Top recommendations to replace Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
Firefox is an open source browser by non-profit Mozilla which focuses on private browsing and tracking protection by default. It also has an extensive range of add-ons. Its default search engine is set to Google so be careful to change it after you install. Google pay Mozilla $450 million a year to have their search engine as the Firefox default, which is estimated to be up to 90% of their entire budget.
DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser
Better known as a privacy focused search engine, the DuckDuckGo app includes a browser for both Android and iOS which shows a privacy rating for every site you visit.
Safari
Safari is a browser developed by Apple and is the default on their devices. It has a number of privacy-enhancing features and also claims to be the most energy efficient browser around. Its default search engine is set to Google so be careful to change it after you install. Google pay Apple $10 billion a year to have their search engine as the Safari default.
Apple is far from perfect. Read Against the Cult of Apple by Cory Doctorow
Up and coming
Here are some smaller browsers which in some cases have been put together by teams of volunteers without any funding. They aim to provide a more respectful and private web experience than Google will ever offer.
Basilisk
Basilisk is a fork of Firefox still in development from the team that built the Pale Moon browser.
Falkon
Falkon is an open source browser with built-in Ad blocking functions available for Windows and Linux.
Seamonkey
Seamonkey is an all in one application suite including browser, e-mail client and chat tool
Outside the Matrix
Here are two much less conventional but very interesting browsers both deserving of further investigation.
Tor
Tor uses an overlay network to conceal usage information and make electronic communication private and can be used to protect anonymity. You can use Tor to view the regular web and also ‘hidden’ pages which are only viewable through the browser. Because of how these privacy functions work browsing using Tor can often be slower than a more conventional browser but for many people this is a small price to pay.
Beaker
Beaker is an exciting new browser which allows web pages to be shared peer-to-peer using the DAT protocol, an alternative to HTTP.
You can use Beaker to build your own DAT websites.
You can also view the regular HTTP web through Beaker.
Never leave home without an Ad blocker
Although there are loads of browsers now that say they protect your privacy – it’s always worth adding on an ad blocker or two.
Privacy Badger
Privacy Badger is an open source browser extension built by Electronic Frontier Foundation and available for Firefox and many Chromium-based browsers. It’s designed to transparently block unwanted cookies and ads.
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin is a browser extension designed to allow people to make their own privacy choices through content filtering and ad blocking. It’s available for Firefox, Safari and Chromium-based browsers.
Criteria for inclusion
Any list of browsers provokes debate and we don’t claim perfection.
All browsers must be entirely Google free – this includes privacy focused Chromium browsers you may have heard of. We will not include any Chromium based browsers.
Other sites for browser recommendations
- Choose your browser carefully – Unixshiekh
- Web browsers – PrivacyTools
- Browser comparisons – PrivacyTests.org
Why Chrome must go
Find out more about Google Chrome and its range of privacy issues and how it forces you to view the web only on Google’s terms.
What’s the problem with Google?
We explain why we started this site and how the Google business model is a threat to our human rights and communities.