this case.)
Currently on my laptop:
- Fully-loaded Zen (multiple extensions and a couple of Zen mods) as my main browser
- Fairly minimal Firefox (just uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger) for streaming music (e.g Spotify without ads)
- Ferdium for email and IM
- FreeTube for YouTube (LibRedirect extension in Zen sends YT links to FreeTube automatically)
- Ungoogled Chromium as a backup in case some site just won’t work with a non-Blink browser. Haven’t used it in months.
Firefox, since its an overall good browser. Added a custom user-script to it.
Vivaldi, for anything Google specific since its chromium base. Also in case something breaks in Firefox.
Like to keep my activities seperate. This is only for desktop.
I agree. I also like to separate all of my activities. Not just for privacy, but also for organization. Sometimes I overdo it… I have ton of unused apps and programs.
Firefox. Because using even a slightly sketchy browser for shit like banking logins is insane.
Brave. It blocks all the ads and syncs with my phone. That’s all I want. I like using Librewolf more (with uBlock Origin) but it doesnt sync with my phone so I can’t really use it as a daily driver
There’s many options for browsers that can sync with your phone. I used to love Brave until all the shifty moves they pulled. Installing paid propietary software without consent, switching the telemetry on without saying anything and claiming it was an accident…
And their ad block is like a leaking sieve compared to uBO/Ad-Nauseum. Not to mention useless when they’ve been known to put ads on the homescreen and in the browser itself. Then underneath all that you have Google lurking in the shadows, ready to take your data and sell you advertisements tailored to your interests.
I had had enough of both Brave and Reddit when my umpteenth Brave search was being advertised to me on Reddit.
Librewolf might not sync due to how pure and barebones it is, but you could check out Zen or Floorp or Firedragon. Any FF fork that lets you login with a Mozilla account will work. I never sync, myself, but from what I’ve seen you should be able to.
I do like the Brave browser itself, so I get it. But even plain old Firefox might be the lesser of two evils here. Just search up “brave browser drama” and check things out. It gets kind of nasty. The devs are not the most trustworthy people…
Sorry if this sounded pushy. I’m not trying to be. I got burned with Brave and it still stings a bit, lol.
Don’t worry, I get it. That’s partly why I commented here. Ive been kinda hoping someone would chime in and tell me about a browser that can block ads and sync with your phone without being, you know, chromium.
Firefox. I’ve stuck with it for what, a decade now? I used Chrome before.
I use it simply because it’s not Chromium and works. There’s Firefox forks but they don’t offer enough to pull me from Firefox. Yet.
On iOS/iPad I generally stick with Safari because of how non-native browsers were forced to be just skins. But I bounce between phones and ecosystems and I’ve been off Apple for more than a year.
If something needs Chromium to work (very rare), I open Vivaldi.
I switched to Firefox from Chrome back when they were branding it as Firefox Quantum and honestly I have been happy with it. It has been just as fast as Chrome if not faster, it might use more memory but unused memory means your computer could be caching more.
I don’t love the stuff Mozilla has been doing recently but it’s not enough to make me switch. I think the brand redesign in 2024 was pretty horrible, moz://a was genius design compared to the P thing they have now. I think they have also been chasing AI stuff recently. Mozilla has done some pretty cool things in the past though like Rust, Servo and Fluent.
What about the Mullvad browser? Seems to work well and is very privacy focused. I’m surprised no one else has mentioned it yet…
It took a long time to switch to Firefox, but it is now my main browser. I mean I really liked the Mozilla suite and Firefox just didn’t seem ready for awhile, but eventually I made the move.
Firefox ever since.
