I'm leaving Firefox, and this is the browser I picked...

#Firefox #Browsing #Linode

👏 SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:
Get access to an exclusive weekly podcast, vote on the next topics I cover, and get your name in the credits:

🏆 FOLLOW ME ELSEWHERE:

📷 GEAR I USE:
*Amazon Links are affiliate codes and generate small commissions to support the channel*

00:00 Intro
00:26 Sponsor - Linode
01:38 Why U No Love Firefox?
03:42 What I want in a web browser
05:03 Firefox Forks
06:35 Epiphany - GNOME Web
07:58 Google Chrome
08:47 Chromium
10:02 Brave
11:21 Vivaldi
12:46 Opera
13:26 Microsoft Edge
14:22 The FINAL CHOICE + full benchmarks

Let's start with why I want to switch from Firefox to something else.

First, Firefox is adding ads in the browser.

Firefox has telemetry enabled out of the box.

Firefox pushes other services I have no use for, like Pocket.

Firefox's mobile app isn't great on Android. On iOS, it's just a Safari wrapper, but the interface isn't great either, IMO.

Now, what am I looking for in a browser, apart from a nice daily companion to share my adventures on the wonderful place that is the internet?

I want something that looks at home on my desktop as much as possible, something that looks like it's using GTK or Qt.

I don't need thousands of features and extensions: an ad block, syncing with an account to keep my passwords in sync between devices, or compatibility with a password manager, and that's it.

I need a mobile client that has reasonable performance and a usable interface.

I need decent performance so stuff loads relatively fast and doesn't stutter too much. Anything that performs in the same class as Firefox will work for me.
Ram usage is irrelevant, as I only use computers with 16Gb of RAM or more, so my browsing never really poses a threat to that.

I want a browser that's private out of the box, without opt-out telemetry, ads in the browser, or data collection.

I'd like to avoid chromium based browsers if possible, because Chromium is controlled by Google, however open source it is, and that monopoly kinda scares me. In the end, if it's not possible, I'll live with it. Grumpily, but I'll live with it.

That's about it! We might have to compromise on some of these points, so we'll be attributing a score to each browser. Let's look at what's available.

Firefox benchmarks:
Version 93
123 runs per minute - Speedometer
821.88 motionmark
894.37 basemark

WaterFox Benchmarks:
Version G4.0.1
109 runs / minute - Speedometer
757.65 motionmark
763.78 basemark

Epiphany Benchmarks:
Version 40.3
121 runs / minute - speedometer
324.60 motionmark
721.31 basemark

Google Chrome Benchmarks:
Version 95.0.4638
165 runs per minute - speedometer
Couldn't complete motionmark
1566.3 basemark

Chromium
Version 94.0.4606.81
142.9 runs per minute - Speedometer
Couldn't complete motionmark
1487.03 basemark

Brave Benchmarks
version 1.30.87
127 runs/min speedometer
718.51 motionmark
1168.89 basemark

Vivaldi Benchmarks
Version 4.3.2439.63
Speedometer: 124 runs per minute
Can't complete motionmark
1288.73 basemark

Opera Benchmarks
Version 80.0.4170.16
Speedometer 135.2 runs/minute
Motionmark couldn't complete
1240.1 basemark

Microsoft Edge
Version 95.0.1020.40
Speedometer 141 runs per minute
Motionmark can't complete
1354.3 basemark

[myrinam]

Don't understand why you'd choose a riskier option in terms of privacy just because it doesn't match the colors of your Linux desktop.

[themroc]

I am afraid that if Firefox disappears Google will be this much closer to owning the only web engine out there with Blink. There ought to be a HUGE debian-style community effort put into forking a web engine, preferably gecko, to produce a fast, safe, efficient, competitive, extensible web engine for developers to easily build new web browsers upon.

[supernenechi]

I switched from Chrome to Firefox because I don't want Firefox to disappear into nothingness. Having only Chromium based browsers sounds like a bad idea, especially since no one will make any websites compatible with any other browser anymore. At least now developers will have to support Firefox still

[MadhavMNair-ylqx]

as a firefox user and as a student, i have to say, pocket really is helpful when you are scouring through a thousand different websites for your projects/essays. it has really helped me ever since i started using it.

[oldaccount]

Imagine switching from windows to Linux and using edge as your browser.

[kuhluhOG]

2:40 EVERY browser on iOS is a Safari wrapper. Apple mandates that in their App Store policies.

[hunterap]

The only thing I'd point out is that Vivaldi lets you choose what features you want when you first boot it up, and gives you three distinct selections ranging from "just give me a web browser" to "give me all the extra features like a mail client"

[rosiepone]

the main reasons I'm sticking with firefox are because firefox sync makes reinstalls quite a bit easier since I use a password manager and it automatically gets added when I first sign in (and yes, my computers hate me, so I DO end up reinstalling a LOT) and also because firefox has an easy option to force all sites to use a local font, I have one that I prefer because my dyslexic ass sucks at reading and all the ridiculous fonts people use just give me a headache

[eurorra]

The issue is that if Firefox goes away we will have a big issue. No one except Firefox can cope with Google. If google is the only one we are in deep trouble.

[phiupan]

In the end I thought you were saying "I am moving from Firefox to... Firefox". That was the conclusion from your video, Firefox would be its best replacement.

[sempasha]

Never say "goodbye" to such a great browser like Firefox

[LunaExpiX]

Notes about Pale Moon: You missed the entire point of the browser

1. It supports basically every device, even those that firefox doesn't currently support (XP).
2. It was originally made to allow NPAPI and PPAPI plugins to continue running (Stuff like Flash)
3. Customization is already available from the welcome screen, there is a tab on the website just for it
4. It is fast

The problems with it is
1. Some sites doesn't work
2. Many modern addons don't work
3. It is old

It remains as my secondary browser in case firefox stopped working

[simonneville]

I want to see how this evolves. I have a feeling you'll go back eventually.

[moki]

"Firefox diying is TERRIBLE for the web" posted 2 Weeks ago.
Well this aged badly

[spookynutsack]

manifest v3: im gonna make this man use firefox back again

[ddEEE]

I'm sticking with Firefox for now. It runs equally well on all of my phones, Linux machines and Windows machines, and I truly love the "send tab to device" feature (look up something on my phone, then send it to my desktop where I can actually read it).

[GenesisGreen]

I don't know if you've considered this already but LibreWolf is kinda like Firefox without all the telemetry, kinda like how Ungoogled Chromium is from Chromium or Chrome.

[saidalachgar]

as a developer, am sticking on firefox. It has an amazing dev tools ♥️

[ariathyf]

Hi Nick, here are the other options you could consider :

- Braver (a fork of Brave that took out the extra bloat if you can still find it)
- Librewolf (this one only lacks a Qt environement to pair with KDE)
- Konqueror & Falkon (the 2 that match KDE)
- GNU Icecat (it can only improves since it remain Freesoftware)

[SFSAtlas]

Librewolf is what I use, basically hardened firefox