Some news from our community: Privacy Guides team member Jonah Aragon published a new web browser comparison video on YouTube, based on each browser’s privacy and security properties. Check it out below:
My overall recommendation would be to choose both an “S Tier” browser below for your general, non-personal internet browsing (reading the news, posts, anything you don’t log in for basically), and an “A Tier” or possibly “B Tier” browser for more personal browsing (like banking, social media, etc.).
This is because Mullvad/Tor Browser don’t save cookies, browsing history, or other site data which makes them a bit inconvenient for sites you regularly log in to. Splitting your browsing habits across two browsers gives you the best of both worlds!
Jonah Aragon’s Web Browser Comparison
Browser Comparison Summary
Jonah Aragon’s post provides a comprehensive web browser comparison based on privacy and security considerations. The author categorizes browsers into different tiers and offers insights into their features and drawbacks. Here is a brief summary of the tier list:
S Tier (Top Tier):
- Tor Browser: Recognized as the original privacy browser, known for anonymous internet browsing.
- Mullvad Browser: Developed by the Tor Project in collaboration with Mullvad VPN, it combines Tor Browser’s privacy features with VPN performance benefits.
A Tier (Highly Recommended):
- Hardened Firefox: Any hardened configuration of a standard Firefox install, with a preference for the Arkenfox user.js changes.
- Mull: A Firefox fork for Android, 100% free and open source, with increased browser fingerprinting protections.
B Tier (Good, but with considerations):
- Brave Browser: Acknowledged as one of the best Chromium browsers with a focus on privacy, despite past controversies.
- Firefox: Praised for Mozilla’s advocacy for internet privacy but criticized for delayed implementation of certain privacy-centric features.
C Tier (Acceptable with limitations):
- Librewolf: Noted for doing things right but criticized for lack of built-in automatic updates and official builds.
- Waterfox: Based on Firefox ESR, with automatic updates, but criticized for security and telemetry concerns.
- Cromite: An actively-updated fork of Bromite for Android, considered a good alternative to Brave.
D Tier (Questionable Choices):
- Floorp: A new Firefox ESR-based browser with limited information and track record.
- Arc: A Chromium-based browser with proprietary elements, limited availability, and requiring an Arc account.
F Tier (Not Recommended):
- Thorium: Discouraged due to privacy and security issues.
- Midori: Criticized for a suspect and opaque acquisition process.
- Pale Moon: Deprecated for its outdated codebase and lack of modern security features.
- Bromite: Discontinued in favor of the newer Cromite fork.
- Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Opera GX, Puffin Browser: Various criticisms, including privacy concerns, proprietary nature, and security issues.
Jonah is a writer and YouTuber creating educational content about digital rights, cybersecurity, and privacy. You can find him on Mastodon @jonah@neat.computer.