safari vs chrome vs firefox battery life

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Compared: Safari vs. Chrome vs. Firefox vs. Edge on macOS in 2022

Safari vs. Chrome vs. Firefox vs. Edge on macOS, compared.

The truth is, the perfect browser doesn't exist. Each of the four most popular macOS browsers has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, just based on the engine that's used for web rendering, and what the developers of the big-four have prioritized.

While the best browser for the individual varies on use case, and which websites behave the best on any given browser, there are a series of benchmarking tools that can measure performance on synthetic tasks.

Browser benchmarks

We tested each browser on three different testing platforms: JetStream 2, Speedometer, and MotionMark.

JetStream 2 is a JavaScript-benchmark that scores browsers based on how quickly they can start and execute code, which translates to faster JavaScript performance. Since JavaScript is used on most web browsers, it's a good test of snappiness for code-intensive sites.

MotionMark is a graphical browser testing suite that measures the ability to render complex web pages. Think a page that has complicated graphics and animations. A higher score results in smoother transitions and animations.

Speedometer 2.0 determines the responsiveness of a browser when running web applications. Among the three, it's the truest option for testing real-world performance across many popular websites and online services. A good example is adding tasks to a to-do list in a web app.

Chrome came out on top in JetStream 2 testing, while Safari took second place.

Safari was the fastest in MotionMark benchmark testing.

Speedometer testing showed off interesting results, with Firefox and Edge coming in first and second, and Safari in last place.

Different testing platforms result in different scores, so your own mileage may vary. Safari was the best for graphical performance, for example, but its responsiveness lagged behind others. Choose what specific metrics are most important to you.

For Mac users, Safari is an institution. It's the default browser on Apple platforms and is generally lightweight and efficient. As you'd expect for an Apple product, Safari also emphasizing privacy while you browser online.

From the very first boot on a new Mac, Safari is instantly available and configured for easy, private browsing. That makes it the best choice for the most non-technical among us, since you won't need to download and install anything. Safari "just works" out of the box.

It also features the tighest integration across Apple's other devices and systems. You can use Continuity to easy hand-off your browsing between your Mac and any iPhone or iPad you have around. If you need to buy something with Apple Pay , you can authenticate purchases with Face ID or Touch ID.

Safari also features some strong privacy protections, including mechanisms aimed at mitigating cross-site tracking and ad targeting. It features a built-in password manager that allows you to save and store passwords — with easy autofill options — across your Apple devices.

As an Apple-made product, Safari is the most convenient option on this list for Mac users — particularly those who own multiple Apple devices. It's also a good choice for the privacy conscious, though it isn't the fastest and it doesn't yet have a strong extension marketplace.

• Default Mac browser with effortless setup
• Strong privacy protections
• Integration with other Apple products
• Not the fastest or most responsive browser in some testing
• Lackluster support for add-ons and extensions

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a massively popular browser, and a particular favorite of those who routinely use extensions to customize their web experience. It's the most-used web browser in the world, and it's faster and more RAM-efficient than it used to be. Chrome is even currently speedier than Safari on macOS.

The browser also has one of the world's most extensive list of add-ons, plug-ins, and extensions. From plugins focused on online privacy or to video content downloaders, there are around 190,000 extensions in total to choose from. You can also choose from a number of different themes and customization options.

Intelligent Google-made features include automatic site translations and deep integration with the company's online tools and services — so it's great for those who rely on Gmail, Google Docs, or another Google service. Syncing between Google apps on different devices is also top-notch.

However, Google is a data company that relies on collecting information about its users. While the company has taken steps to bolster its privacy reputation, it's still a company that makes money on harvesting data. Those who are particularly privacy-conscious will probably want to look elsewhere.

It's hard to go wrong with the world's most popular web browser, particularly with its seamless workflow features and customization options. However, if you are even slightly concerned about online privacy, you may want to go with another option.

• Simple to learn, fastest option in some cases
• Syncs your Google account across other devices
• Extensive list of extensions and add-ons
• It's Google — so not that private
• Is a RAM and CPU hog

Mozilla Firefox is one of the only popular and mainstream browsers to have started life as an open source project. It's still a free and open source browser with a hefty focus on privacy and security, which could make it a good fit for those who want a Google Chrome alternative.

Because of its open source nature, users are free to explore Firefox's code — and they do. The browser doesn't have any hidden secrets or data-harvesters. It also features some excellent built-in privacy and security protections, including Enhanced Tracking Protection and an extensive list of customizable permissions.

Firefox was also the first browser to actually offer third-party extensions and add-ons. Although it might not have as many extensions as Google Chrome, you'll still find a hefty list of options ranging from privacy add-ons to customizable themes for your browser.

Although Firefox has some cross-platform integration between its app and built-in Pocket support, it isn't as seamless as Chrome or Safari. If speed if your primary concern, it's also important to note that Firefox isn't the fastest browser by most metrics.

Users who want an open source browser or are committed to Mozilla's mission of keeping the internet open and free will find a browser after their own hearts here. For the average user, however, another browser on this list might be a better fit.

• Completely free and open source
• Extremely customizable with extensions, themes, etc.
• The best option for hardcore privacy
• Not the fastest or most RAM efficient
• Synchronicity isn't as robust

Microsoft Edge is the spiritual successor to Internet Explorer that was first released in 2015. Originally HTML-based, Microsoft overhauled the browser to be based on Chromium, which is the same underlying software used to make Google Chrome.

As such, Microsoft Edge is now much more competitive than it used to be. It's far from a Google Chrome clone, but you should expect a similar level of performance from it. Some users believe that Microsoft Edge even feels snappier than Chrome on a Mac.

Because it's Chromium-based, Microsoft Edge also has a list of extensions similar to Chrome. It also sports a number of unique features, such as a "Collections" ability that lets you save information like text or webpages to a built-in notebook. There's also a vertical tab bar, a built-in read aloud feature, and an easy native screenshot tool.

It's a solid option for anyone that doesn't like Safari and wants an alternative to Google Chrome because of privacy reasons. If you use a Microsoft account like some use a Google account, then Edge might also be a solid option.

• Snappy, lower RAM and CPU usage
• Unique features like Read Aloud and Collections
• Good performance in most metrics
• Can be slower than Chrome in terms of pure performance
• Syncing isn't as strong as Safari or Chrome

The perfect browser doesn't exist, but you can pick and choose what you need

There's no clear answer for what the "best" browser on macOS is. However, some browsers are better suited to specific tasks than others.

When it comes to smooth JavaScript execution, Chrome is in the top spot with Safari a close second. Safari, according to the MotionMark testing, handles complex web pages better than any other browser.

Firefox, interestingly enough, may be the fastest when it comes to general everyday web apps.

Of course, there's also the issues of extension support, privacy, and synchronization across other devices. Many of the browsers are evenly matched on these metrics, but some excel in specific areas like privacy or cross-platform integration.

But, unlike on iOS, you aren't effectively stuck with one browser core technology. These four browsers, and several more, are available on macOS, and can be run in parallel.

While we don't recommend running all four unless you're a web developer or unit case tester, two or three different browsers can be run at-will, if any given browser doesn't handle your work case well.

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Which browser is best for battery life: We test Edge vs. Chrome vs. Opera vs. Firefox

Lots of claims are made about which browser is better or worse for a device’s battery life. Can a browser really make that much of a difference? Yes indeed, but determining just how much of a difference and whether it even matters to your individual use case is the difficult part.

I began testing the question of different web browsers’ impact on battery life about two months ago, and what I’ve concluded is that there’s a lot of work to be done here.

What’s generally wrong with browsing tests

I’ve read about people using browsing as a rundown test for laptops but I have concerns about how that’s done. As you know, the internet is a dynamic living organism. What I get when I point my browser at PCWorld.com at 2:14 a.m. EDT on August 29, is going to be different than what I get on 8 a.m. on January 1.

