Vivaldi vs Edge

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.

Edge is Microsoft's attempt to stay relevant after all the years of pain and heartache that came from Internet Explorer.

Their large investment into OpenAI has enabled them to pull in some AI into the browser (branded as Copilot), though it's more just a wrapper for ChatGPT with various pre-built functions.

While Edge is built on Chromium (like many of the best browsers on the makes), they are one of the only browsers (aside from Arc) that have managed to exist without taking that sweet sweet money from Google.

Edge makes money by promoting their many Microsoft products, making them work more seamlessly in the browser where possible.

While Microsoft has tried so hard to get back the marketshare they once had and have since lost, Edge still feels a bit dated in their UI/UX, and their unique functionality isn't all that great unless you're an avid Microsoft 365 user.

That said, if you're on this site and doing software research, you're more likely using Google Workspace and Gmail, and there are much better browser options on the market, even if you're a Windows user, as even Arc is now on Windows.