Since Firefox, Chrome, and Chromium came out, open-source web platforms have come a long way. Web browsers today are very powerful and can handle graphics, videos, apps, and a lot more. This does, however, make web computers use a lot of hardware resources, such as RAM and storage space. However, popular websites like Firefox and Chromium work well on computers with up-to-date hardware.
But for old PCs or tablets running Linux to work quickly and smoothly, they need light browsers. This is one reason why Firefox is the preferred browser on most Linux OS, such as Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, and Linux Mint. Even so, Firefox might not be as light as we’d like it to be.
Chrome still has 59% of the market, making it one of the most used websites. But is it really the best Linux browser for you? Because it’s the most used program on any computer, picking the best browser is very important. It helps with studying, having fun online, and getting to cloud-based work tools. How do you get the best Linux browser? When making your choice, consider speed, features, security, customization, the community of extensions, and ease of use. Since Linux is an open-source OS, you could also check to see if the browser is transparent and works with UNIX.
Best Open Source Web Browsers for Linux
Viper is the first open source web browser on this list of the best software for running on Linux. This online browser is simple, privacy-focused, and very easy to change. In this day and age of rising cybercrime, Viper is a good choice for people who want the most privacy.
1. Falkon
To repeat it, Falkon is not a web browser. It is actually a KDE browser that uses QtWebEngine technology and acts as a rendering engine. This browser is great because it blocks ads right out of the box.
Last but not least, you get valuable tools like bookmarks and records. This browser is interesting because it was first made to help with schoolwork. Since then, it has grown to become one of the best open-source web browsers for Linux.
2. Waterfox
Waterfox is one of the dark wolves on the list. These browsers are so good that everyone who has used them has been amazed. What I like most about this browser is how simple and easy it is to use. The fact that it works with Chrome, Firefox, and Opera plugins is another great thing about this web browser. If you’ve been using extensions for a while and are moving from Chrome or another browser, this is the one you should try.
3. Viper
With a focus on privacy, simplicity, and personalization, this browser has grown into a powerful, lightweight space where you can look for anything you want. It is an essential navigator with essential features like the ability to hibernate tabs, handle secure auto-fill, and support full-screen mode, among others. This browser is different from most, but if you like simple things, it might be right for you.
4. Nyxt
“The hacker’s power-browser” is how Nyxt’s main page calls it, and I have to say, it’s great. It’s not the only web browser that works with keyboards, but what makes it unique is that you can change or replace every class, method, and function inside it. It also comes with a command-line tool. The name “The Hacker’s Power Browser” says it all. Next, it uses a simple computing environment called RELP (read-eval-print loop). It takes one user input, runs it, and then gives the user the result.
5. SeaMonkey
What features does SeaMonkey have, even though it is also an all-in-one navigator? SeaMonkey adds an email app, an online feed reader, an HTML editor, an IRC chat room, and tools for building websites, among other things.
Like Librewolf, SeaMonkey is an excellent version of Firefox. Its website says that it uses a lot of the same Mozilla Firefox source code.
6. Pale Moon
This is another web browser built on Firefox’s code. It has privacy and security features, is fully customizable, and is optimized for modern processors. I think the most exciting thing about it is that it still works with NPAPI plugins like Silverlight, Flash, and Java. Add-ons for Chrome and Microsoft Edge that were last updated a while ago.
In this case, Pale Moon could fix some of your favourite web pages that were broken when support for plugins like Flash stopped.
7. Epiphany
Most people know this navigator as GNOME Web. It is a native web browser for Linux that has a simple interface for viewing files. Of course, being easy doesn’t mean it’s weak.
It uses a layout engine similar to the one used in the Mozilla project to show web pages. Here are some of its best features:
8. Firefox Browser
Firefox is also free and open source. It works on most operating systems, such as OS X, Linux, Solaris, Windows, Android, and more. It was primarily written in C++, JavaScript, C, CSS, XUL, and XBL, and it’s available under the MPL2.0 License.
Anyone who has used it since the beginning has said great things about its speed and security features. It is even sometimes called the spiritual successor to Netscape Navigator. On all of the devices it works with, except for iOS, which doesn’t use Gecko, it uses the Quantum, SpiderMonkey, and Gecko web engines.
9. Opera Browser
Opera is one of the oldest ones we have now. The first version came out in 1995, 25 years ago. It was written in C++ and is marked as being compatible with all operating systems, such as Windows, OS, Linux, OS X, Symbian, and mobile phones like Android and iOS. It has the web engine Blink instead of Presto, which was used in earlier versions.
This browser has a speed dial for quick searches, tabbed browsing, a downloads manager, Page Zooming that lets users change the size of Flash, Java, and SVG files, and the ability to delete HTTP cookies, browsing information, and other data with the click of a button.
10. Vivaldi
Vivaldi is still new, but Linux users have been paying a lot of attention to it lately. Based on Chromium, this browser has many features and looks good. It was created by Vivaldi Technologies in 2015. It lets you change most things about your browsing experience, block trackers, and set privacy settings. It also uses fewer resources than Chrome.
11. Chromium
Chromium is very popular among Linux users and is often used instead of Google Chrome and other browsers that are built on Chrome. This online browser is free, safe, and stable. It is written in C++ and works on Windows, OS X, Android, and Linux. Its best features are managing your data and sessions, WebM codecs for HTML5 audio and video, Theora, Vorbis support, and a window manager with tabs.
12. Brave
Free and open source, The Brave is a browser that is built on Chromium. When it first came out, its Rewards Program was what made it so famous. For example, you can get crypto tokens to browse and get ads through push notifications. But these days, it’s mostly known for being fast and focused on giving users the best ad-free experience. The software successfully blocks ads and data-mining trackers, which means that Google and anyone else can’t get to your private data and digital fingerprints.
13. Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is their answer to Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, which are very good browsers. It’s the browser that comes with Windows, and you can get a test version of it on Linux. It does everything you’d expect from a browser, but it has fewer tools than the Windows version.
14. Midori
The Midori online browser is free and light, with a simple interface. Its rendering engine is WebKit, and the browser is built on GTK. Languages like C and Vala were used to write it. It is built into the Xfce desktop experience and is already present in some Linux-based OSes, such as Elementary OS.
15. GNOME Web
Gnome Web, which used to be called Epiphany, is a small, open-source web browser made by the Gnome development team for their desktop environment. It uses the WebKit search engine. It’s small and fast, and it supports many of the same features that you can find in Mozilla Firefox.
It lets you browse privately with an “incognito window” option, supports extensions, has a spellchecker, and blocks pop-ups. You can also put bookmarks into different groups that you create.