Using a browser can greatly affect our web browsing experience by increasing its speed and making it more secure. The browser can protect you from data tracking by advertisers and online ads, it can synchronize all our operations with our smartphone or tablet, and it can give you the content you need by filtering out everything you don't need. Let's try to understand which are the best browsers currently available.
Mozilla Firefox
Firefox is a very fast browser that is also very light on the systems in which it is adopted. Its main feature is that it possesses remarkable privacy tools that make it a more than secure browser when browsing. Besides, Firefox has always been recognized for its wide flexibility and support for all sorts of extensions. Firefox Mozilla is non-profit, so it won't advertise to make you buy products from other developers. It's not always the fastest browser out there but the constant updates, make the new Firefox one of the most competitive products.
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is perhaps the fastest browser currently in existence. If anything, the problem with this browser is that by using it, we allow Google to manage all our online activities and this can result in our browsing behaviors being analyzed for advertising purposes. In any case, this browser is perhaps the most efficient currently existing. However, Chrome also has its disadvantages. First of all, it's one of the heaviest browsers for operating systems, so it's not recommended on devices with limited RAM, and it also doesn't perform as well as the others when it comes to benchmarking.
Opera
Opera is an excellent browser and probably the lightest to install. It has a clean interface and a built-in ad-blocker, plus a Turbo mode that makes slow connections more usable. The plugins available for Opera are inferior to those available for other browsers. Despite the fact that it is a quality browser and manages to accomplish the same tasks as rivals. Opera represents only about 1% of the browser market. Opera's flagship feature is its Opera Turbo function that compresses web traffic, making a huge difference in terms of browsing speed especially with a rural phone line or slow connection.
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is the best browser for Windows 10 in terms of system integration. Keep in mind that with the latest browser update, browsing is not guaranteed for older operating systems. Integration with the main Windows 10 functions is definitely Edge's main strength. The latter, runs smoothly as an app even in Windows 10's tablet mode, and works with Cortana.
Microsoft tries to make Windows 10 users use Edge at all costs, making it the default browser for links opened in the Mail app, adding shortcuts to the desktop after major OS updates, and presenting it as a potential result if you start typing 'Firefox' in the Cortana search box. This insistence can be annoying to users who want to switch browsers.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Microsoft Internet Explorer is a fast and powerful browser, and makes modest use of system resources, although it lacks the flexibility of Firefox and Chrome in terms of plugin support. Older versions lag behind the rendering curve and compatibility with more modern ones. The latest version, Internet Explorer 11 has a clean, powerful, highly compatible interface and requires less RAM and CPU than the equivalent pages on Chrome or Firefox.
Vivaldi Browser
Vivaldi is a minimalist, lightweight browser that is fully editable and customizable. Vivaldi is a browser that focuses everything on the user experience, granting a smooth and minimal navigation through the use of a simple and very intuitive navigation program. You should also keep in mind that this is an open source browser based on the Chromium code (from which Google Chrome was created) so this element ensures full web compatibility and the presence of the same extensions as Google's browser. The browser is only available on Windows 10.
Maxthon
Maxthon is a Chinese-made browser little known to those who are not in the industry, at least in Western countries, but it is a valid alternative to the most popular browsers. Maxthon has been on the market since 2003, and since then, with a series of continuous improvements and innovations, it has received numerous awards. Currently at version 4.2, Maxthon shows excellent performance and several speed tests put Maxthon in first place when it comes to browser open times and page load times. It has no compatibility issues with the latest web technologies as it relies on two rendering engines: one used by Internet Explorer, the other used by Chrome.
Safari
Safari is the default macOS browser and very much the best you can use on Apple's operating system. It is extremely fast, has very low power consumption and includes a lot of interesting features: reading list, simplifying web pages, support for extensions, AirPlay, changing the user agent, synchronizing browsing data via iCloud and much more. Unfortunately, its extensions park isn't yet as rich as that of Chrome or Firefox. As we said, the use of Safari, is limited to Apple platforms (macOS and iOS), but in case of need you can share bookmarks with Chrome on Windows using the iCloud client for the Microsoft operating system.
Brave
Brave is a browser that stands out from the others because it was created to protect the privacy of users. The user's privacy comes first and then comes the rest, this is the "philosophy" of Brave. To guarantee a high level of confidentiality, the browser blocks cookies, scripts and all those web technologies potentially capable of recording user data. Basically it's not different from other browsers and if you usually use Chrome, it will be easier for you to get familiar with Brave, because the two browsers share the same bases, that is, they both come from Chromium. From a privacy point of view, you should know that this browser blocks a lot of features of websites and in some cases it might even be impossible to browse them.
Chromium
Chromium is not only the name of a browser, but also that of the open source project that generated the source code used by Chrome. Google is the main supporter of Chromium by kicking off the project when it launched Chrome in September 2008 but since the code is open source, others have contributed to it, including people who are not Google employees. The differences between the two lie in the additional services provided by Google, such as the update system or built-in support for technologies such as Adobe Flash Player, and digital rights management components, which allow Chrome to play copyrighted content.
Bonus: Best Browser for Smartphones
Browsing on your smartphone can be a stressful experience if you don't use an appropriate browser. A good browser can improve slow and unresponsive web pages by speeding up images, saving passwords and enabling third-party plug-ins. Remember, beyond the advantages or innovations that various browsers may have, the best product is always the one that best suits our needs.
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is the best browser for Android and iOS systems because it has a wide range of features, including the ability to search from the address bar, browse the web in private incognito mode, and automatically fill out web forms with your information. Chrome's default homepage provides news articles as well as giving you links to your favorite sites. You can also save web pages for offline viewing, which is useful if you want to read something without being connected. Google's Safe Browsing warns us in case of dangerous links.
Firefox
Among the best browsers for both Android and iOS systems, we recommend the mobile version of the Mozilla browser that is able to synchronize data and settings with its computer counterpart (or even with other portable devices) and has a very wide range of extensions that can be used to expand the app's functions by adapting it to your needs. It also protects against phishing sites and tracking by advertising systems.
Aloha Browser (free for iPhone and Android)
The highlight of this app is the built-in VPN that lets you browse the internet anonymously by tapping on the shield in the upper right corner to activate it. The interface is pretty simple and was designed taking inspiration from Google Chrome, but you can customize your browsing by choosing, for example, to enable Adblock Plus. It also has a built-in VR player, allowing you to play VR videos directly from the browser. There is also a paid version of the browser called Aloha Premium, which includes an even more advanced feature set.