With Windows 10, Microsoft introduced its Edge browser to compete with Firefox and Chrome, making it the default browser pre-installed on millions of PCs sold. Even so, users were slow to adopt it and Microsoft eventually announced plans to relaunch Edge as a Chromium-based browser (Chromium is Google’s Open Source browser project). Since January of 2020, Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge has replaced the previous versions of Edge. Although Edge is now built on Google’s Chromium, a number of unique features do set it apart from Google’s Chrome browser.
Here we’ll compare our Firefox Browser to the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge in terms of privacy, utility, and portability, to help you have a better understanding of which browser better suits your needs and preferences.
Security and Privacy |
---|
Private Browsing mode |
Blocks third-party tracking cookies by default |
Blocks cryptomining scripts |
Blocks social trackers |
Edge is integrated into the Windows 10 platform and runs in a sandbox environment, meaning it isolates programs and prevents malicious programs from spying on your computer. It has a built-in SmartScreen that scans the reputation of sites you visit and blocks suspicious sites. To enhance privacy, Edge allows you to use biometrics or a PIN with Edge Hello instead of passwords for online authentication.
At Firefox, we pride ourselves in protecting our users security and privacy. Our privacy policy is transparent and in plain language. We actually put a lot of work into making sure it was straightforward and easy to read. With Enhanced Tracking Protection now on by default, we block 2000+ trackers automatically. Trackers are those little pieces of code that try to piece together what you're doing across multiple internet sites to build a composite and detailed picture of who you are, compromising your privacy all just to target better ads.
After a week of test, I can choose Brave. Browsers are always a headache to compare in terms of performance, as most of the benchmarks available for them are impossible to relate to real-world tasks. This is why I invested a couple of weeks into s. What is the best Web browser for Mac 2020? Some of the best web browsers for mac are Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox, Vivaldi, Opera, and Edge Chromium. These feature-rich web browsers can be used to browse the internet on a MacBook or an iMac.
Your Privacy Protections shows you the trackers and cookies that pages have attempted to leave, and how many Firefox has blocked for you.
In Firefox, Private Browsing mode automatically erases your browsing information like passwords, cookies, and history, leaving no trace after you close out the session. Edge on the other hand, actually records browsing history in their private mode (called “InPrivate”) and it’s a relatively easy task for someone to reconstruct your full browsing history, regardless of whether your browsing was done in regular or InPrivate mode.
Both browsers are relatively equal in terms of data encryption. However, if online privacy and transparency are important to you, then Firefox is clearly a better choice here.
Utility
Utility |
---|
Autoplay blocking |
Tab browsing |
Bookmark manager |
Automatically fills out forms |
Search engine options |
Text to speech |
Reader mode |
Spell checking |
Web extensions/Add-ons |
In-browser screenshot tool |
Firefox is a fast and open source browser, which means users can customize their browsing experience in every way possible. Firefox also allows the casual user several different ways to customize the UI with applying different themes and toolbar configurations. Since our browser has always been open source, we have a large following of devoted developers who have created an extensive library of add-ons and browser extensions.
Since Edge has moved to the processor intensive Chromium platform, you can expect it to run a little slower, especially if you have multiple programs running at once. However, with Chromium platform comes a massive library of extensions as well as a decent level of UI customization that Edge did not have before its move to Chromium.
Edge has some nice UI features, like their tab previews which can make it easy to find the right open tabs if you’ve got a lot of them open. Another helpful tab-related feature lets you set aside any active tabs that you aren’t using but don’t want to close down.
Firefox features a scrolling tab interface, which keeps tab information viewable and scrolls them horizontally instead of shrinking them down to just favicon size. Also whenever you open a new tab, our Pocket feature suggests relevant articles and content for you. Plus with Pocket, you can also save articles, videos, and other content with one click, for reading at a later time.
Firefox and Edge both offer excellent reading modes. With Firefox, you just tap on the small icon in the search bar and the browser strips down all unnecessary elements and presents you a clean looking article. In Edge you just tap on the small book icon and browser to get a clean easy-to-read UI.
Firefox also includes lots of handy built-in features by default like Enhanced Tracking Protection, a built-in screenshot tool, large file sending and more.
Out of the gate, Firefox has more features and integrations built into the browser and readily available on download. And while both browsers have a tremendous number of add-ons and extensions available, Edge’s compatibility with Google’s Chromium platform gives it the advantage in terms of sheer numbers.
Download Firefox Browser
Portability |
---|
OS availability |
Mobile OS availability |
Syncs with mobile |
Password management |
Primary password |
With Internet Explorer, Microsoft learned from its lack of availability across platforms and made Edge readily available on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and soon Linux.
Firefox has been available on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS and Linux for years. And as you would expect with any modern browser, Firefox lets you log in with a free account and sync data such as passwords, browsing history, bookmarks, and open tabs between your computer, tablet and phone. It also allows you to sync across platforms as well.
Edge also allows you to connect your associated Microsoft account and sign in to sync your favorites, history, passwords, and more between your computer and iOS or Android devices.
