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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  • heffeque - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link

    Wow, what happened to my English. Sorry about that. No edit button to correct it.
  • BedfordTim - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link

    I swapped from FireFox to Brave to Edgium, and in each case it was because something was broken. I think it was spell check for FireFox and translation for Brave.
  • ava1ar - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link

    Vivaldi? Probably one of the best Chrome-based browsers for power users with huge number of options and customizations.
  • quiksilvr - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link

    In all these tests not once does it measure how much RAM the browsers use up when visiting sites. That is where Edge Chromium shines. It even uses less RAM than Firefox which is the only reason why anyone uses Firefox anymore.
  • HideOut - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link

    I think RAM usage would have been very relevant too especially with multiple tabs. Chrome seems to be a ram hog
  • Showtime - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link

    Considering speed differences are negligible, they definitely missed out on comparing things that actually affect peoples choice of browser.
  • tipoo - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link

    I expected Chredge to squeeze out some amount of battery life win vs Chrome with its purported less tracking, but with a few minutes between them it seems all but even. The results seem very much like "chromium is chromium" for now, not much distance between anything but legacy browsers.
  • eastcoast_pete - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link

    Thanks Brett! As several here have already pointed out, the choice of which browser is my go-to or default one depends on a lot more than "speed". One key aspect is the availability of add-ons and extensions that let me customize my setup; key considerations are security and privacy. Another consideration is just how many tabs and windows I can have open without the browser eating my RAM for breakfast; for this, testing on a decidedly entry-level system such as a low-end notebook (Celeron with 4 GB of RAM without an NVMe/PCIe SSD) might be eye-opening. And, before anyone wonders who would use such a setup: millions of students currently in remote/home based classes do just that.
  • PeachNCream - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link

    Not just students. Tech enthusiasts also use those Celeron nXXXX laptops that ship with 4GB of soldered down RAM and 32-64GB of eMMC memory. I can vouch for that personally, though I did recently "upgrade" from a Celeron n2840-based Acer to an HP Stream with a Celeron n3060. They do pretty well with light browsing, but I wouldn't try much heavy gaming on it and loading up with lots o' tabs is asking for a poor experience. That HP is my primary computer since it has loads of battery life, no cooling fan noise, and a surprisingly good feeling keyboard.
  • Eliadbu - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link

    Old habits die hard. I have been using Firefox probably before Chrome was even released and it served me well so I did not bother to switch on PC for anything else.
    seems like I did not miss a lot.
    Also I respect it does well considering the huge money behind other competitors that are advertising driven.

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