Even trying to browse with the same laptop just minutes apart could yield quite a different experience in terms of Flash ads, embedded videos, and other dynamic elements.

That’s not even mentioning that the route the packets take to reach your screen could differ considerably moment to moment. These and other uncontrollable variables are enough to scare me off of running comparative tests using the live internet.

Enter EMBC BrowsingBench

EMBC is a small benchmarking outfit that claims its BrowsingBench test removes the variability in testing browsers. The benchmark runs on Linux from a USB key. You boot into Ubuntu on a laptop that’s connected via ethernet to a wireless router, and then connect your test laptop to that router’s Wi-Fi.

With EMBC’s BrowsingBench, you can test browsers in a controlled environment.

You select between page types, how long you want the test to dwell on a page, and even set the bandwidth you want simulated. The pages are stored and served by the benchmark, which means every single page and every single Flash ad is the same.

I configured BrowsingBench with a rather long “dwell” time on each page, rather than just jamming through a bunch of pages. I figured people don’t browse that way so what’s the value of it.

If you were to watch the benchmark run, it would look like a person went to a site, scrolled down maybe a third of the page, paused, scrolled another third, paused, and so on.

EMBC’s BrowsingBench lets you vary how long the page stays on the screen, so I tried to simulate what I thought was a realistic portrayal of browsing.

It’s so not perfect

As much as I think EMBC’s BrowsingBench is pretty nifty, it’s far from perfect. The test is actually designed to scale to phones, tablets, and even set-top boxes. It includes webpages that are pure mobile sites as well as the desktop versions (I selected only the desktop versions), but the pages are clearly very light workloads for a PC.

The test is also designed for single-tab browsing. That’s just not realistic today. EMBC officials tell me they’re working on heavier page loads for the next version of BrowsingBench, but you have to go with the benchmark you have, not the one you want.

That doesn’t discount the results I’ll show you here today, but you should know that they reflect a light-duty-browsing scenario.  

I used a Toshiba Radius 12 for the bulk of my testing.

The hardware

I used the same Toshiba Radius 12 that I used for my media-player shootout . This laptop has a Core i7 Skylake CPU, 8GB of RAM, an M.2 SSD, and an Ultra HD 4K panel with 10-point touch. With its 41-watt battery, battery life is a little underwhelming. That’s to be expected though, as both 4K resolution and touch can be draining. I ran all of my tests at 155 nits, which is a reasonable brightness for an office environment where you are trying to save power.

The laptop was running Windows 10 Home with the latest updates installed prior to starting the tests. Once I updated the laptop, it stayed off the Internet to keep the OS at a consistent state.

To test the accuracy of the benchmark, I ran repeated tests in Chrome (each of which took several hours) and the results were within four minutes of each other. I used a LInksys 802.11n router for the tests, which was about two feet from the test laptop.

The browsers

Remember, I began my testing about two months ago so the browser versions are what was current at that time. For example, this was started prior to Opera pushing out its power-saving-mode version. The browsers I tested include: Chrome 50, Firefox 46, Edge 13.1, Opera 37, and Internet Explorer 11. (I did try a beta of Opera 39 with its power-saving mode switched on much later but ran into an issue where pages would not load correctly.)

As Firefox and Opera do not include Flash support by default, I installed the Adobe Flash plugin for both. All the browsers were running Flash 21.0.0. The only 64-bit browser was Microsoft’s Edge. The rest were all the 32-bit versions, which is the default browser of choice even if you’re running a 64-bit OS.

The results

This is a lot of lead up to something that’s a little  anticlimactic . My testing with a “light” browser load shows that Microsoft makes the most power-efficient browser, and the most power-inefficient one. 

Yes, Microsoft’s Edge 13.1 browser was clearly the winner here. I hit 385 minutes with the Edge browser, which is almost an hour more than Internet Explorer 11 lasted in browsing. 

Google’s much-maligned Chrome (which has a reputation for being a power hog) pulled into second place with about half an hour less battery life than Edge. Firefox was just about as bad as Internet Explorer, and Opera was on par with Chrome.

Under a light browsing load with some Flash content, Microsoft offers the best and the worst browser for battery life.

Disappointed?

The thing is, you were probably expecting far more dramatic results. Kinda like Microsoft’s own test that it released this week . If you didn’t catch it, Microsoft testers  browsed various websites (on the open Internet apparently) while looking at the power consumption  so the testers could measure power consumption. Microsoft’s tests—conducted on the open internet apparently, and using a special instrumented Surface Book—showed from 36 percent to 53 percent better battery life over the competition when browsing in Edge. In a video test, Edge edged out Opera’s new power-saving mode by 17 percent, bested Firefox by 43 percent, and Chrome by a whopping 70 percent.

The company also showed all four browsers running a streamed video until they tapped out with Edge again taking the lead.

Microsoft further showed telemetry from “millions” of Windows 10 machines that it has captured, which supports its results (umm, does anyone else think it’s creepy that your OS is dutifully reporting anonymous telemetry data to be used for marketing purposes?).

I don’t actually doubt Microsoft’s numbers. In fact, they reinforce my own personal experience using various browsers. Chrome “seems” to cause the battery to plummet, while Edge “seems” to sip power during use.

But that’s just my anecdotal experience and without the ability to measure it reliably, I’ll just leave it at that. And to be perfectly honest, I still use Chrome, except when I’m really trying to maximize battery life. Then I switch to Edge.

Microsoft Edge is more power efficient according to millions of Windows 10 machines, the company says.

So here’s the thing. My own tests shows Edge has a clear power advantage in light browsing chores; it’s just not as dramatic as Microsoft’s own tests. But the truth is actually more complicated because our browsing habits are so different, and can change from day to day.  If you play a game or use Outlook all day, you can make a pretty good guess about how each will impact battery life. A browser though is a window to the unlimited and ever-changing Internet and no one uses it the same way.

Do you sit with 10 tabs of Flash- and video-heavy webpages open all day? Or do you sit in Google Docs for eight hours? Do you park your browser on YouTube or some shady streaming website for long stretches? All three of those use cases will likely have very different effects on battery life and going by anyone’s generic “browser battery-life” figures doesn’t make much sense.

Are browser benchmarks still valuable? Yes, but only to the extent that you understand the scenario being tested. For example, after doing my tests, I’m pretty confident telling you that if you’re just doing very light web browsing with the screen brightness at a medium-to-dim 150 nits, Edge is the most power-efficient choice, but the other’s ain’t so bad either.

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The best web browsers for 2024

All web browsers have the same basic function, and yet, the choice between them has always been one of the most contentious in tech history. You have more options these days than ever before, whether you’re looking for the best web browser for privacy , the best for speed, or perhaps something a bit more adventurous.

To help you decide on the best web browser, we grabbed the latest browsers and put them through their paces. Even if some could use a complete overhaul, these options are your best chance for a great online experience.

The best web browser: Google Chrome

Chrome is ubiquitous — and for good reason. With a robust feature set, full Google Account integration, a thriving extension ecosystem (available through the Chrome Web Store), and a reliable suite of mobile apps, it’s easy to see why Chrome is the most popular and the best web browser.

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Chrome boasts some of the most extensive mobile integration available. Served up on every major platform, keeping data in sync is easy, making browsing between multiple devices a breeze. Sign in to your Google account on one device, and all Chrome bookmarks, saved data, and preferences come right along. Even active extensions stay synchronized across devices.

Chrome’s Password Manager can automatically generate and recommend strong passwords when a user creates a new account on a webpage. Managing saved passwords and adding notes to passwords is even easier. The search bar, or Omnibox, provides “rich results” comprised of useful answers, and it now supports generative AI capabilities. Favorites are more accessible as well, and they’re manageable on the New Tab page. And it’s now easier to mute tabs to avoid unwanted sounds.

