Beyond Chrome: 7 Alternative Web Browsers

Though large tech corporations leverage their market dominance to relentlessly push their web browsers on the world, you do have a choice in software you use to browse the web. You may find that some of the many available alternative browsers offer capabilities that appeal to you, such as greater customization, privacy, and browsing tools.

If you’re like the majority of web users, you’re using Google Chrome, which means you’re missing a few very useful features. For example, Chrome offers no reading mode, which you find in many of the alternatives included here. This mode lets you read a news article in a cleaned-up view without all the screaming clutter that adorns today’s webpages (present company included).

Perhaps of greatest importance is that Chrome’s built-in ad blocker doesn’t offer true ad blocking and privacy—only ad blocking that permits its own ad network to function unimpeded. Google has announced that even effective ad-blocking extensions won’t fully work in the future. Several browsers included here let you install plugins that block all ads and tracking. Some browsers in this list go even further, offering turbocharged privacy that includes VPN and Tor encryption.

A big factor in browser choice is customization. Chrome and Firefox offer backgrounds, but Vivaldi takes customization to new levels, Opera features a very useful customizable side-rail toolbar and a tile-based Speed Dial home page for easy access to your most-frequented websites.

Without further ado, here are some alternative browsers well worth your consideration. We’ve downloaded and installed them all to assure they work as advertised. If you have a favorite lesser-known browser that’s not listed here, please feel free to chime in on the comment section below.