Today, everything is happening online. With this world becoming digital with each passing day, finding the right browser to do your searches and surfing activities is significant. What browser you would be using has a significant impact on your internet experience. Two main factors based on which the internet browsers are judged include, the speed and the privacy settings. While some browsers require more of systems’ resources, others are comparatively lightweight. Now there are specific browsers that offer full suites of security tools in order to protect the user’s identity online, and there might be others that allow cookies and ads to run unhindered.
Let us look at some of the few browsers individually that are quite famous and widely used:
1. Chrome: One of the most used and popular cross-platform web browsers in the market, Chrome is a product of Google.
Positive: The reasons for its popularity are that it is easy to use, provides a clean interface, excellent connectivity across all devices, and an enormous library for extensions. It is compatible with desktops, laptops, and mobiles. In the race of browsers, Chrome is the fastest of all.
Negative: The negatives about this browser are that there are a lot of privacy concerns related to it. Since Google’s primary source of revenue is advertising, it uses your search history to tailor the advertisements you see while browsing. While you can limit the data, Google can access yours, customers tend to end up using other browsers than putting so much effort. Also, Chrome uses a lot of RAM as compared to its peer and competitors, which becomes a concern when someone wants to use multiple tabs or windows at the same time.
2. Mozilla Firefox: Another free and open source of network browsing, Mozilla Firefox is a product developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation.
Positive: While in terms of performance, Firefox is the closest to Chrome. Privacy, as we read earlier, was the main issue with Chrome. In the case of Firefox, the company focuses and puts a lot of its expertise and knowledge into providing its users with the best privacy experience. Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection framework ensures that the user identity and history remain safe by blocking trackers and cookies that collect sensitive information of users. Another feature of Firefox that makes it popular is its ability to inform its users about how invasive a website is that they are browsing through.
Negative: Looking at the negatives of Firefox, the browser has the issue of a lack of extensions. Firefox allows only limited add-ons to work on browsers where non-partnered developers have no option of updating or listing their possibilities. Some other reported issues are related to migration, removal of about: config (a page that had options of advanced settings), and design linked glitches with new tab switcher amongst others.
3. Microsoft Edge: Microsoft edge was produced by Microsoft which was initially lanced for Windows 10 and Xbox One in 2015, eventually for Android and iOS in the year 2017, for the macOS in 2019, and finally as a preview for Linux in October 2020 this year. The cross-platform browser provides the facility of integration with Cortana and has extensions hosted on the Microsoft Store.
Positive: The first advantage or positive review to list for Microsoft Edge is its performance. It is as fast as Chrome and even quicker when compared. Microsoft is usually known as Chrome in a different version and supports a fair number of the wide variety of extensions available for Google’s browses. Another quality of Microsoft Edge is how user friendly it is. Even a person who has zero experience of web browsing can easily do his or her searches on Microsoft edge. Like Firefox, Microsoft has also been investing in preventing the tracking of user’s history and searches in order to provide a safe and secure browsing experience to its user.
Negative: Like any other browser, even Microsoft Edge has its own negatives. To begin with, while browsing through Microsoft Edge, one may realize that not all Chrome extensions are guaranteed to work on it, thus making it not compatible with all extensions. Also, Microsoft is still working on the syncing feature of its browser and is yet to be completed.
4. Opera: Developed by Opera Software, Opera is a multi-platform, Chromium-based browser and has been in the market for more than two decades now.
Positive: When compared with other popular web browsers, Opera has been known to run quickly and provide fast speed while searching. It was the first in the market to give the privacy feature by adding a built-in VPN, thus helping users to stay anonymous which surfing and doing online searches. Opera also comes built-in with a feature of blocking ads which makes it further enhances the privacy settings of the browser. Also, there is an integrated newsreader present in Opera, and it can be expanded through the use of an extension.
Negative: Talking about the negative reviews, some of the options that can be used as shortcuts and act handy for users are well hidden in the browser which is a significant disadvantage in terms of user friendly. Also, as compared to its other competitors, Opera has not a very user-friendly and eye-pleasing interface which makes it not so preferred by the used today.
5. Vivaldi: Developed by Vivaldi Technologies, Vivaldi browser is a freeway cross-platform web browser that entered the market approximately five years ago.
Positive: Listing the positives down, the web browser is compatible with most Google Chrome extensions with certain exceptions. This gives you access to a wide variety of extensions including ad blockers and VPNs. Vivaldi browser also comes with an in-built tool for screen capturing, thus allowing you to capture a portion or even an entire page, irrespective of length. Vivaldi gives you the option to customize your browser, which includes the change of fonts, themes, colors, keyboard, and mouse shortcuts. One can sync their bookmarks, settings, and history between multiple devices while using Vivaldi.
Negative: Looking at the negative reviews or features of the Vivaldi browser, the first to list down would be that there is no iOs version of it. The browser is not compatible with Apple devices. Other disadvantages of Vivaldi are that its toolbar occupies too much space, the bookmarks cannot be edited, and it is slower when compared with other browsers like Chrome and Firefox.
Also Read: Puffin Web Browser for Windows PCs & Macs
