c/firefox · by Tutanota@mastodon.social · 82d

Take a look at these alternative browsers to Google Chrome & let us know which is your favorite! 🌐 🔐

If you're looking for a new browser find out more 👉 https://tuta.com/blog/best-private-browsers

@firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Waterfox @Freenet @librewolf

145 points · 116 comments · view on lemmy.world

116 Comments

Thyazide@lemmy.world · 45 pts · 82d (39 replies)

These are all just chrome and firefox with extra steps.

Nead@social.vivaldi.net · 9 pts · 82d

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Mwa@thelemmy.club · 5 pts · 82d

True

marc_eu@veganism.social · 2 pts · 82d (36 replies)

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Nalivai@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 82d (11 replies)

They're not "run on Chromium" like apps run on Windows. They use Chromium as their integral part. Better analogy would be taking Windows, uninstalling some but not all pre-installed apps, adding a bunch of bells and whistles to it, and saying that you've made an OS that is an alternative to Windows.

XLE@piefed.social · 4 pts · 82d

Exactly. Calling Chromium-based browsers "Chrome with extra steps" might not be exactly accurate, but it conveys the truth of the matter pretty accurately

marc_eu@veganism.social · 1 pts · 82d (7 replies)

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Nalivai@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 82d (6 replies)

You linked a marketing page. It says "it's a layer", sure. They conveniently omitted that other "layers" they mention - UI and synchronization between devices - aren't even close to be comparable in complexity with engine.
Like that one guy in your school project, slacking off for a month, and then coming in hot with writing a page out of 30, and getting equal share of the credit.

marc_eu@veganism.social · 3 pts · 82d (5 replies)

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Nalivai@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 82d (4 replies)

Have you... read it?

marc_eu@veganism.social · 5 pts · 82d

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msage@programming.dev · 0 pts · 81d (1 reply)

ahem every linux distribution ahem

Nalivai@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 81d

Exactly. Nobody in their right mind will say that Ubuntu is a Linus Torvalds free alternative to Linux.

roofuskit@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 82d (20 replies)

Good analogy, what happens if Microsoft decided tomorrow that windows was no longer a profitable venture and stopped maintaining it?

Relying on Chrome and Firefox for alternatives to Chrome and Firefox is still an issue. Especially with Mozilla, if they folded the community would not have the resources to maintain Firefox.

marc_eu@veganism.social · 5 pts · 82d (17 replies)

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Nalivai@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 82d (5 replies)

When Google will discontinue Chromium as an opensource project (notice that I didn't say if), all those browsers will survive for half a year and then die due to lack of compliance and security updates. Chromium is incredibly complicated, web protocols are even more complicated, none of that is good, and people are rapidly losing the ability to maintain complicated projects due to LLM-induced mass psychoses.
The fact that the engine can in theory be forked now doesn't add much.

marc_eu@veganism.social · 3 pts · 82d (4 replies)

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Nalivai@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 82d (3 replies)

For you? Depend on your budget and how many people you employ.

marc_eu@veganism.social · 3 pts · 82d

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roofuskit@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 82d (9 replies)

I kind of assumed you would reply with a lack of understanding of the resources it takes to maintain those engines and keep them complaint with web standards.

marc_eu@veganism.social · 1 pts · 82d (8 replies)

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roofuskit@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 82d (4 replies)

It's still a problem. I didnt say we had other options right now. But pretending it's not a problem isn't going to fix it. Do you really want to rely on those companies for your browser engines? Mozilla is at least an alternative to Google, but a tenuous one. And Microsoft taking over development of either of those isn't an improvement.

marc_eu@veganism.social · 2 pts · 82d

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Nalivai@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 82d (2 replies)

it’s highly unlikely that they will just stop

It's like you never heard of Google and their practices.

marc_eu@veganism.social · 2 pts · 82d

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fizzle@quokk.au · 1 pts · 82d

Gecko would die the minute mozilla said they weren't going to maintain it.

No one is going to pick it up.

marc_eu@veganism.social · 3 pts · 82d (1 reply)

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roofuskit@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 82d

Pedantry isn't really an argument, its just pedandtry. Those engines rely almost entirely on the resources provided by Google and Mozilla's development of their broswers. Open source is all well and good, but those engines are not primarily maintained by the community, they're maintained by employees at Google and Mozilla.

fizzle@quokk.au · 2 pts · 82d (2 replies)

The majority are soft forks - compiling chromium with some flags, patches, presents, and add-ons.

marc_eu@veganism.social · 0 pts · 82d (1 reply)

@fizzle
Could be, but the ones I know do a little bit more.

https://yngve.vivaldi.net/sooo-you-say-you-want-to-maintain-a-chromium-fork/

fizzle@quokk.au · 1 pts · 82d

Oh yeah, some custom css as well.