Other updates have included a Dark Mode for Windows and macOS , better New Tab customization and tab group creation, tab hover cards, and an in-browser warning if your password was discovered in a data breach. There’s a price tracking feature that can help locate the best deals. Android users will appreciate the Phone Hub for linking and monitoring their phones. There’s also the ability to quiet notifications, so websites don’t bombard you with requests to enable in-browser notifications.

What’s the bottom line? The Google Chrome browser is fast, free, and even better looking than before. With a thriving extension ecosystem, it’s as fully featured or as pared-down as you want it to be. Everything is right where it belongs, privacy and security controls are laid out in plain English, and the browser just gets out of your way. While it can be a little RAM-hungry at times , Google is working to make it more efficient — like Microsoft’s Edge, Google can now hibernate tabs in the background to stop them from using too many resources.

Overall, Chrome remains the best web browser download for the average user.

And, things are looking to get even better. Google announced some significant upgrades to the browser that haven’t gone live yet, to celebrate Chrome’s 15th birthday . A Material You design language will allow users to customize Chrome’s look and feel and attach themes to profiles to make it easy to tell them apart. The menu system will be revamped to provide easier access to a variety of settings and features including Extensions, Password Manager, Translate, and others. The Chrome Web Store will be redesigned using Material You to be easier to use, and AI will help identify useful extensions. And finally, Safe Browsing will now work in real time to protect against threats.

The best Chrome alternative: Microsoft Edge

In response to the market’s rejection of its original home-grown Edge browser, Microsoft rewrote Edge using the open-source Chromium web browser engine. The new Edge launched on February 5, 2020 , as a separate, stand-alone browser that replaced the integrated version. It became part of Windows 10 with the May 2020 update, although you can still download it for Windows 10 builds prior to version 2004. Of course, it’s the default web browser for Windows 11.

At first glance, the new Edge browser looks and feels like Google Chrome. It prompts you to import Chrome’s bookmarks toolbar and other settings. This is great if you hated the old Edge browser and want to give Microsoft’s new browser another shot. It also supports Chrome extensions , though the browser leads you to the Microsoft Store for add-ons. You must manually load the Chrome Web Store to install anything not listed in Microsoft’s repository.

However, it’s not Chrome with a Windows 11 theme. Microsoft reportedly disabled many features, including Google’s Safe Browsing API, ad blocking, speech input, Google-centric services, and more. In return, the company worked to optimize Edge and reduce its footprint while continuing to add new, Microsoft-oriented features. As of January 2023, Edge is the most efficient browser in terms of memory usage. It also allows sleeping tabs, to let tabs release their resources when they haven’t been used for some time.

Features launched since its release have included the new Edge Sidebar that provides easy access to various tools, more flexibility in managing how Edge starts up, Citations to make it easier for students to cite sources, and various other updates to make the browser more productive. Edge Workspaces lets users organize tasks into dedicated windows, and Microsoft has continuously tweaked various features, like the Edge Sidebar, to make them more user-friendly.

Microsoft Edge also provides simpler privacy settings and security updates. Microsoft Edge uses a graphically friendly interface that displays three security levels: Basic, Balanced, and Strict. With Balanced set as the default, many sites request you to disable your pop-up blocker even though one isn’t manually installed. All in all, we’re very optimistic that Edge is on its way to challenging Chrome as the best web browser.

The best Chromium alternative: Mozilla Firefox

Firefox is the best browser that’s not based on the Chromium browser engine. Mozilla has taken real strides to make its browser a truly modern way to surf from site to site, thanks to efforts like its upgrade to Firefox Quantum , its VR alternative Firefox Reality , and password-free browsing .

It wasn’t too long ago that Mozilla rebuilt the browser’s interface, offering a cleaner, more modern take on what a web browser should be. The changes weren’t just skin-deep, however. There’s some impressive engineering going on behind the scenes.

For example, Firefox Quantum is designed to leverage multicore processors in ways that its competitors just aren’t doing. It was not designed to make a huge difference in your day-to-day browsing, but Mozilla hopes this design will give Firefox Quantum an edge moving forward. By engineering for the future now, Firefox Quantum is in a better position to take advantage of quicker processors as they emerge.

Some Firefox strengths include privacy protections with SmartBlock anti-tracker support, improved password syncing across devices, enhanced readability, integrated breach alerts, and a Protections Dashboard that provides a summary of how Firefox protects your privacy behind the scenes. WebRender improves the graphics performance on Windows PCs with Intel and AMD CPUs.

Recent updates include easier download management, captions, and subtitle support on YouTube, Prime Video, and Netflix videos watched in picture-in-picture mode, HDR support in macOS, and the ability to edit PDFs with text, drawings, and signatures. Firefox can also recognize text from an image, which is copied to the clipboard when selected. Finally, Firefox Colorways provides new options for optimizing how Firefox looks on-screen.

Beneath those changes, Firefox remains a comfortable, familiar standby. It’s a capable browser with a deep catalog of extensions and user interface customization. While managing settings across platforms isn’t as seamless as Google Chrome , the mobile browser app lets you share bookmarks between devices when using a free Firefox account.

There’s a bit of a fringe benefit, too. Since it’s been around longer than Chrome, some older web apps — the likes of which you might encounter at your university or workplace — work better on Firefox than they do on Chrome. For that reason, it never hurts to keep it around.

Overall, Firefox is more privacy-centric than Chrome and comparably fast, but its feature set isn’t quite as expansive elsewhere. If you like the sound of this, download the Firefox browser today.

The most innovative web browser: Opera

Another venerable browser and popular alternative, the Opera browser shares much of Chrome’s DNA and deserves its place as one of the best web browsers. Like both Edge and Chrome, Opera is built on Google’s open-source Chromium engine and, as a result, they all have a very similar user experience. Both feature a hybrid URL/search bar, and both are relatively light and fast.

The differences appear when you look at Opera’s built-in features. Where Chrome relies on an extension ecosystem to provide functionality users might want, Opera has a few more features baked right into the browser itself. It introduced a predictive website preload ability, and an Instant Search feature isolates search results in their separate window while the current page fades into the background, letting users more easily focus on the research task at hand.

You can install extensions from the Opera Add-ons store , which are just like Chrome extensions. Similar to Google’s browser, you’ll find useful tools like Giphy, Amazon Assistant, Avast Online Security, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and more. If Chrome’s wide variety of extensions is important to you, then Opera becomes an intriguing alternative. It might just be one of the best browsers for quickly navigating web pages.

Opera also features a built-in “Stash” for saving pages to read later. There’s no need to sign up for a Pocket or Evernote account to save a page for later reading. Similarly, Opera features a speed-dial menu that puts all your most frequently visited pages in one place. Google Chrome also does this, but only on a blank new tab. Finally, Opera has a built-in unlimited VPN service, making it a more secure browser option.

The biggest changes came with Opera 60 and Reborn 3, a complete revamp that brought a new borderless design, Web 3 support, and a Crypto Wallet, allowing users to prepare for blockchain-based sites. With version 69, Opera became the first browser with a built-in Twitter tool, and the company has added others as well including Instagram and TikTok. Just click the icon on the toolbar, log in to your account, and tweet away right from within the slide-out menu.

Other recent advancements include Lucid Mode, which sharpens video playing on a variety of platforms, supports emojis instead of web links, and other enhancements. The Opera Sidebar adds new functionality much like Edge’s Sidebar, allowing quick access to various Opera features. And Opera Aria adds new generative AI capabilities built right into the browser.

You can see that we’re well into hair-splitting territory, which is why it’s important to remember that your choice of browser is, more than any other service or app you use each day, entirely dependent on your personal preferences — what feels most right for you. The Opera web browser has a unique look and feel, and it combines some of the best features of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

Alternative browsers

While the preceding browsers will meet most users’ needs, other alternatives exist for anyone looking for something different. This section is for those who have a more niche preference in web browsers  or want to try something new.

