Google Chrome vs. Mozilla Firefox: Which desktop browser is better

Having a negligible market share in the browser space didn’t discourage or stop Mozilla from adding new features to Firefox. It is a solid browser with rich theme and extension support, a long list of features, and capable mobile apps. But how does it fare against the market leader, Google Chrome? If you are on the fence between using Chrome or Firefox on your laptop, read our detailed comparison and pick the better option for yourself.

Google Chrome vs Safari on Mac

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Cross-platform availability

Whether you pick Chrome or Firefox, cross-platform availability shouldn’t be an issue. Both browsers are accessible on iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux. Chrome also has a native app on ChromeOS. While you can download Firefox desktop on a Chromebook, the installation process is lengthy, and it does require tinkering with the Terminal app.

User interface and theme

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Google Chrome for desktop recently received a Material You makeover, and it looks relatively simple and easy to use compared to Firefox. Customization options are thoughtfully implemented to change appearances with a single click. You could also explore the hundreds of themes available from the Chrome Web Store.

If you choose to enable Pocket integration in Firefox, its homepage may look busy. It shows recommended stories and recent activities. Thankfully, you can disable them from the Settings menu if you’d like. You can also glance over some third-party themes from the add-ons menu.

We definitely prefer Chrome due to its Material You elements and default subtle theme options.

Chrome vs. Firefox: Tab management

Tab management becomes crucial when you have dozens of tabs opened up in a desktop browser.

Firefox offers fairly basic tab management, where you can pin important tabs for easy access.

Chrome has definitely nailed the tab management with Tab Groups. You can neatly organize similar tabs under a specific group to declutter the tabs menu at the top. Chrome lets you use different shades for tab groups for better differentiation, and you can even save an entire tab group to refer to it later.

Chrome vs. Firefox: Features

Moving on from the basics, let’s take a look at some of the features available on both Chrome and Firefox.

Reader view

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It can be difficult to navigate a busy webpage with lots of unnecessary elements. That’s where a reader view comes into play to help remove distractions. Firefox has an excellent reader view which you can summon with a single click in the address bar.

You can change font style, background, size, and even tweak paragraph spacing. You can also save articles directly to the Mozilla-owned Pocket service to read them later.

In contrast, Google Chrome’s reader mode actually leaves a lot to be desired. It opens the article in a small sidebar menu, which can be a pretty cumbersome reading experience.

Screenshot tool

A built-in screenshot tool is another thoughtful add-on from Firefox. You can auto-select and capture a table, database, visible page, or even an entire webpage. If you take a lot of screenshots during web research, you will surely appreciate their default tool. Unlike Microsoft Edge, Firefox doesn’t offer markup tools to annotate screenshots though.

Chrome doesn’t have any such tool. You can either use system keys to capture screenshots, or go with one of the available third-party extensions.

Extensions

Both Google Chrome and Firefox have rich extension support from third-party developers. You won’t have a hard time finding your VPN, password manager, note-taking apps, and other extensions from their add-on stores. That said, Chrome does have an advantage here. Since it’s the most popular web browser out there, developers prefer it over other platforms. Therefore, you are likely to find all of your preferred extensions for Chrome more often than Firefox.

PDF viewer

Firefox’s default PDF feature is worth talking about. It offers basic annotation, the ability to add images and text, rotation, and other useful tools. It’s not as feature-rich as a dedicated PDF editor, but it gets the job done. Chrome’s PDF viewer is strictly limited to viewing PDF files only.

Address bar features

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Google Chrome’s address bar lets you do quick math calculations, translations, and currency conversions within a few clicks, often getting an answer without even hitting Enter.

Firefox’s address bar is limited to basic math calculations only. However, it does have one neat trick. When you search for a term, you can alternate the search engine directly from the address bar – default options include Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Wikipedia.

Privacy and security

Firefox offers robust privacy tools for a safe browsing experience. It blocks third-party cookies, crypto-miners, social media trackers, and fingerprinters. The company’s optional Facebook Container extension prevents Facebook from tracking you around the web. Mozilla’s open-source nature means anyone who is interested can dig into the code and verify that nothing shady is going on.

Google Chrome’s enhanced protection delivers real-time protection against malicious sites, downloads, and extensions. You need to head to Settings and review the key security options to adjust them per your preferences.

Both Chrome and Firefox let you save your login credentials with the default password manager. However, they are basic at best, and you are better off using a third-party password manager like Bitwarden or Dashlane.

Performance and memory usage

When it comes to performance, you won’t find any major differences between Firefox and Chrome on a high-speed internet connection. We fired up several graphics-intensive web pages on them, and they both did absolutely fine without any noticeable delay. Avast recently did a speed test among the top major browsers, and they did find Firefox to be a tad slower than Chrome.

We do have some interesting observations about memory usage, though. We disabled all extensions, switched to the default theme, and opened a PDF file and three web pages on both Chrome and Firefox. We found Firefox to be even more RAM-hungry than Chrome. Check the screenshot below for reference.

Chrome vs. Firefox: Mobile experience

Before we wrap up, let’s have a word about Chrome and Firefox’s mobile apps. While there is a stark difference between Chrome’s iOS and Android apps, Firefox’s mobile apps look identical on both platforms. It offers useful home screen widgets, night mode, reader view, customization options, and more.

Google Chrome iOS app

Firefox iOS app

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Chrome is equally capable, offering lock screen and home screen widgets, Google Translate add-on, Discover view featuring news stories, and effective tab management.

Navigate the web like a pro

As you can see from the comparison above, both Firefox and Chrome are neck and neck in most regards. Firefox delivers a better PDF editor, a handy screenshot tool, a useful reader mode, and privacy features. Chrome has the upper hand in tab management, Google Translate integration, and it usually works better with Google apps and services.

If you ever notice a sluggish performance with Chrome, just follow our dedicated guide to help speed it up in no time.