Which browser is best on Linux?

Linux Support
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Curious what everyone thinks here. I noticed some web browsers have issues when using VPNs for example while on a Linux PC.

I have been using Brave for a while and seldom have issues with it, so it has become my go-to web browser. Which do you think is best? Which do you use?

Wiki edit by @hydn (add your username here)

Below is a combined list of every browser mentioned in this thread. This is a wiki post, feel free to edit and add missing options.

Linux Web Browsers

Basilisk — A Firefox fork retaining older extension support and a traditional interface, ideal for fans of classic Firefox add-ons.

Brave — A Chromium-based browser focused on privacy and ad-blocking, with optional crypto rewards for viewing curated ads.

Cachy Browser — Built atop LibreWolf (a Firefox fork) with improved privacy, performance optimizations, and advanced security settings.

Chrome (Google Chrome) — Google’s official Chromium-based browser known for Google Sync, deep ecosystem integration, and robust extension support.

Chromium — The open-source foundation for Chrome, offering a nearly identical experience but lacking Google’s built-in services by default.

Epiphany (GNOME Web) — A WebKit-based browser with tight GNOME integration, emphasizing simplicity, speed, and a minimal interface on Linux.

Falkon — A KDE browser using QtWebEngine (Blink), providing a lightweight, modern interface and close Plasma desktop integration.

Firefox — Mozilla’s flagship open-source browser with strong privacy controls, cross-platform support, and a vast add-on ecosystem.

GNU IceCat — A libre variant of Firefox that removes all proprietary code and includes additional privacy-oriented features by default.

Konqueror — A classic KDE file manager and web browser built on KHTML/WebKit, well-integrated into the Plasma environment.

LibreWolf — A Firefox fork designed for privacy and security, removing telemetry and enforcing stricter default configurations.

Links — A text-based browser that supports basic HTML rendering and color, ideal for minimal resource usage in terminal environments.

Lynx — One of the oldest text-mode browsers, providing a purely text-based experience and extremely low resource consumption.

Midori — A lightweight, WebKit-based option emphasizing speed and efficiency, suitable for low-end systems or minimalistic setups.

Opera — A long-standing browser with a built-in VPN, ad-blocker, and performance enhancements, available across major platforms.

Otter Browser — Recreates the spirit of classic Opera 12 with a heavy focus on user-centric design and extensive customizability.

Pale Moon — A Firefox-derived browser with a classic interface, legacy add-on compatibility, and performance-focused optimizations.

qutebrowser — Keyboard-driven with vi-style keybindings, built on QtWebEngine for a lean, distraction-free browsing experience.

SeaMonkey — A community-developed suite bundling a browser, mail client, and more, derived from Mozilla’s legacy application platform.

Slimjet — A Chromium-based browser focusing on speed and privacy enhancements, plus integrated features like a download manager.

Thorium — A Chromium fork for Linux, Windows, macOS, and Raspberry Pi, featuring performance tweaks but requiring AVX2 on some builds.

Tor Browser — A Firefox-based browser configured to route traffic via Tor, blocking trackers and resisting fingerprinting for strong anonymity.

Ungoogled-Chromium — Chromium stripped of Google services and telemetry, focusing on transparency, minimal bloat, and user privacy.

Vivaldi — Chromium-powered with extensive customization tools, tab management features, and a privacy-first approach.

Waterfox — Another Firefox fork removing telemetry, aiming for speed and still supporting some older Firefox extensions.

Zen Browser — Based on Firefox code, offering privacy-centric features, a workspace-style interface, and consistent performance improvements.

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I guess this depends on what distro you are using. Sometimes it makes a difference. Which are you on?

I would say Brave and Vivaldi are the two best in most circumstances. Midori is another option.

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I have used Vivaldi and enjoyed it but I have found it easier to incorporate things on Brave which is why I switched to it. Firefox is another great option but I think people moved away from them for privacy reasons.

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I’d say Firefox would be my recommendation for decent privacy. But I can’t lie, I use chrome on my personal PC. :smile::smile:

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I like to use opera and epiphany but that’s just a personal reference, best is to try it and see if you like it as well.

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I’m tied to Chrome. I have thousands of saved passwords, and I cannot get them exported and then imported to any alternative browser. If I could choose/leave, I would use Vivaldi web browser on Linux:

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I think you’re correct. That’s the hardest part for me too. I have all my passwords saved in Chrome. I’ve tried exporting to BitWarden but I never caught on or liked it. It’s nice having passwords in my Google account. :smirk:

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I used Firefox for a long time but switched to Brave last year on Windows. Since moving to Linux, I just stuck with it because I was used to it and I have not had any issues.