Apple Safari

If you use Apple devices exclusively, Safari is already your default browser. It’s also significantly faster than in the past, surpassing Chrome in its quickness. It’s integrated into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, and you’ll likely get better battery life thanks to Apple’s in-house optimizations and the underlying hardware.

Safari also focuses a great deal on privacy and security. If you want to minimize how you’re tracked and whether Big Brother is looking over your shoulder, then Safari is a good choice. If you also use an iPhone and/or an iPad, then using Safari on your Mac will make for the most seamless transition between platforms. Open websites on an iPad or iPhone are carried over to macOS.

Safari is not offered outside the Apple ecosystem.

Vivaldi Browser

The Vivaldi browser is truly unique. No two Vivaldi users will have the same setup. When you run it for the first time, you’re guided through a setup process that lays out your browser in a way that makes sense for you. You choose where your tabs and address bar go and whether you want browser tabs displayed at the top of the page or in a separate side panel. This is a browser built from the ground up to deliver a unique user experience, and for the most part, it succeeds. Vivaldi 2.0 enhanced the customization features and made them easier to access.

This browser excels at customization, and you can choose from a variety of tasteful themes that don’t feel dated or out of place on a modern PC, in addition to the aforementioned UI choices. It also has some standout privacy-enhancing features, like its team-up with DuckDuckGo to make the non-tracking search tool the default option when in privacy mode.

Finally, recent updates added more powerful tab management, enhancements like Web Panels that make for smarter browsing, and (as mentioned) even more powerful customization options. Other new updates include a built-in ad blocker, a built-in tracker blocker, a clock in the Status Bar, a new Notes Manager, and a Break Mode for pausing the internet while keeping the browser open.

Brave Browser

One of the most unusual browsers around is Brave — or, perhaps, it’s Brave’s business model that’s the strangest. Brave blocks all ads on all web pages by default, which makes it arguably the fastest browser around. Ads are a huge portion of how many websites make money — block these ads, and suddenly the most important web financial tool is eliminated.

That’s where the Brave Rewards program comes in. Users receive Basic Attention Tokens (BATs) when they view alternative ads that Brave places in the browsing stream. Users can pass along a portion of their tokens to publishers. As of January 2021, there were over 70,000 websites that supported BAT-based transactions through the Brave browser, including Wikipedia, The Guardian, WikiHow, MacRumors, and more.

What’s in it for users? Simply put, if you’re not waiting for ads to download along with website content, then your web experience will feel much faster. Brave performs no user tracking, making it ideal for private browsing as well.

Tor Browser

The Tor Browser is a version of Firefox that serves one very specific purpose: A simple entry point for The Onion Router, or Tor .

Tor is software combined with an open network aimed at making you invisible by routing your traffic through several anonymous servers. While it’s not foolproof, it’s very difficult for someone to identify you when you’re properly configured and using something like the Tor Browser to surf the web — especially if combined with a VPN .

There are many legitimate uses of the Tor Browser and the Tor network. It’s a good choice for people who live in countries with repressive governments, as well as journalists and activists. The dark web is also one of the destinations for people using Tor, which includes many nefarious and illegal sites.

In any event, if you want to remain completely anonymous while surfing the web, the Tor Browser and network are for you. If you want a more mainstream alternative, Opera includes a VPN component, but it’s far less private.

Avast Secure Browser

Avast Secure Browser first arrived as the Opera-based Avast Safezone Browser in 2016 as part of the Avast Antivirus paid bundle. It was revised and rebranded in 2018 as a free stand-alone product based on Chromium. Originally the “SafeZone” aspect kicked in when users visited websites to make purchases or manage money.

Avast Secure Browser provides several built-in tools to protect your data and privacy. These include an anti-phishing module, fingerprinting and online tracking prevention, an ad blocker, and a Webcam Guard tool to control which websites can access your camera. The Hack Check tool will determine if your info was leaked in a data breach.

Avast Secure Browser is a stand-alone download for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. The desktop version doesn’t include an integrated VPN but instead directs users to download the company’s separate SecureLine VPN software. The listed Bank Mode — part of the Avast Free Antivirus client — flips on when users load a banking website.

Best web browser features — what to look for

Benchmark tests.

Notice we don’t include Safari in our main comparison. Apple’s Safari web browser is unavailable on Windows, Android, or Chrome OS, so we removed it from our primary list.

Most browsers are compatible with web standards and handle performance with relative ease. A casual user probably won’t notice a difference in the rendering speed between today’s modern browsers, as all six are much faster and leaner than those of a few years ago.

We ran the following benchmarks on a desktop with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe solid-state drive, and Windows 11. All browsers were clean installs of the most current production versions as of January 2023, and all were run at their default settings.

First, JetStream 2 is a JavaScript and WebAssembly benchmark. It tests how quickly a web browser can start and execute code, and how smoothly it runs. Higher numbers are better.

Notice how all three Chromium-based browsers outperform Firefox. In fact, there’s very little difference between them, while Firefox’s performance is quite poor by comparison.

The next test we ran was Speedometer 2.0 . It measures how responsive a browser is to web applications by repeatedly adding a large number of items to a to-do list. Higher numbers are better.

Here, Opera led the pack, with Chrome and Edge running nearly neck to neck. Firefox came in last here with a relatively low score.

Finally, we tested how much RAM each browser uses, both with no tabs open and then with 10 tabs open accessing the same popular sites. We made sure that each browser had no extensions running, and we let each browser settle in before looking at its memory use. For the test with 10 tabs open, we averaged memory use when all the tabs were opened and then five minutes later to account for any variability.

It’s not a scientific test, but it should be sound enough to give you an idea of which browsers are the most and least efficient in terms of taking up your RAM. We found Opera to use the least amount of RAM when first opened, barely ahead of Edge, while Chrome used the most. Edge used the least with all 10 tabs loaded by a significant margin, a third or less than the other browsers. Chrome used the most with all 10 tabs open, and Firefox and Opera weren’t far behind.

Security and privacy

The most valuable tool for secure and private browsing is user discretion, especially when you consider that every web browser has encountered security breaches in the past. In particular, Internet Explorer and Chrome’s reputations for protecting users’ security and privacy credentials are spotty at best.

Chrome, Safari, Vivaldi, Opera, and Firefox all rely on Google’s Safe Browsing API to detect potentially dangerous sites. Thanks to constant updates, Mozilla, Chrome, and Opera all make constant security improvements. Microsoft disabled this API in Edge.

All browsers offer a private session option, too. Private sessions prevent the storage of browsing history, temporary internet files, and cookies. Browser support for Do Not Track remains spotty.

Mozilla made some strides in differentiating itself from others with a real focus on privacy in recent years. It even debuted a Facebook Container  in 2018 to make it harder for the social network to harvest user information.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need to use a VPN when browsing the web? 

You do not have to use a VPN when browsing the internet. However, a VPN can be a good tool to use as it protects your privacy and data by creating a secure and encrypted data tunnel between your browser and a VPN server. In turn, that server creates a secure and encrypted connection between it and the target website.

As a result, the website can’t identify you personally, nor can it see your true geological location or internet address. Not even your ISP knows where you’re surfing or the device you use with a VPN enabled. Some VPN services are free while others require a subscription. We have a list of the current best VPN services .

Which browser is most used in the world? 

Google Chrome leads the web browser market with a 64.68% share, according to Statcounter . Apple Safari follows with 18.29%, Edge at 4.23%, Mozilla Firefox at 3.01%%, and Opera at 2.25%. Internet Explorer is still in use with 0.81%, while Microsoft Edge “Legacy” is fading out at 0.32%.

What are the best ad blockers to use for your browser? 

