We believe there are better options available in this category, read below to learn what this software does well, and what they could do better. ⤵
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No shady privacy policies or back doors for advertisers. Just a lightning fast browser that doesn’t sell you out.
Firefox is one of the only privacy-focused browsers that is not built atop Chromium, in theory giving it further distance from the stronghold that Google has in the browser market.
What this ultimately means is all the Chrome extensions that people use and rely on are not compatible with Firefox unless rebuilt specifically for it. Think of it like iOS, Android, and Windows Phone/BlackBerry (which neither exist anymore, but the point is), you'll typically get developers building for iOS first (think of as Chromium/Chrome), Android second (think of as Webkit/Safari), and then Quantum Browser Engine third (Firefox).
Because of that, while you may be choosing a "privacy-focused" browser like Firefox, you're also getting substantially less third-party app support, and a higher chance of websites not performing as intended (like legacy banks or modern sites using newer technology). It simply comes down to there not being enough marketshare for web developers to focus on making everything work properly in Firefox as it only accounts for less than 3% of global marketshare.
Given this foundational difference, it means that the millions of Chrome extensions that are accessible to people, are not in Firefox, unless they rebuild it for Firefox, giving people less options if they choose Firefox as their primary browser.
For that reason, most people who use Firefox also use a second browser as well (typically based on Chromium), like Arc Browser, Chrome, or Brave for when they need full features and functionality like full Chrome Extension support.
That said, while they are a non-profit and privacy focused, they still make the far majority of their money from Google ($500M/yr) by having Google as the default search engine. So if you want to be a sustainable browser, you really need to just make a deal with Google in some way.
Some argue that Google is in some way strategically paying Firefox at this point just to make it seem like Chrome is not a monopoly.
Get unrivaled customization options and built-in browser features for better performance, productivity, and privacy.
Vivaldi was one of the first browsers to shake up the customization space when it was first released in 2015. Vivaldi came out of nowhere allowing you to customize just about every button along with full color themes, at a time when everyone was using the identical looking version of Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Safari.
This was the unique value proposition of Vivaldi back then, and seems to be the same to this day.
The problem is, when you allow for ultimate customization of every button and color theme, they seem to have locked themselves into an old and uninspiring design. One that looks like it did back in 2015. So at a time when modern solutions are coming out on a monthly bases, and customization and color theming is baked into just about every browser on the market, what once made it unique now leaves it in a questionable situation.
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