Edge and Epic browser are fastest Chromium based browsers in 2021
I have a Macbook Pro with 2.4GHz 8‑core 9th‑generation Intel Core i9 processor, 64 GB RAM and desktop PC with AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz, 6-Core, 16GB DDR4 and GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus. Still on both hardware and system the Google Chrome stable with 5+ extensions cause occasional slowness. Well okay I admit that on Windows 10 enterntaiment setup my CPU is much more powerful so this is why I rarely encounter any hiccups. Yet the browser could be faster.
The performance of Google Chrome is ridiculous on machines that should not have any problems. I think Chrome has either too much technical debt, spying scripts, untenable infrastructure or all of these problems combined cause it to get slower and slower over time. These are the reasons why I’m constantly looking for better browser alternative. In 2017 I wrote an article to my other blog (R. I. P): Firefox Quantum vs. Safari vs. Opera vs. Google Chrome – best browser? Back then Safari won on macOS and Firefox on other platforms. Today I need a cross-platform browser so Safari is not an option. Firefox is getting heavy again and I don’t like its plugins, used to Chrome a bit too much.
Tried Vivaldi but it has too many bugs and annoying panels like Download sidebar, Brave but it’s too bloated, and Min but it’s too minimal. I wish Midori was still the thing but it has all the negative sides of the previously mentioned. I used to love that browser on Linux.
Epic Privacy Browser – If you like a browser without any features
Epic is blazing fast! I love the fact that it takes Privacy seriously. It comes with the downsides though, it doesn’t sync and you cannot install extensions for it. I managed to get some plugins installed via .crx-files so I guess I’m using it as a dev browser in the future. If you don’t care about extensions and just want a fast browser, use Epic.
Microsoft Edge is good. Really.
I was surprised how far ahead Edge has come. It is lightweight and supports all Chrome extensions out of the box. I’m surprised both about the performance and browser support. It has been getting updates steadily and supports CSS grid and other modern browser features.
Edge is performing well because it was built from the ground up. It’s based on latest Chromium which is a stripped down “heart” of the Chrome engine. I love the idea that Microsoft tries to keep the code base efficient. They don’t want to repeat the mistakes they made with Internet Explorer. After Android, Chromium and open source Microsoft is finally getting out something good. About time.
Couple of years ago I wouldn’t see myself saying this: Edge just might be my new favourite default browser. A company that owns GitHub can’t be that bad. Let’s try this for a while. By the way, they have Edge on Mac and even on Android. How cool is that?
@rolle