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I used Firefox for a while then switched to Chrome, then to Brave and have been with Brave since. I haven’t tried Firefox on Linux. Might see how that works out. Can use it as a secondary browser.

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I read that Brave and Firefox are best which is good news for me as I use both in Windows already. I moved away from Chrome and Chromium a few years ago. Brave is my main and Firefox is my secondary. Knowing they both do well on Linux is a huge plus!

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It was Chromium until Google removed Google sync from Chromium.

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12

I might seem traditional but Opera browser is the perfect choice for me. It has a built in VPN which completely eliminates the need to get a VPN software for surfing the net. It has premium privacy features like protection against tracking and it is fast. It is my favourite browser still.

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I’ve switched from Chrome to Brave. Since Brave is also Chromium-based, it was easy to transfer my extensions over. I also considered using Chromium, but syncing was a bit of an issue for me.

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Yes, I was using Chromium before. But then they discontinued sync with Google account (passwords, etc) so I moved to Chrome. I’m pretty satisfied with Chrome though. Even Microsoft Edge/browser is now chrome based I believe.

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I think that Vivaldi cuts it more perfectly for me than any other browser. The customization potential of Vivaldi is out of the box. I don’t think there is any aspect of that browser that can’t be customized. It also knows how to manage the resources of the computer with very minimal RAM and processor usage.

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I have used vivaldi and brave both on linux and to me both of them are great. The features in vivaldi are more than great such as tags filtering and others. there are no such features in brave. I used firefox also but it takes a lot of space and memory and i had this problem on the mac also so i keep on switching from the firefox to brave to vivaldi depending on the needs of the analysis and to make space. had a old mac with 128GB iof space and most of that occupied with the configurations and the code write. so in all, i recommend all of these browsers. I have not used google chrome much so cant say about it.

alles gut,
Gaurav

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I’ve been using Firefox for a long time now and I’m very happy with it. Never experienced any problem.

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My daily browser usage are between Firefox and Chromium, so un-googled Chrome.
Firefox is working great, but it’s a bit slow and sometimes it have some javascript incompatibility. For now Chromium is one of the best browser I found for mine workflow.

I read somewhere that Google Chrome is not the safe enough for privacy related arguments, I want to say it’s the same for Microsoft Edge. I’m not using those 2.

I never tried Vivaldi or Opera or Brave, but a year ago I heard about Arc, the futuristic browser developed by thebrowsercompany. I’m curious to try it, when it will be available for Linux as well.

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Firefox is the main browser I use. I am sure I have about 60 tabs open between work and home research projects. It has been pretty stable for me for the past year.

Before that was Google Chrome, but I would admit I recently got taken back by the amount of patches and security updates in the last 6 months. There was a period where there were 2 or 3 updates in a period of 1 month to fix serious security issues. My fear was that I would slip on one of these. So now I use Google Chrome for Google websites only. Firefox for everything else. I also use Microsoft Edge for Microsoft 365 sites.

I recently came across a peculiar bug which I am still exploring. I upgraded a machine from Ubuntu 22.04 LTS to 24.04. Firefox was printing fine to a receipt printer before the upgrade. After the upgrade, nothing. I tried the same receipt printer on an Arch machine, and found the exact same problem, so I am assuming it’s definitely browser related. In fact I have tested all Chromium based browsers and still the same issue. Still working on trying to solve this one.

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@hydn79 wrote: “Even Microsoft Edge/browser is now chrome based I believe”. Edge and Brave are both chromium based as is Chrome. The primary difference between them is that both Chrome and Edge collect data about you while Brave is a privacy-first browser. I’ve been using it for several years when I first began efforts to separate myself from Google.

I’ve been using Brave on all my computers and Android mobile for several years. I was using it on Windows before I totally* left Microsoft and went completely to Linux.

As another option, I recently built two small computers using CachyOS. (They’re both built solely for simple gaming using Steam.). The default browser is Cachy browser which is based upon the LibreWolf browser, itself based upon Firefox.

So far, I’m impressed with the Cachy browser (and the CachyOS) . We’ll see if that continues to be true.

*Saying I totally left Microsoft isn’t accurate but that’s the intent. My main system is dual boot with LinuxMint 22 and Windows 11. I really dislike Windows 11 (and Microsoft) but I’ve kept it solely for gaming. I don’t do anything else on the Windows partition.

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