We have a guide on the best ad blockers for Google Chrome , but here’s a short list:

• AdBlock and AdBlock Plus
• AdGuard (Chrome only)
• CyberSec by NordVPN
• Poper Blocker (Chrome only)
• Stands Fair AdBlocker (Chrome only)
• uBlock Origin (Chrome and Firefox only)

What is browser fingerprinting and how can you prevent it? 

Websites want to know everything about you: Your tastes, your habits, and where you like to surf. When you load a website, it quietly runs scripts in the background that collect information about you and your device. The operating system, the web browser, all installed extensions, your time zone — all of this information is strung together to create a “fingerprint,” which in turn can be used to trace you across the internet via cross-site tracking.

Avast provides a detailed explanation and outlines various forms of fingerprinting. For example, the “canvas” method forces the browser to draw an image or text in the background, without the user knowing, to determine the operating system, web browser, graphics card, installed drivers, and the current font style. Device fingerprinting determines all internal and external device components.

As your fingerprint is tracked across the internet, this “profile” can be sold to data brokers, who then resell the data to advertisers. It’s a more silent means of gathering information about you versus using cookies that require your consent. The problem is, browser fingerprinting is still perfectly legal.

The best way to prevent browser fingerprinting is by randomizing and generalizing data. Third-party software like Avast AntiTrack does this by inserting “fake” data when website scripts try to collect your information. However, this tool allows scripts to continue running in the background so the website doesn’t “break.”

Many browsers offer some type of anti-fingerprinting protection. These include Avast Secure Browser (see above), Brave Browser (randomization), Mozilla Firefox (blocks fingerprinting scripts), and Tor Browser (generalization).

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Mark has been a geek since MS-DOS gave way to Windows and the PalmPilot was a thing. He’s translated his love for technology into a marketing, consulting, and freelance writing career aimed at helping people use technology to enhance their lives. At Digital Trends, he reviews laptops and desktops, including the latest from HP, Dell, Lenovo, Apple, and more, and writes news and easy to understand how-to articles about the computing industry as a whole.

When he’s not writing, you’ll find him reading and watching science fiction, taking photos with his family, and obsessing over Indiana University basketball.

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If you haven't bought a router in a while, now is really the time to do it, as a lot of modern routers are better suited to a world where you might connect several devices to one router at the same time. In fact, part of the new Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E standards is built around the concept of the Internet of Things and connecting to dozens of devices. That's great if you have a lot of smart home gear you need to connect without getting a ton of latency; plus, the newer standard helps with working around congested airwaves where everybody has some form of router and Wi-Fi connection running. Of course, there are a lot of routers to pick from out there, and if you don't have a lot of tech-savvy, it can be overwhelming. That's why we've gone out and found our favorite router deals that will give you the best bang for your buck, and that includes mesh router deals too.

Best Router Deals TP-Link Archer AX3000 -- $83, was $130

Not all monitor deals will get you a display that's designed for conferencing purposes. If you were hoping to get one for cheap, check out this offer from HP -- a $359 discount for the HP Z24m G3 QHD conferencing display that pulls its price down to a very affordable $150 from its original price of $509. This 70% discount will only be available for a limited time though, so if you're interested in this screen, there should be no hesitation with your purchase. Add it to your cart and push forward with the checkout process immediately.

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Safari Offers Longer Battery Life than Chrome or Firefox

Using Safari on a MacBook will give you longer battery life, according to tests run by the BatteryBox Blog . The company tested Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome, and Firefox on video sites, music streaming sites, webmail sites, news sites, and more, and found that Safari used less power than the other browsers, giving users 52 more minutes of battery life.

"If you’re a MacBook user," the company wrote, "you're losing an average of 1 hour of total battery life by using Chrome. Firefox is a little better, but Safari is the clear winner. You’ll want to use Safari if you want to get the most battery out of your laptop."

Average Battery Life in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari Tests Source: BatteryBox

BatteryBox sells a device called BatteryBox, a portable battery for Apple's MacBook, iPhone, and iPad. The company's blog follows battery-related issues, and this test didn't involve the company's products.

The company said it conducted the tests using power consumption measuring devices and testing each site for one hour. The data captured from that test was then run through Matlab to extrapolate battery life.

As the world goes mobile, battery life matters more and more. None of the companies or organizations that makes a browser has yet to make battery life a competitive issue, but it's something that some folks do notice.

In fact, BatteryBox's blog post said the company decided to run the tests after the sole Safari user in its office was seen to be getting consistently longer battery life than his compatriots.

"Being the geeks we are," the blog post said, "it had to be investigated."

We included the averages chart above, but BatteryBox offered charts breaking down specific functions. Check out the blog post for more details.

• Bryan Chaffin
• tmo-article

We review products independently , but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use .

Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, or Safari: Which Browser Is Best for 2024?

Don't take your browser for granted we help you narrow your options by comparing the best web browsers on speed, privacy, and other important features..

Most people browse the web using Google Chrome without really thinking about their options. Gmail or YouTube or some other site once suggested they use Chrome, and perhaps they never questioned it. The truth is you do have options when it comes to your web browser, and you may find another that serves your needs better. Browsers offer varying levels of privacy, security , performance, and power efficiency. They differ even more when it comes to unique and helpful features beyond merely displaying websites.

Here we examine the top five browsers in the US, in order of popularity. That criterion rules out  Brave  and  Vivaldi , with usage rates hovering near or below 1%, even though they are both first-class browsers. If you're interested in those two, check out our article on the  best alternative web browsers . Or, if your utmost concern is security, see what makes the best private browsers different.

Below are short reviews of the top five browsers. After that, keep reading for more information about the browser landscape, additional details about our testing, and advice on what you should take into consideration when choosing a web browser.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome Web Browser

Most people need no introduction to the search behemoth's browser, Google Chrome. It’s attractively designed and quick at loading pages. Most website codes now target Chrome, so compatibility is seldom an issue. Chrome is available for all major platforms, and the mobile version offers syncing of bookmarks, passwords, and settings.

Chrome doesn't have many unique browsing features, however, and it's the only browser included here that you won't find in the desktop app stores for macOS and Windows. There’s no built-in VPN, no cryptocurrency locker, no note feature, and no screenshot tool. Google has announced a feeble gesture towards adding a reading mode; feeble because it will only be in a sidebar, with the full, noisy distracting page still displaying in the main central browser window. The lack of a true reading mode makes sense for a company that earns its keep through web ads since reading modes hide them. All the other browsers here have full-page reading modes.

Chrome allows multiple user profiles, meaning different users of the same computer can have their own browser settings, history, and favorites. The browser also finally caught up with others by adding a Share icon to the address bar that eases sending sites via social media or email.

A few years ago, Google controversially announced it would be removing the API function that allowed ad-blocker software to fully block ads. As of now, it seems ad blockers may be limited starting at some point in 2024. Some Chrome development, though, has centered around security and privacy, notably among them a plan to kill off tracking cookies in favor of Google's tracking mechanisms. The company's Privacy Sandbox initiative (in development) tries to cater to both  ad targeting and user privacy . Some worry both of these developments will only result in more consolidation of the company's grip on web advertising and user profiling.

Apple Safari

Apple Safari 5

The default Mac and iOS browser is a strong choice, though its interface has some nonstandard elements. Safari was a forerunner in several areas of browser features. For example, it was the first with a Reading mode, which cleared unnecessary clutter like ads and videos from web articles you want to read. That feature debuted in 2010 and has made its way into all other browsers except for Chrome.

Apple has brought up the topic of fingerprinting protection—preventing web trackers from identifying you by your system specs. Unfortunately, the EFF's Cover Your Tracks test site only shows partial protection from trackers in Safari, while several competitors get a result of Strong protection. Other benefits include Apple Pay support and a "Sign in with Apple" feature to replace Facebook and Google as web account authorizers.