Overall Assessment
Aside from sucking up a lot of computing power, Edge running on Chromium has answered a lot of users’ needs for functionality and features. But there’s still a lot to account for in terms of the browser’s privacy protections. It’s our assessment that Firefox is still a better choice for most people to use in their daily lives, based not only on functionality but more importantly on our transparency in how we collect user data, what exactly we collect, and what we do with it. Because our parent company is Mozilla, a non-profit organization dedicated to internet privacy and freedom, we simply have a different set of priorities when it comes to users’ data.
The bottom line is that while we suggest using Firefox, the best browser for you ultimately will be the one that fits your individual needs with extension support, browsing tools customization, speed, privacy and security.
The comparisons made here were done so with default settings and across browser release versions as follows:
Firefox (81) | Edge (85)
This page updated semi-quarterly to reflect latest versioning and may not always reflect latest updates.
Firefox (81) | Edge (85)
This page updated semi-quarterly to reflect latest versioning and may not always reflect latest updates.
Are you a Mac user and stuck with using Safari as a default browser?
Then you must pay attention to what I’m going to say next.
There are many Safari alternatives for the Mac users out there to browse the Internet.
Yes, you heard me right.
Apple has this philosophy of making tools that are one-off, but they also want their customers to be loyal to their products.
For that, Apple products like iPhone or Mac are loaded with the default apps.
For instance, the web browser given is Safari, and the e-mail browser is Mail.
But, there are times when we don’t want to use these default apps.
Like in the case of Safari, sometimes we’re not happy with the extension compatibility and want to switch to some other browser.
For that, there are hundreds of Web browsers those can be relied on. Some of them are for all the platforms while some are just tailor-made for the Macs.
Best 10 Internet browsers For Mac
We’ve picked some of the Browsers for Mac from the lot that you can check on and ditch Safari for a while if you want.
1. Google Chrome:
The top-notch browser for any platform is without any doubt Google Chrome.
Yes, I agree that Chrome was launched for Macs a bit late, but that wait was worth.
Better Browser For Chrome
The best part of this browser is its minimalistic design and Speed.
It comes with a lot of features. And when I say this, I mean A LOT. It is by far the biggest competitor of Safari in the market.
2. Opera:
I think Opera has been there since ages. But don’t let its age fool you.
As it is said that wisdom comes with age, Opera also has become wise regarding features.
Its ‘Mouse Gestures’ and ‘Speed dial’ and ‘Opera Turbo’ features make it different from the other browsers.
3. Mozilla Firefox:
Just like Opera, Firefox is also a veteran. It lets you visit the sites even if you don’t remember their URLs by only typing a keyword of the same.
It has a broad variety of add-ons, which are useful to increase productivity.
You can also bookmark the pages and titles live. Also, it can be said as a Privacy-inclined browser as it let you choose the information you want to share.
4. Camino:
The Mac-only browser Camino is also a great one with a much better user interface for Mac users than Chrome or Firefox.
It has many new features in its latest update like Annoyance Blocking, Malware protection, and Pop-up Blocking. It is much like Firefox, just with the more Apple-friendly edge.
The company no longer develops this browser further, but you can still download the last updated version.
5. Omni Web:
Better known as the Feature-rich browser, Omni Web comes with numerous features like Visual Tabs, adding websites to shortcuts, automatic rendering of web pages, etc.
You can also change the font of any website if it is not up to your liking.
The browser also handles the entire RSS feed which is a great feature.
6. Maxthon:
Apt for seamless browsing, Maxthon is a Multi- platform web browser for Mac users. With many cloud-assimilated features like syncing, sharing and managing files, Maxthon has been a very powerful browser.
If you are the one who wants the Chrome extensions but doesn’t want to use Chrome, then you should go for this one.
7. Torch:
With a unique design, Torch is one of the best browsers for Mac OS X. Based on the Chromium project; it supports every extension of Google Chrome web store.
There are many themes available for the browser and is an important feature for experiment-loving peeps.
It also has features like Torch music, Video Download, Torrent support, etc.
8. Vivaldi:
A new challenger in the game, Vivaldi is out winning many hearts.
Though it uses the same HTML Rendering engine as that of Chrome, still it has covered all the features that are not in the list of other browsers’ characteristics.
It has a unique tab system, which is referred as “Stack.” It also creates notes about every site that you browse. These notes appear when you visit that site.
9. Stainless:
If you’re looking for the Multi- processing Designing of Chrome in some other browser, then you’ll like this browser named Stainless. Started out as a technology demo, now it is a full-fledged browser.
It features a dual-purpose search address bar, which makes searching and navigating very smooth.
Web Browsers For Mac
10. SeaMonkey:
What Browser Is Better For Mac
The newer version of the old-timer browser Netscape, SeaMonkey is an open- source project. It is an all-in-one Internet collection. It supports almost all the add-ons and extensions, which are compatible with Mozilla Firefox.
The con of the mentioned browser is that it doesn’t go with Voice interface, Mouse gestures or Retina Display. It is easy to install and access.
There you go. These are some of the best Internet browsers for the Mac users, which can be used as a substitute to Safari. Explore them and leave us comments sharing your experiences.