Mwa@thelemmy.club · 16 pts · 82d (3 replies)

I like Librewolf

Dop@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 80d (2 replies)

Yeah, but not on mobile unfortunately :/

nuko147@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 80d (1 reply)

I use Ironfox in my android phone.

Mwa@thelemmy.club · 2 pts · 80d

yeah Ironfox is pretty good

WeLoveCastingSpellz@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 81d (1 reply)

Librewolf is the only answer

yakko@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 80d

Yey I win

bilouba@jlai.lu · 8 pts · 82d

Firefox, always happy with it as a user

gverdun@mamot.fr · 7 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf **Waterfox**, of course : No Mozilla A.I. bullshit but still account Sync through all my browsers. 😙

glitchdx@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 81d (5 replies)

how many of these alternatives are firefox forks and how many of them are chrome forks?

Railcar8095@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 81d (1 reply)

Except duck, all the ones I know are Firefox forks.

Duck AFAIK is neither

ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 80d

Duck is Chrome except on Mac where it's Safari.

ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 80d (2 replies)

Do we still consider Pale Moon a Firefox fork?

TheOctonaut@piefed.zip · 1 pts · 76d (1 reply)

Do you understand what a fork is?

ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 76d

Yes but it forked so long ago that it's on a different codebase.

01189998819991197253@infosec.pub · 5 pts · 81d (3 replies)

Aren't most of those just chrome in a hooded jacket?

LorIps@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 81d (2 replies)

Most of them actually are Firefox in a hooded jacket.

01189998819991197253@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 80d (1 reply)

Really? Which one aren't ff? I don't like the chrome rendering engine, but want to try new UIs to ff.

LorIps@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 80d

Tor, LibreWolf, WaterFox and Zen I know are FireForks

standardUser@anarchist.nexus · 5 pts · 82d

I like zen flavored Firefox and librewolf

VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 82d

I absolutely adore LibreWolf!

marc_eu@veganism.social · 3 pts · 82d (11 replies)

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

Where's @Vivaldi ?

the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 82d (10 replies)

In the trash where it belongs.

darkwolf@hear-me.social · 4 pts · 82d (8 replies)

@the_riviera_kid @marc_eu

I'm curious and suspicious. Why would Vivaldi be left out of this list, and why would someone call it trash? I'm using Vivaldi, and it seems like a very good choice to me.

Not looking for a fight, but would like to know.

the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 82d (1 reply)

I'm guessing it was left off the list because it's not open source but honestly I was just making a joke.

darkwolf@hear-me.social · 2 pts · 82d

@the_riviera_kid lol ok got ya. Thought there might be something I was missing. Like, "Why are people bagging on Vivaldi?"

one_old_coder@piefed.social · 2 pts · 82d (3 replies)

It's not open source.

darkwolf@hear-me.social · 0 pts · 82d (2 replies)

@one_old_coder ok, got it. It's freeware, though? I guess I'm still confused. Are people upset with Vivaldi because the code is proprietary? Doesn't seem like there's a privacy risk, it doesn't use AI, doesn't use manifest V3.. Seems like the best choice. Again, this is just making me curious.

one_old_coder@piefed.social · 3 pts · 82d (1 reply)

Vivaldi is really good visually and has good features. But the fact that it is closed-source and may not have uBlock Origin is a bad thing. I used to accept black boxes a long time ago when I was starting to write my own programs, but I have now seen all the bad things coming from closed-source applications that I am very careful now.

It's not more a privacy risk than other applications, but you cannot check or know whether it's the truth. And what happens when they start to fuck me up because it's "free" and I have to spend a whole week-end migrating to another browser because the CEO needs more money and starts to do weird stuff with his project?

I may over react, but I have seen bad behaviors for more than 20 years, and I am careful now. If I don't use it, I avoid 48 hours of technical support trying to find an alternative. Also it is based on Chrome which makes it more restricted for the plugins. Yet another bad thing that I can avoid right now by not using their product.

A summary would be: it's good (good), but it's based on Chrome, it's restricted, I am dependent on yet another company that will switch sides because it technically has no clients (it's free), and it's closed-source.

Last but not least, they had a thing in their terms of services which said that they could close your account without warning if you didn't behave elsewhere on the internet. Another red flag.

darkwolf@hear-me.social · 1 pts · 82d

@one_old_coder on those are good points. I'm using uBlock origin on it and have disabled ads. I am very much concerned about who might have access to my data, stored passwords, etc. I understand where you're coming from. I'm not sure if I trust a fork of Firefox if the base is at risk. From what I can tell, Vivaldi and Water/Librefox are all kind of circumventing what Google and Mozilla are doing. Ultimately, the best thing would be to build an entirely new browser, IMO. In the meantime, it's good to know what the best options are.

fizzle@quokk.au · 1 pts · 82d

Me personally: its chromium based, and doesn't it have an email client?

