What’s in a Browser?

Perhaps the most interesting part of testing these browsers is just how the results are a snapshot in time. With credit to Google, browser development happens at a very rapid pace, so these results may skew one way or another with time, with the tendency for better performance as time goes on, but sometimes there is some degradation as well. It will be interesting to check back again in a year.

Microsoft Browser Evolution

When Windows 10 was first announced, Microsoft was very keen to promote their new browser, eventually named Edge. They took their Trident rendering engine from Internet Explorer, and stripped it back to its core, then rebuilt it as a more modern, and more standards compliant browser than they had ever done previously. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Google’s Chrome browser continued to gain usage share, and with it came developers testing against Chrome. There was a years-long PR war with Microsoft begging developers to write websites to standards and features, rather than just based on a User Agent String, but that war was lost, and in a surprising, but also necessary move, Microsoft abandoned its browser and joined the Chromium gang. While it is great to see them embracing open source and the Chromium project, it is also somewhat sad to see the open web consolidating so much around Chromium. Firefox remains the only major browser in the PC space to not utilize Chromium. Apple continues to utilize WebKit, which was the code base that Chromium’s Blink came from, but Apple’s strong developer relations (current feuds not withstanding) and presence in the mobile market will keep WebKit as a valid option for them.

Google Chrome is currently the most popular browser on the PC

While there was no decisive winner in any category, there were trends in the data worth covering. First, the performance of all modern browsers is similar enough that choosing a browser based only on performance is not necessary. It should be features that drive usage, and it seems like we are close enough on performance to see that happen. Of the Chromium-based browsers, somewhat surprisingly Google Chrome was not the winner here, at least with the versions tested. Microsoft has made the best of their move to a new browser engine, outperforming both Chrome and Opera by a small margin in all tests. The differences were not massive, but they were there consistently. Mozilla Firefox was able to hold its own as well, scoring a few wins, and almost obtaining the same HTML5 score as well.

On the battery life side, it is clear that Microsoft did give up its advantage there, with classic Edge easily outclassing the field, but with low usage, and issues with website compatibility mostly stemming from the low usage, Microsoft will have to continue their efforts, but this time those efforts will be shared among all of the Chromium browsers. In our testing, Chromium Edge, as it did on the performance side, slightly outperformed Chrome and Opera. Firefox was not quite as competitive, but not so far from the rest that it would likely sway someone to use another browser over Firefox if that is already their preference, unless they really need that extra runtime.

It may seem a bit anti-climactic to say that all the browsers tested performed well, but that was the case. Choosing a browser based purely on performance is not necessary at the moment, as no single browser easily out-muscles its competitors. One of the big questions was in regards to Microsoft’s move from EdgeHTML to Blink, but it is definitely a win in terms of browser compatibility, and even if it did result in a net-loss of power savings, having a power efficient browser you can not use on your favorite website helps no one. Chromium Edge has been in alpha and beta versions for some time, and Microsoft started making it available as a released version earlier this year. The new Edge is great and should only get better. Whether it puts a dent in Google’s dominance is something only time will tell.

HTML 5 Compatibility and Web Browser Battery Life
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  • Tilmitt - Monday, September 14, 2020 - link

    Just defected to Edge. Google's moat is breached.
  • edzieba - Monday, September 14, 2020 - link

    I'll be over in the corner with the weirdos using Palemoon.

    XUL LIVES!
  • IGnatius T Foobar - Monday, September 14, 2020 - link

    Brave and Dissenter are Chromium forks which provide all of the Chrome browsing experience with none of the Google. That's a fantastic value proposition, especially when combined with DuckDuckGo for search.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, September 14, 2020 - link

    browser battles in 2020? who would’ve thought!
  • GTVic - Monday, September 14, 2020 - link

    I recommend Browser Chooser 2. Lets you pick the best browser for each link.
  • martixy - Tuesday, September 15, 2020 - link

    I feel it's mostly about feature set at this point.

    I use FF on mobile because it supports extensions better, I use chrome on desktop because it supports extensions better.
  • reheri - Tuesday, September 15, 2020 - link

    𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞! 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐲-𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝.𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐌𝐖 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 $𝟔𝟒𝟕𝟒.𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 - 𝟒 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭. 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝟖-𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬.𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 $𝟏𝟕𝟕 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫. 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 COPY THIS SITE and see video...............  cutt.ly/UflNJc9
  • DominionSeraph - Wednesday, September 16, 2020 - link

    Edge's translation seems to suck compared to Chrome, and THEY SWITCH THE ORDER OF JAPANESE NAMES.

    No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.
  • Gastec - Friday, September 18, 2020 - link

    I have 600 Mbps internet connection and in Firefox it only goes to 400-420 Mbps on all online speed tests, while on Chrome it reaches full 600 Mbps. Maybe someone can explain to me why?
  • Alien88 - Saturday, September 19, 2020 - link

    I used to use firefox but the UI changes were driving me nuts, switched to Opera years back. It has inbuilt mouse gestures, you can install any chrome extension (it's based on chrome), it has an inbuilt VPN, and it all just works. It may be owned by the chinese (not sure if that's the case) but who cares, they datamine constantly anyway, if you think they don't have your data, you are kidding yourself.

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