In macOS Monterey, the browser gained a compact tab bar with floating tabs like Firefox's and Tab Groups that live in a convenient sidebar, and with Ventura , they become shareable and pinnable. Safari also supports Apple's proprietary Shared with You feature in its proprietary iMessage system. For iCloud+ subscribers, a Private Relay obscures your IP address, similar to a VPN.

If you use an iPhone and a Mac, Safari integration makes a lot of sense, since Apple’s Handoff feature lets you continue your browsing session between devices. Safari trails other browsers on support for emerging HTML features, but we haven’t run into or heard of any major site incompatibilities with it.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge Web Browser

The latest version of Microsoft Edge uses Chrome’s webpage-rendering code, Chromium, guaranteeing site compatibility and freeing up its developers to add unique features. You won’t run into the site incompatibilities users of the previous incarnation of Edge occasionally encountered, and the browser performs snappily. Edge now runs on Apple macOS and Windows 11 and earlier. Mobile versions for Android and iPhone let you sync history, favorites, and passwords.

Edge is a leader in performance, thrifty memory management, and disk usage. Startup Boost technology reduces the time it takes to open the browser, and sleeping tabs save memory on tabs you're not viewing. Edge's Efficiency mode can extend laptop battery life. The initial focuses for the browser were privacy, the customizable start page, and the intriguing Collections feature for web research. For enterprise customers who still rely on Internet Explorer to run legacy programs, Edge offers an IE Mode .

The Collections feature uses a sidebar onto which you can drag webpages and images, write notes, and then share the whole assemblage to Excel, OneNote, or Word. It's a great organization and planning tool . Edge's Immersive Reader mode not only offers distraction-free web reading, stripping out ads and nonessential eye candy, but it can also read webpage text aloud using lifelike Neural Voices. It's worth trying because it reads with sentence intonation, rather than simply word by word, as we’ve come to expect text-to-speech audio.

Other notable Edge options include built-in web sharing, tabs down the side rather than across the top, a built-in screenshot tool, automatic coupons for shopping sites, and timely themes to dress up your browser. Recent additions include a side panel that integrates the new Bing AI chat search , game controller haptic feedback, and a multitasking side toolbar that lets you access first- and third-party services for social networking, search, messaging, search, and productivity.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox Web Browser

Firefox, an open-source project from the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, has long been a PCMag favorite. The browser has pioneered many web capabilities and the organization that develops it has been a strong advocate for online privacy. It’s also notable for its wealth of available extensions. The unique Multi-Account Containers extension lets you sequester multiple logins to the same site on different tabs. Without it, you'd have to open a private browsing window or another browser to sign out of all your web accounts and start a fresh session.

Mozilla’s browser is in the vanguard of supporting new HTML and CSS capabilities, and the company is working on open-source AR and speech synthesis standards. The organization now offers a full password management service called Lockwise, which can generate complex passwords, sync them between devices, and secure everything under a strong master password. That and the organization's VPN offering are paid extras.

The mobile Firefox apps offer excellent interfaces, and you can send a webpage tab from any device to any others that are logged into your syncing account. That’s right: You can be reading a webpage on your desktop PC, and have it instantly open on your iPhone or vice versa. It's a slick and useful feature.

If that’s not enough, Firefox has a Pocket button in the address bar, letting you save a page for later viewing anywhere with one click. The Reader View button declutters a webpage loaded with ads, promos, and videos, so you can peruse it with no distractions. PiP video supports closed captions and HDR and AV1 video formats. The browser is ultra customizable, letting you select and arrange buttons on the toolbar to taste, as well as select from a large number of Theme add-ons that change window border patterns and colors.

Recent additions include PDF editing and the Firefox View feature, basically a pinned tab of recent sites that syncs between the desktop and mobile versions of the browser.

Opera Web Browser

Perennially hovering around the 2% usage level, the Opera browser has long been a pioneer in the segment, inventing basic browser innovations like tabs, CSS, and the built-in search box. Opera can make a bigger privacy claim than the other browsers here—if you’re a believer in VPNs. It includes a built-in VPN (actually an encrypted proxy server) that protects and reroutes traffic from Opera to cloak your IP address. Opera uses the Chromium page-rendering engine, so you'll rarely run into site incompatibilities, and performance is fast. It's available for all major platforms, and the Opera Touch mobile browser is a beautifully designed app that connects (via quick QR scan) to your desktop.

Beyond the VPN, another unique feature in Opera is its built-in ad blocker, which also blocks crypto-mining scripts and trackers. Ad blocking also means less data consumed, especially of interest to those using metered connections or mobile plans with data caps.

More unique features in Opera include its Speed Dial start and New Tab page, as well as its quick-access sidebar of frequently needed services like WhatsApp or Spotify. My Flow lets you send webpages and notes between devices easily. The browser also includes a video pop-out window, a Pinboard feature similar to Edge's Collections, and a Workspaces feature that lets you create function-based tab views. Opera uniquely offers a cryptocurrency wallet as an option, which supports most popular tokens.

Opera offers a gaming version called Opera GX , and the company recently bought a gaming engine , moving into that specialty even further. The company also offers a futuristic secure Crypto Browser for navigating Web3 . And like Edge, Opera is adding AI ChatGPT capabilities to the browser , starting with a summarizer tool for text you highlight or even full sites.

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About Michael Muchmore

PC hardware is nice, but it’s not much use without innovative software. I’ve been reviewing software for PCMag since 2008, and I still get a kick out of seeing what's new in video and photo editing software, and how operating systems change over time. I was privileged to byline the cover story of the last print issue of PC Magazine , the Windows 7 review, and I’ve witnessed every Microsoft win and misstep up to the latest Windows 11.

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Chrome Battery Life vs Edge, Firefox and Opera

Your favorite browser might be draining your laptop’s battery life unnecessarily. Is it time to ditch Chrome or Firefox and pick a more energy-aware browser when you’re out and about? Let’s find out.

The undisputable king of desktop browsers is Google Chrome. With a market share now over 50%, it has chipped away at Internet Explorer's throne piece by piece since its introduction in 2008. It’s easy to see why: It’s got a sleek and slim look, it's easier to use, and it’s reliable.

But things are changing: The competition isn’t stuck in deep hibernation anymore. Chrome has grown out of control over time and Microsoft’s Edge and Firefox have caught up.

Microsoft came out multiple times last summer to brag strongly about its pre-installed Windows 10 browser and how it is far more power-efficient than Chrome.

Microsoft did its own tests, which other browser-makers contest.

Both Opera and Chrome have retaliated, trying to debunk Microsoft’s claims. But let’s not get into mudslinging between browser-makers. Rather, let’s check this for ourselves and find out if Chrome battery life is better or worse than the competition’s.

Browser battery test methodology

It’s essentially impossible to really measure browser performance in any scientifically accurate way. That’s because websites change almost every time you look at them: Ads change, images change, scripts change, articles change. That’s why we use two different tests:

Video streaming : Just as Microsoft and the other browser makers, we’re testing battery life while binge-streaming Netflix Full HD content nonstop until the battery runs dry. This essentially shows how the browsers are able to save power while downloading data packages and rendering video. This test proved to be very reliable when repeated.

Simulating browsing : Due to the above-mentioned fluctuations when browsing the web, we’re using a script that opens up 10 popular websites, scrolls down to the end, closes them and opens them back up again after a break of 30 seconds. While surely not exactly a realistic use case (everyone uses the web differently), this methodology gives a decent impression of how quickly browsers drain battery power under extreme conditions and nonstop loading of websites. In our tests, the fluctuations resulted in a difference of 10-20 minutes between each battery life rundown.

We used the latest browser versions available: Edge (Build 14955 from the Insider Preview), Google Chrome 56 (dev channel), Firefox 52, and Opera 41 (Beta).

