I’ve using Brave on all devices too. I am completely away from google
I loved Chromium until Google removed the Google account sync. It was a big change for users like me, who have been deep in the Google ecosystem since the beginning. I’ve been a Gmail user since year 1 of launch and have used Google’s paid Workspace service for around 10 years for my email (@haydenjames.io accounts) and other tools. They deliver reliability, features and security that I couldn’t match self-hosting, given the time constraints. It’s not impossible, but these days too time-consuming among a slew of other challenges.
I get why some people are wary of tracking. For me personally, it’s not a big deal, mainly because the integration and utility I get from Google services outweigh the concerns. My @gmail.com account manages over 200,000 emails, 3,000 passwords in Chrome, and use many of Google Cloud services regularly. Having everything synced across devices is key for me.
I’ve also tried self-hosting email servers in the past, but it’s not trivial, at least not in the last 5 to 10 years – email deliverability, security and domain reputation are just a few of the challenges. For personal email, self-hosting might be doable, but for business critical communication I prefer Google Workspace. For transactional emails I use Postmark (postmarkapp.com) which has been a reliable alternative to self-hosting a mail-sending server.
As for browsing, I’m nostalgic and loyal to a Google-synced browser because it’s so well integrated with the services I use daily. That said, I get why people like privacy-first browsers like Brave or Cachy. If someone’s priorities are more about minimizing tracking or getting out of big tech ecosystems, those are great options.
If you are looking for an experience more similar to Chromium-based browsers, but with freedom, privacy and performance, try Zen Browser
It’s all about finding the balance that works best for your needs—whether it’s maximum integration within an ecosystem or maximum privacy.
1 Like
Thanks for sharing about Zen Browser, I did not know about it, I’m curious to try!
Updates:
I’m using Zen browser for 1 week now and I’m in love with it. Thankyou @hydn for share it with the community.
The best feature, which wink the eye a bit to Arc, the futuristic browser, are workspaces and custom bookmarks for each workspace. I think this is the functionality I was missing, once tried to utilize it I’m not able to rollback to an old-style browser.
Also I love the light colors, they make you feel very comfortable while browsing the web.
Moreover it’s based at the top of Firefox, the development team is following daddy Firefox main releases. that’s so interesting.
1 Like
I think zen is kind of cool, but I’m just happy with brave and see no reason to change.