Meta note : am not sure if this is on topic for this community, please tell me if it is not. I could not find rules, so I assume it's okay, but i'll remove it if its not. (Also, please consider the info given here with precaution, for they are only based on people feedback and media report, not any technical certainty).
So, after the recent Mozilla privacy drama, I saw multiple recommendations of alternative browsers, each one with their pros and cons. I was trying to get a better understanding of which one was good/bad for which reasons, and I thought i might share it here so people with more knowledge can correct my takes.
Here is what I could get so far, based mostly on Lemmy comments and Wikipedia pages. This is aimed at browser that share some of Firefox values (foss, independency, (maybe) privacy, etc), so I excluded Chrome, Edge, and others. I'm open to any feedback/infos/browser suggestions to get a more accurate summary !
| Browser | FOSS | Privacy | Features | Browser Family [^browserfamily] | Platforms | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | Firefox | WMLAI | AI interest |
| Brave | ✅ | 🟠[^braveprivacy] | ✅ | Chromium | WMLAI | Crypto interest[^bravecrypto], bigot CEO[^braveceo] |
| Vivaldi | 🟠[^vivaldifoss] | 🟠[^vivaldiprivacy] | ✅ | Chromium | WMLAI | Aims to be a better Opera |
| Ungoogled Chromium | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Chromium | WMLA | Removes Google tracking and specific components |
| Cromite | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Chromium | WLA | Removes most Google tracking and keeps some specific components |
| DuckDuckGo Browser | ❌ | ❓[^ddgprivacy] | ✅ | Chromium/Independent[^ddgfamily] | WMAI | |
| Zen Browser | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Firefox | WML | |
| Librewolf | ✅ | ✅ | 🟠[^lwfeatures] | Firefox | WML | [^lwsecurity] |
| Waterfox | ✅ | 🟠[^wfprivacy] | ✅ | Firefox | WMLA | |
| Floorp | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Firefox | WML | |
| GNU IceCat | ✅ | ❓ | ✅ | Firefox | WML | Firefox without copyrighted content and with a bit more privacy |
| Tor Browser | ✅ | ✅ | 🟠[^torfeatures] | Firefox | WMLA | |
| Mullvad Browser | ✅ | ✅ | ❌[^mullvadfeatures] | Firefox | WML | Made by the Tor team and Mullvad (VPN providers) |
| IronFox | ✅ | ✅ | ❓ | Firefox | A | |
| Orion Browser | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Independent | MAI | In beta, claims to be top browser in terms of tracker blocking, considers making a Windows version, AI interest[^\orionai] |
| Ladybird | ✅ | ❓[^lbprivacy] | 🟠 | Independent | ML | Very early development stage, based on Ladybird engine, bigot devs[^lbdev] |
| Verso | ✅ | ❓[^versoprivacy] | ❌[^versofeatures] | Independent | WML | Very very early development stage (you have to compile it yourself for now (early 2025)), based on Servo engine, written in Rust |
Notes :
Privacyis based on Firefox level, which I considered "bad" for the sake of the comparison.Browser familyis the browser on which each is browser is based, mostly Chromium, Firefox or none. I first called it Engine and it was unclear.Featuresis to identify barebones browsers and how much risk there is to find websites not compatible with those browsers. Question mark is for when there is a debate or I could not find infos.Platformsis for the platforms on which the browser is available. To keep it tight, only one letter per platform : W for Windows, M for macOS, L for GNU/Linux, A for Android, I for iOS.
contributors : Blazing8215@fedia.io, CubitOom@infosec.pub, cabbage@piefed.social, null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com, Mwa@lemm.ee, dojan@lemmy.world, BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world, hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works, coldsideofyourpillow@lemmy.cafe
[^browserfamily]: most browsers are fork of or rely on another browser. The two main "source" browsers are Chromium and Firefox, resulting here in three main categories : Chromium-based, Firefox-based and Independent. This is sometimes called the engine, though technically the engine is different (engines are Gecko (used by Firefox), Blink (used by Chromium), Webkit (used by Safari and Orion), and also Ladybird and Servo which are in development). [^braveprivacy]: they have a lot of optional data collecting, from their Privacy Policy [^bravecrypto]: from Brave's Wikipedia page. [^braveceo]: from his personal Wikipedia page. [^vivaldifoss]: some parts are open source, but the UI is proprietary [^vivaldiprivacy]: they collect data for statistics, from their Privacy Policy [^ddgprivacy]: they let Microsoft trackers active because of legal bounds due to their use of Bing. They recognized that but now claim that these legal bounds are no more and that they started blocking Microsoft trackers along others. [^ddgfamily]: technically, it seems that DuckDuckGo browser is not a fork from Chromium, but they use the Chromium engine Blink for their Windows and Android edition, and the WebKit engine (used by Safari and most "Independent" labelled browsers) for their macOS and iOS editions, according to the Wikipedia page. [^lwfeatures]: some websites may be blocked due to stricter privacy setups, according to LinuxSecurity's article cited on Wikipedia. [^lwsecurity]: some users seemed to fear that having a small team, Librewolf would be late on security patches, but their FAQ seems to say it's ok. [^wfprivacy]: from Waterfox's Wikipedia page, linking to Exodus report stating that android version of Waterfox uses same trackers as Firefox. [^torfeatures]: some websites might block tor network [^mullvadfeatures]: lemmy users said it is barebones and their FAQ says it has little features by design to prevent fingerprinting. [^\orionai]: from the Kagi Wikipedia page and lemmy comments. [^lbprivacy]: could not find infos on their website or wikipedia page. Probably not that bad, but since it is in early development, it may evolve in better ways than other. [^lbdev]: from their github, considering gender neutral wording is politics and does not belong in ladybird. [^versoprivacy]: unknown for the moment since it is in very early development. [^versofeatures]: meant to be a demonstration of the Servo engine, so quite rough for now (early 2025) but meant to get more and more features as time goes on.
Edit 1 : added Vivaldi, Floorp and Ironfox, clarify 'Engine dependency' column, add 'Platforms' column, add bigot warning for ladybird.
Edit 2 : added Mwa@lemm.ee table (Tor, Ungoogled chromium, Cromite) and IceCat, updated info on Vivaldi
Edit 3 : add Orion Browser, corrects lines to group browser together by engine, added users whose infos I used via edits
Edit 4 : corrected Brave and Opera Privacy rating.
Edit 5 : removed Opera since both Privacy and FOSS would be bad. Updated Vivaldi Privacy rating.
Edit 6 : changing Engine category to Browser Family and adding explanation.
Edit 7 : added DuckDuckGo Browser and a warning about the reliability of this summary.
Edit 8 : added link to Orion Browser and corrected Mullvad's family.
Edit 9 : added Verso.