As for device, we used a Microsoft Surface Book .

Our test machine: a battery champ!

Under normal circumstances, the Surface Book is a true battery life wonder: It gives me 8 ½ hours of movie playback, 10 hours of working in Office and 2 hours of 3D gaming on the road. So basically, we’ve got one very energy efficient laptop/tablet hybrid.

Now let’s take a look at the results.

1st battery life test results: browser video streaming

The different browsers show quite different impacts on the Surface Book’s battery life when streaming video content.

Google Chrome had the biggest impact on battery life with the laptop dying after 3 hours and 2 minutes . Edge, on the other hand, kept the laptop streaming for another hour for a total of 4 hours and 5 minutes , with the two other browsers sitting in between.

It’s quite astounding that just by picking the right browser you can save another hour.

2nd battery life test: continuously opening websites

Yet again, Edge takes the crown by offering more battery life than the rest: 5 hours and 18 minutes. Not bad. Chrome’s battery drain isn’t as bad this time, with 4 hours and 40 minutes of total runtime. Both Opera and Firefox trail behind a bit.

Bottom line

There are a lot of factors other than battery life when it comes to choosing a browser, and even though these tests aren’t 100% scientific due to the variances in online connection speeds and web content, they do seem to point in one direction: Edge.

If you’re on Windows 10 (and more and more users are) and browser battery drain is an issue, you should think about using Edge when there’s no power outlet in sight, even if you’re a hardcore Chrome, Firefox or Opera user.

Practically, the results don’t show an extreme difference between Chrome’s battery drain compared to Edge or Firefox: it’s not like you’ll be getting double the battery life by using Edge.

But if you do need that extra hour, you know what to do!

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If you care about battery life, use Safari instead of Chrome

There have been numerous reports, including our own anecdotal ones, about how much better Safari is than Chrome when it comes to battery life on MacBooks. Here's another on, this time from Battery Box:

Averaging data from all websites tested, Safari won first place with 6 hours 21 minutes of total usage, Firefox second with 5 hours 29 minutes of usage, and Chrome last with 5 hours 8 minutes of usage.Basically, if you simply switch to using Safari instead of Chrome, on average you could get an extra 1 hour of usage from your battery life.

Not innovating anymore, WebKit's ass .

Via: The Loop

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Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

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Google Chrome

Google updates chrome to match safari battery life on m2 macbook pro.

After widely rolling out an Energy Saver mode , Google has made four optimizations to Chrome for Mac that allows the browser to match the battery life you get when using Safari.

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Google conducted testing on a MacBook Pro (13”, M2, 2022 with 8 GB RAM running macOS Ventura 13.2.1) with Chrome 110.0.5481.100 in February of 2023. It showed that you can “browse for 17 hours or watch YouTube for 18 hours.”

For comparison , Apple touts up to 17 hours of wireless web browsing, and up to 20 hours Apple TV app movie playback.

Testing conducted by Apple in May 2022 using preproduction 13-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M2, 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD. The wireless web test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing 25 popular websites with display brightness set to 8 clicks from bottom. The Apple TV app movie playback test measures battery life by playing back HD 1080p content with display brightness set to 8 clicks from bottom. Battery life varies by use and configuration. Apple

Meanwhile, Google uses this open-source benchmarking suite to run tests, and says that users will also “see performance gains on older models.” Four changes from waking the CPU less often to tuning memory compression are specifically credited:

• Eliminating unnecessary redraws : “We navigated on real-world sites with a bot and identified Document Object Model (DOM) change patterns that don’t affect pixels on the screen. We modified Chrome to detect those early and bypass the unnecessary style, layout, paint, raster and gpu steps. We implemented similar optimizations for changes to the Chrome UI.”
• Fine tuning iframes : “…we fine-tuned the garbage collection and memory compression heuristics for recently created iframes. This results in less energy consumed to reduce short-term memory usage (without impact on long-term memory usage).”

• Tweaking timers : “…Javascript timers still drive a large proportion of a Web page’s power consumption. As a result, we tweaked the way they fire in Chrome to let the CPU wake up less often. Similarly, we identified opportunities to cancel internal timers when they’re no longer needed, reducing the number of times that the CPU is woken up.”

• Streamlining data structures : “We identified data structures in which there were frequent accesses with the same key and optimized their access pattern.”

More on Chrome:

• Google Chrome preparing to adopt Android’s native sharing menu
• Microsoft aggressively trying to keep Chrome downloaders using Edge
• Android 13 should be coming soon to Chromebooks, bringing Material You

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Manage push notifications

The Best Browser for Battery Life: Chrome vs Edge vs Firefox

Posted by Tom Li | Mar 9, 2017 | Articles , Editorials | 16 |

If you’ve used a PC lately, you’ve probably seen messages from both Microsoft and Google trying to coax you into using their respective web browsers. Google’s iconic “Get Chrome” banner on Google.com appears so often that many people just download Chrome simply to get rid of it. Microsoft on the other hand peppers your Windows 10 desktop with persistent notifications, constantly reminding you about the new Edge browser and how much safer, faster, or power efficient it is. Then you have Mozilla Firefox, the humble, open-source browser silently watching from the sidelines.

While all three browsers have their pros and cons, one thing they all claim to do is offer the best battery life. But as the great saying goes, there can be only one.

Today, we’re going to find “the one”.

The Big 3 and How They Conserve Battery

Microsoft edge.

Microsoft’s Edge browser was conceived for Windows 1o to gain back some of the browser market share Microsoft lost to Google Chrome. Although based on Microsoft’s Trident engine, the Microsoft Edge browser is essentially built from scratch, taking nearly nothing from Internet Explorer. As a result, Edge revitalized Microsoft’s abomination of a browser into something that’s fast and user-friendly. A bit like how Internet Explorer was before Microsoft messed it all up. Of course, there are still bugs to iron out, and its extension library is minuscule at best, but the Edge browser is aggressively being groomed to replace Internet Explorer.

The Microsoft Edge browser aims to reduce power consumption in several ways. One way is by limiting the refresh rate of Javascript tasks. These items which include ad analyzers, push notification updates and animations can continue to run even when the web page itself is hidden from view. By limiting the script’s refresh rate to once per second through a universal Javascript timer, Edge can drastically cut down on resource use without impacting user experience.

Adobe Flash has always been one of the biggest problems for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. In addition to fancy Javascript animations, many ads are Flash-based. When they’re coded carelessly (like many ads are), Flash objects could hog up a considerable amount of resources on both CPU and GPU. Flash is also a major security risk in many instances as outdated versions of Flash Player invite exploits that can infect millions. In Edge, Flash is contained in a separate process that can be easily managed by the system. Flash elements that aren’t integral to the function of the page is paused by default, and Flash processes can be terminated individually without affecting the page.

Finally, network performance is also a key factor in improving battery life. Using new connection methods such as TCP Open, Tail Loss Probe, and Recent Acknowledgement, the power-hungry Wi-Fi antenna can be turned off sooner, thus saving battery in the process.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome has always had a reputation for being resource intensive, but extremely fast. The reason for Chrome’s voracious appetite for resources is due to the way each tab is managed. Instead of grouping all the tabs and plugins into a few big processes, Chrome isolates each item into its own process. This way, when one process crashes, it doesn’t take down the entire process tree with it. Isolating the processes also makes resource management easy, which is the main reason why Chrome has consistently been shown to be a speed demon.

In terms of power saving functionality, Chrome has implemented a host of features over its lifespan. With Chrome version 56, a tab throttling function has been added. In a nutshell, Chrome initializes a timer pool that sets the boundaries for how much of the CPU it’s allowed to use. Every process related to Chrome is assigned a timer limit that’s subtracted from the total pool. When the pool is reduced to a negative value, newly queued tasks will be suspended until part of the pool is freed. This effectively limits the number of background tasks that can run, saving battery life in the process.