I wouldnt call it trash necessarily but... its not my thing.

marc_eu@veganism.social · -1 pts · 82d

@darkwolf @the_riviera_kid
Some are fanatic without arguments.

marc_eu@veganism.social · 1 pts · 82d

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DupaCycki@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 81d

I love PaleMoon, but can't really daily drive it. Mostly just use Waterfox and Firefox. Waterfox is fantastic and fixes pretty much every issue I've ever had with Firefox.

Do search engine browsers like DuckDuckGo or Ecosia have anything to offer? From my experience they're just Firefox but worse. Has anything changed recently?

swordgeek@mstdn.ca · 3 pts · 82d (1 reply)

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

Why is Waterfox - a Firefox fork that removes telemetry tracking - less secure than Firefox itself?

There's no rhyme or reason to the ordering of this list.

qaz@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 82d

I think it's not in any particular order

reddig33@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 81d

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rethnor@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 82d

I thought for sure the librewolf icon was amorak

ArchsageRamases@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 82d (3 replies)

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newton@feddit.online · 2 pts · 82d (2 replies)

With Local AI ? No thanks

ArchsageRamases@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 81d (1 reply)

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newton@feddit.online · 1 pts · 81d

Na thanks

socprof@masto.ai · 2 pts · 82d (1 reply)

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TheOctonaut@piefed.zip · 1 pts · 76d

Can you not?

vogi@piefed.social · 2 pts · 82d

Good old Firefox straight from their apt repo, that way I get security patches/bug fixes in a timely fashion without the need to be rebased/rebuild by a third party.

Thankfully they have added the AI switch which made me come back again.

( FYI: You have added the lemmy.world community of firefox not the official account on mastodon.social which is why its now showing up here https://lemmy.world/post/47155266 kinda cool that it works but also a bit confusing :) )

disisdeguey@expressional.social · 2 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf Librewolf for desk computer. Waterfox for android

GutterRat42@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 81d

Nightly by Firefox

AAMfP@fosstodon.org · 2 pts · 82d

@Tutanota
Librewolf and #IronFox for me.
@firefox @duckduckgo@botsin.space @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

oysvendsen@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 80d (2 replies)

Vivaldi is chromium based but should still be up here.

TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 80d (1 reply)

Totally agree. It's made for comfort, safety and privacy. Norwegian based, works with the Dutch privacy and non Ai search engine Startpage, Swiss Proton VPN and has all the features old Opera had (before sold to China and made into a crypto mining piece of shit).

These days Firefox has turned to shit just like chrome, so it doesn't matter whether you have a Firefox or chromium based browser. It's just the build structure.

dubyakay@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 80d

Didn't Start page get acquired by an ad company?

ozoned@piefed.social · 2 pts · 82d

Zen. Love it.

FallsMom@mastodon.coffee · 2 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

duckduckgo

blu4lyf@dice.camp · 2 pts · 81d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

@librewolf and @Vivaldi are my favorites.

arlequin@fosstodon.org · 2 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

Yeah, Librewolf & Palemoon

4V35@social.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 78d

What is about Ladybird Browser?

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

return0media@infosec.exchange · 1 pts · 76d (1 reply)

[ removed ]

acidule@piaille.fr · 1 pts · 76d

@return0media @Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

icecat, the GNU version of firefox
https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/

Bogus007@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 80d

You forgot to mention in your list GNU Icecat, though the logo is there. From the list I favour also LibreWolf and the Torproject, though some others are wonderful like Otter, Helium, Qutebrowser, surf or Nyxt.

JaneinNJ@newsie.social · 1 pts · 76d

@Tutanota @torproject @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @Freenet @librewolf Been using Duck Duck Go for years.

Flagstaff@programming.dev · 1 pts · 82d (5 replies)

I plan to move from Waterfox to Floorp.

HubertManne@piefed.social · 2 pts · 82d (4 replies)

this is funny as im in the midst of maybe going to waterfox or librefox. why floorp?

Flagstaff@programming.dev · 1 pts · 78d (3 replies)

It's a bit of a first a world problem: Waterfox blocks Ctrl+Shift+A as an add-on shortcut. It's to unify my muscle memory with my Edge-only work laptop (press that in Chromium browsers to search through tabs), at least for as long as I can't get Keysharp or possibly AutoKey or something lower-level that can override it to work on Linux.

HubertManne@piefed.social · 2 pts · 78d (2 replies)

yeah that is definately not something that would get me looking for alternatives. Things like a lack of no script is my thing.

