Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Co: To “surf” the internet, you need an internet browser. But which one is the best? MeinMMO has taken a detailed look at the most important browsers.
If you want to “surf” the internet, you need an internet browser. If you don’t want to use Microsoft’s own Edge on Windows, you can choose from a variety of browsers, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
What will you find in this article? MeinMMO has looked at the most important browsers and created a ranking from them:
- We have created a number of criteria and awarded points accordingly.
- On the following pages you will find detailed explanations of the individual browsers and an assessment.
- At the end, you will find two tables with the data: These include the point ratings and the assessments in the individual areas. This also determines the final ranking.
Which browsers are included? For the article, we focused on the currently most popular browsers (via statista.com). The most users currently have Google Chrome with 64.88%, followed by Microsoft Edge with 13.78% and Safari (9.21%), followed by Firefox (6.56%) and Opera (2.93%). In some numbers, Brave (0.5%) also appears.
What criteria are we evaluating? Overall, we examined the various browsers in the following areas:
- Performance: How fast is the browser? We use Speedometer3.0, a benchmark developed by Apple, Google, and Mozilla. We also test how much RAM the browser needs with 10 open tabs. This keeps the data comparable.
- Security/Privacy: How secure is a browser and how does it handle users’ data? Do your data stay with you? Are they sold or can you at least turn it off?
- Settings: What can be configured and how many add-ons are there and how important are they?
- User Experience: How intuitive and easy is the browser to handle, or does it feel overloaded? Are users overwhelmed at startup or does the browser focus on the essentials?
From these criteria, we then created our ranking for the currently most important browsers. We left out a few smaller variants and so-called forks, as otherwise our list would become too extensive.
6th Place: Microsoft Edge
Performance: With 29 ± 1.2 points, Edge ranks second fastest in the performance test. Only Google Chrome is faster. On the other hand, it has by far the highest resource requirements: With 10 open tabs, Edge requires between 1.5 – 1.6 GB of RAM. That is too much.
Security: Microsoft Edge is included in every Windows installation, but can now be uninstalled in the EU. Edge receives a major update every month, and security fixes come more frequently.
Edge offers a number of features: You can block pop-ups and send “Do Not Track” requests. It also runs in a sandbox that contains processes within the browser itself and minimizes the likelihood that malicious websites could affect users.
However, you need to be clear that Microsoft processes your data further and partly uses it to serve ads. Compared to other browsers, you also have relatively few add-ons available.
Edge is also closed-source.
Settings: Edge offers many options that you can turn on or off. The option to integrate the AI “Co-Pilot” into the browser is also interesting. However, it can also be turned off.
In comparison to its competitors, however, Edge lags behind in terms of add-ons. Here you’re limited to a small selection. Basic add-ons are available, but specific add-ons for enhanced security are lacking.
User Experience: Microsoft Edge appears tidy and is heavily inspired by other well-known Chromium browsers. Some features, such as Co-Pilot (AI), are integrated into the browser and can be elegantly used via a sidebar.
It primarily loses points for its high RAM consumption (highest in the test) and the relatively few add-ons. The lack of add-ons is particularly unfortunate.
On the next page, we continue with 5th place.
