Ditch Chrome - Use THESE Instead!
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Ditch Chrome - Use THESE Instead!
Google Chrome is a privacy nightmare - so let's talk about what to use instead for all the Chrome users out there!
Google Chrome is a privacy nightmare - but are there genuinely decent alternatives that respect your privacy and give that amazing Chrome experience? Let’s cover some Chrome alternatives with a focus on privacy and usability, so you can escape Google’s clutches.
#3 - Default Browsers
Number 3 is an option commonly skipped over - your default browsers. On Apple devices, Safari is more private than Chrome with its fingerprinting protection, sandboxing, and minimal data collection - while still offering strong security, fast speeds, excellent compatibility, and smoother integration with Apple’s ecosystem. We recommend installing the open source AdGuard extension, which blocks ads, malicious websites, and blocks specific elements on websites.
Over on Windows, (and almost every other OS , including Linux) Microsoft Edge is no longer a meme. It’s now fully built on Chromium, the same browser engine that powers Google Chrome - so websites should function exactly as they did with Chrome, and Microsoft adds additional security & privacy protections to keep you safer. We recommend installing the uBlock Origin extension to take things a step further.
Both of these browsers are proprietary, and neither are your most private & secure options. But if your goal is “be better than Chrome” - they aren’t bad.
#2 - Firefox(es)
Browser #2 is Firefox, ‘better’ Firefox, and ‘best’ Firefox.
Firefox is the Firefox you may know of from Mozilla’s website. It offers many great privacy & security protections out-of-the-box and it’s open source. With that said, Firefox is a bit of a transition from Chrome - as it’s built on its own browser engine, and the user interface may feel unfamiliar to Chrome users.
Better Firefox is a hardened Firefox, where you take the time to make it as private & secure as possible. While this is one of the most private & secure options, it comes at the cost of several time & usability sacrifices, making the idea of this being a cross-platform chrome alternative not great, especially since the option for hardening doesn’t fully translate to mobile. (Especially on iOS devices!)
Best Firefox is a project called LibreWolf, a fork of Firefox with the best of both worlds: offering out-of-the-box almost all the privacy protection of a hardened Firefox, but with one caveat: it doesn’t have automatic updates, so if you’re not using a package manager, the solution is to install the LibreWolf updates extension to check and download new versions for you. Now you’ve basically got a hardened Firefox for one of the most private & secure experiences out there, in a convenient package, but also only for desktop.
#1 - Brave
Like Edge & Chrome, Brave is based on chromium for a familiar experience, but it doesn’t stop there - it’s open source, has some of the strongest privacy & security protections of any browser out there, blocks ads by default, adds genuinely attractive features for users, is faster than Chrome, and this is all pretty much out-of-the-box with a similar interface to Chrome - AND this carries over to almost all operating systems.
Brave is basically Chrome without the spyware.
The only complaint is Brave has what we call “crypto-crap”, which can be completely removed from the UI with a few settings toggles, but this is the only friction point.
And on that note, a bonus tip for all browsers is to make sure to go in the settings to opt out of everything you can for a more private & secure experience.