Flagstaff@programming.dev · 1 pts · 77d (1 reply)

Oh, yeah, all Mozilla browsers can run NoScript (which I use, by the way! Wanna share whitelists? lol). Anyway, I couldn't get Keysharp to handle ^+a either, so I'm sticking with Waterfox because there is currently no Floorp for Android.

HubertManne@piefed.social · 1 pts · 77d

yeah im on firefox and getting going on waterfox or libre fox is a goal. I just got onto bazzite and need to moves some stuff over and I take a long time to do things though because there are so many things to do.

Fonant@social.vivaldi.net · 1 pts · 76d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf Vivaldi!

GOKUSHRM@mastodon.social · 1 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf privacy browser for android. (17 mb) light & fast with grt privacy features.. I also used fennec F-Droid but I don't like 2/3 Mozilla telemetry Trackers in that... & they are not lookin to remove them. 😅

muntedcrocodile@hilariouschaos.com · 1 pts · 82d

Zen

VerenaRupp@social.vivaldi.net · 1 pts · 82d (1 reply)

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf
https://european-alternatives.eu/alternative-to/google-search
https://european-alternatives.eu/alternative-to/google-chrome

Sarahw@mastodon.green · 1 pts · 82d

@VerenaRupp @Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf
I liked mojeek but it was quite limited. I use quant at work, again pretty limited.

coq@framapiaf.org · 1 pts · 75d

@Tutanota
I use :
- @firefox
- @torproject
- @librewolf

raulpallol@tkz.one · 1 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf no veo Vivaldi.

sintrenton@todon.nl · 1 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf LibreWolf primary since years back, then Tor, followed by Mullvad

wbpeckham@techhub.social · 1 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf I use Floorp most, DuckDuckGo on mobile, Tor browser as a fallback, and Dillo+ for the rest. Although I keep a copy of Falkon around and I'm following Ladybird closely.

wess@theforkiverse.com · 1 pts · 76d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo@botsin.space @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

Love Zen. I’d also add @quicheindustries iOS and Kagi’s Orion browser is really nice. Been using that quite a bit recently.

vero@pmth.us · 1 pts · 53d

@Tutanota@mastodon.social @firefox@lemmy.world @duckduckgo@botsin.space @puffin@norden.social @Waterfox@mastodon.social @ecosia@mastodon.social @palemoon@outerheaven.club @zenbrowser@floss.social @mullvadnet@mastodon.online @torproject@mastodon.social @Freenet@floss.social @librewolf@chaos.social firefox

joergba@mastodon.social · 1 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

Habe viele Google Apps jetzt durch Fossify Apps ersetzt. Telefon, Kontakte, Nachrichten, Uhr, Kalender.

Kalender nur offline.

Mubelotix@jlai.lu · 1 pts · 80d

Fennec

christian@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 82d

I could swear Icecat went unmaintained like a decade ago, but after looking it up just now it seems like I hallucinated that.

hidikem@piaille.fr · 1 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf Helium ?

giacomom@livellosegreto.it · 1 pts · 81d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

I wont change Firefox. Love it

ClownStatue@piefed.social · 1 pts · 82d

Firefox is still my daily driver. I used to use Brave strictly for YouTube, but my parents recently shared their YT premium plan with me so… When I get the time, I might go to Librewolf, but I do like the sync’ed profiles with FF. Haven’t researched LW enough yet. On mobile, DDG is my default browser on work and personal devices.

Since a MacBook Pro is my daily personal laptop, I also use Safari quite a bit. For that environment, it’s pretty good.

tekhne@mamot.fr · 1 pts · 76d (1 reply)

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf https://librewolf.net/
The best alternative under Linux !

tekhne@mamot.fr · 1 pts · 76d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf https://gitlab.com/ironfox-oss/IronFox
The best alternative under Android !

Freenet@floss.social · 1 pts · 82d

@Tutanota The freenetbrowser script sets up a dedicated profile for icecat, waterfox or firefox that uses Hyphanet as SOCKS5 proxy to ensure that no unsafe access can sneak through.

https://github.com/hyphanet/browser/blob/main/freenetbrowser.in#L210

We should investigate adding librewolf and zenbrowser to the list of browsers to select as base for the profile but need to test first that the automated profile setup works for them.

@firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @librewolf

Waldoshere@toot.io · 1 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf

I've been using Firefox again for the past year. It is on all my platforms. And most importantly the Android version also supports uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger. Although, some websites will not behave properly.

Most browsers I have tried out do way to much feature wise (looking at you, Vivaldi). This leads to having to expand too much time/energy configuring them. Because I just need basic features and don't want to speed hours turning everything off.

Willomit@det.social · 1 pts · 82d

@Tutanota @firefox @duckduckgo @puffin @Waterfox @ecosia @palemoon @zenbrowser @mullvadnet @torproject @Freenet @librewolf please help me, is Brave not a feasible alternative?