Google’s approach to optimizing animation elements is different from Microsoft’s. Google recognized the inherent flaws within Flash and is now favoring HTML 5, the newest version of HTML that more efficiently handles videos and animations. Many prominent video platforms such as YouTube have already fully transitioned over to HTML 5.

Google is also aggressively curbing Chrome’s memory-hogging nature by introducing a ton of Javascript optimizations. According to Google, Chrome version 55 uses 50% less RAM for certain sites than the previous version. These changes are pushed out alongside other battery-saving features such as cache utilization optimizations.

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is an open source web browser developed back in 2002 which aimed to challenge Microsoft Internet Explorer’s dominance in the browser space. Firefox aims to create a secure, standards based browser based on an open source philosophy.

In terms of power efficiency, how Firefox saves battery is a bit of a mystery. Unlike the other browsers in the category, Firefox doesn’t isolate its tasks into their own processes. This structure makes error handling a nightmare since the problem can’t be terminated on its own and can spread across the entire process tree. Firefox has a memory problem, too. Web browsing with just 13 tabs open pushed its memory usage to well beyond 1GB. With that said, it does look like Firefox performs some background memory management when the system is idle. Its memory usage dropped down to 900MB with the same set of tabs opened when the system is not in use.

The biggest incentive Firefox has is that it’s a completely open sourced browser. It’s probably the only major browser on the market that doesn’t actively collect its user’s information (though Mozilla does recommend you set up a Mozilla account with them so your stuff can sync across platforms).

Testing Methodology

In order to test each browser’s impact on battery life, we’ve developed a script which cycles through 13 popular websites with a blend of images and text. Of those 13 websites, three are social media sites with live updates. The script itself is fairly basic. It simply visits the sites, pauses on each site for 60 seconds and records a timestamp at every 10-second interval. At the end of each cycle, the browsers are closed and relaunched to simulate closing and opening multiple windows/tabs.

Using the same method, we also performed a video streaming test. In the video streaming test, we ran a 1 hour YouTube video at full screen at 1080p. At the end of the video, the browser is then closed and relaunched. This is done until the laptop shuts off.

The test system is a Dell XPS 15 9560 outfitted with a 4K touch IPS panel, an Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU, and a 97Wh battery.The screen brightness is locked at 60% which is comfortable enough for both indoor and outdoor use.

The three browsers we’re testing today include Chrome 56, Mozilla Firefox 51.0.1, and Microsoft Edge 38.143930.0. No add-ons extensions are installed on any browser.

All testing is initiated after the cache is cleared followed by a full system shutdown and cold boot. The battery is charged to maximum capacity before each test. All non-critical programs and Bluetooth are disabled. All drivers and software are updated to their latest version and all testing is done at the same time (4 A.M. EST) on multiple weekdays to ensure consistent network congestion.

Battery Life Testing Results

The results were unexpectedly one-sided. Microsoft’s Edge browser won by a landslide, lasting 6 hours and 34 minutes compared to Chrome’s 5 hours and 18 minutes and Firefox’s 5 hours and 53 minutes. Video playback showed similar results with Edge coming out on top by an hour.

Firefox came in second for web browsing, a surprise since I expected Google Chrome’s process structure to be more efficient in both performance and battery impact. However, what’s unexpected is that Firefox severely lagged behind both Chrome and Edge in the video streaming test, lasting only 5h 5m on a full charge. I thought this was due to the inefficient Flash player, but Firefox has been using HTML 5 since version 40. It also has full support for all the latest video codecs. As such we’ll have to do a little more digging to understand why it did so poorly considering its decent power efficiency when doing standard web browsing.

Chrome’s battery life has improved compared to previous versions, but it wasn’t enough to beat out either Edge or Firefox. Interestingly, its video streaming time was longer than its web browsing time. This could be attributed to Chrome’s efficient handling of YouTube’s HTML 5 videos or it may simply be more power efficient when running only a single tab.

The web browser power efficiency testing was full of surprises. Not only did Microsoft Edge pull ahead of the competition, it trounced Chrome by a full hour in both the web browsing and streaming tests. Quite frankly I was shocked at the results as I’ve been a longtime user of Google Chrome. I also wasn’t expecting Firefox to come in second place in web browsing, but it’s definitely doing something right to pull it ahead of the competition. Chrome coming in last is disappointing considering how much Google has stated that it was making efforts towards battery life.

About The Author

Tom has a strong passion for computer hardware and technology. In his downtime, he enjoys gaming, playing guitar, and photography.

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16 Comments

The problem is there is a significant security flaw in Edge that MS has yet to fix. This is a far bigger issue, IMO, then how long the battery last. MS has know about the problem for over 90 days now and still has not fixed!

“Google reports “high-severity” bug in Edge/IE, no patch available String of unpatched security flaws comes after February Patch Tuesday was canceled.”

https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/02/high-severity-vulnerability-in-edgeie-is-third-unpatched-msft-bug-this-month/

What? It’s NOT 13% safer? *shock* LOL!

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/876e55feb40ef71f25e56e1e0031e1c3a16af16e6f3199e250eb5a6ee6049e88.jpg

You want unpatched security flaws? Take a look at Android ! :)

Ord, If you purchase a Pixel you will get patches really quick. It is now better with other Android phones but still not the level of the iPhone, IMO.

But this article is really about browsers. I do not think MS sells smartphones anymore do they?

Every major phone is on latest security updates. My galaxy S6 still keeps getting monthly security updates – even though it is on Marshmallow.

Of course if you look at 50 bucks Android phones, those do not get updates. However, they still include partial updates (their web browser is always up to date, unlike iOS web browser, that gets updated 3-4 times a year) as well as google play services updates.

Keep deluding yourself into a false sense of security. It’s sure to help you out someday.

None of what I said is false. Should monthly security updates make me feel invulnerable? No. But it’s the best you can get unless you want to not use a smartphone.

Or maybe use an old blackberry, I guess that still is technically a smartphone…

It’s the best you can get with Android , hence my original comment.

Do you know of any other platform that gets always up-to-date web browser, core services, monthly security updates with change logs, and if all that isn’t enough it has the ability to use open source software in case you don’t trust the manufacturer? Because I don’t. Once more, the openness of the platform means that blanket statements like “android is insecure” are highly inaccurate. Android is everything from the Honda Accord CarPlay screen all the way to that latest updated HTC phone.

LOL.. The “open source” parts of Android are only that way for Google to exploit free voluntary labor and work around copyright and patent laws. The parts of Android that most people think of as Android are far from open.

See the Ars Technica Story: Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary

That article states that your average Android phone is largely closed source – nobody argues there. Of course it is. My old Galaxy S6 had all the Samsung software closed source. But if I wanted, I could run an AOSP rom on a Nexus phone for example, and have everything open source. Sure, I’d have no Play Store and my experience would be affected, but it is possible. Compare that to other platforms, where that option is not present at all.

You can’t complain that going AOSP is too difficult, and at the same time favor completely closed source platforms. Choose one or the other.

You’re obfuscating and inventing arguments to detract from the terrible security and lack of timely patches on the Android platform. You’re going to have to try harder.

My S6 received monthly security updates to the core system, uncountable updates to the most vulnerable apps (web browser, Google Play Services, the app store). My current phone, iPhone 6s, received zero updates in the last 2 months I own the device. So tell me, which one is lacking timely patches and updates? iPhone is incredible at having everyone on the same iOS version at the same time, but that only means that everyone is outdated equally. Just because there is no newer version out there does not mean your current version is secure ;) .

iOS has far less vulnerabilities. Keep trying.

Sure. Based on CVE details:

iOS, 1091 vulnerabilities Android, 849 vulnerabilities

They are both pretty awful if you ask me. Frequent updates are important!

and now.. patched vulnerabilities. come on, you can do it.

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