Browsing is highly important nowadays. People often rely on the internet for news, entertainment, and social tools. Even work is now moving on the web. These modern browsers must therefore be robust, fast and dependable. There are actually hundreds of browsers out there for your PC and many people believe that the best browser is not the browser that comes with a Windows OS. But if you are using a Mac, which is becoming more and more popular and mostly used these days, there aren’t a lot of browsers to choose from and you think that you will just be stuck with Safari forever. Certainly there are lots of great Mac browsers out there. Surely, you can find that browser that you can use other than Safari and still get the speed and reliability that you need. Out of the hundreds of browsers that could work great in a Mac, here is the top 10 best Mac web browser rounded up for you to give you an idea of what could be the best browser for you.
10. Fake
This is a web browser from the developers behind Fluid. Fake is a new web browser that makes web automation simple. All you need is a simple dragging and dropping action onto a provided graphical workflow. For those who don’t know what web automation is, it is basically what you can call an automator to kickstart your Web surfing or browsing experience. This is actually an invaluable tool for web designers and developers because it makes their work quicker and easier.
9. Flock
Flock is a social word browser. It has undergone major changes, it now uses Chromium rather than Mozilla unlike before. But it still has integrations with popular websites including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Digg, and many more using its signature ‘Flock sidebar’ as well as an instant one click sharing. They still have basically the same features and only the look has changed. With the recent improvements, it now it looks a lot more beautiful.
Get online more efficiently with the best web browsers, and stay safe while you're. Chrome is also a good choice for Windows and Mac computers. Safari lets you tag favorite sites and has a reading list where you can save.
8. Opera
This is one of the well-known web browsers that is most of the time overlooked. This browser offers a wealth of features that sets it apart from the other browsers, namely mouse gestures and ‘speed dial’, allowing you to access your favorite web pages instantly with one click from your main window. Opera also supports visual enhancements like visual tabs and content blocking. The Opera browser also boasts its ‘Opera Turbo’ feature which makes its operations really fast.
7. Stainless
This browser actually just started out as a technology demo to showcase its multi-processing architecture in response to Google Chrome. Since then, it has grown to a fully-fledged web browser. Stainless works fast, which is something many users love about it. It features a dual purpose address and search bar which makes search and navigation a breeze. It also has virtual bookmarks shelf where you can easily drag and drop your favorite website for easy access. It also has a killer feature. Using Google Chrome, you will be able to browse a site even with different credentials at the same time, done in separate tabs.
6. Camino
Camino is a browser that was built on Mozilla’s Gecko rendering engine, and with its recent update to version 2.0, it has gained loads of new features, including Annoyance Blocking, phishing and malware protection, blocking pop-ups and others on demand. Even the interface gained new cool features called ‘Tab Overview’ allowing you to see all your open tabs visually at a glance.
5. Firefox
You can visit your favorite sites quickly and do so without a fuss, even if you don’t remember the URL and just remember a keyword. When you type your term in the location bar and the autocomplete function will do the rest. It will refer to possible matches from your browsing history, opened tabs, or bookmarked websites. Tabs are just above the location bar to make it easier to focus on the contents of the sites you visit and all the menu items are now found in a single button.
4. Chrome
You might think, what could be the best browser for Mac than Chrome. Find out when you reach number1 of our top 10 best Mac web browsers. This browser is not only available for windows, but also to Mac. Chrome boasts top-notch browsing speed all done securely. It also features sync capabilities that allow you to access browsers from different computers.
3. Cruz
This browser is also from the developers of the popular app Fluid. Cruz is a beautiful browser that integrates well with the web. It allows you to browse your timeline while you browse other sites in a split panel. You can also browse sites like Digg and WordPress like that of a Cover Flow. It features a full-screen mode as well as a complete session restore that users have found very useful for their browsing experience.
2. OmniWeb
This browser has an intuitive interface that makes it a smart and beautifully designed browser at the same time. OmniWeb incorporates visual tabs which basically allow you to view all your tabs in a single glance. This site also allows you to make ‘workspaces’ which is a convenient feature to use for all your different browsing tasks, it also saves information like which web pages you have in your open tabs, your history, and even the location of the web windows in your screen that makes it easier for you to pick up where you last left off. This browser also supports advanced preferences for ad-blocking and handles all your RSS news feeds.
1. Safari
You have finally reached the number1 spot in the top 10 best Mac web browsers. You don’t have to be surprised; it is of course the best browser for a Mac. The advanced features in Safari make it better to surf the web using your Mac. Safari boasts that it searches even smarter so you’ll find web pages quicker. With improved performance in this popular Mac browser, web pages are now able to load faster. It has a Nitro JavaScript engine which takes advantage of the multiple processors present on your Mac to help speed up browsing and create fewer lags. It also has improved features such as hardware acceleration, 2D capabilities and smoother scrolling, even if your Mac PC or laptop is processing new content on another webpage or doing another completely different function.
Table of Contents.For many Mac users, the term “web browser” is probably synonymous with “Safari,” given that Apple’s browser is included as the default on all its devices. This is a mistake, though, as the Safari browser is far from the best web browser for Mac or iOS. In this article, we’ll be taking a deep dive into Apple’s ecosystem to discover the best browser for Mac and iOS.If you want to skip straight to the winner, that would be Brave, and you can read our full to learn everything about our number one pick. In short, Brave sports excellent performance, security and privacy while also delivering a large number of features and an interface that’s easy to learn and navigate.Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, though, let’s take a moment to look at what our criteria consist of for this ranking. Best Web Browser for Mac 2020. Free /month.What Makes the Best Internet Browser for MacFor the most part, we’ll be judging the contestants on the same criteria as our, but focusing entirely on their versions on Apple devices. Thus, our criteria of features, ease of use, performance, security and privacy will form the core of our comparison.Obviously, a needs to be available on Apple platforms to be eligible for this list, which disqualifies the likes of Tenta (read our ) and Internet Explorer (read our to see why not having Internet Explorer for Mac is a good thing).All five categories are weighted equally, but if you’re particularly concerned with security, for example, you should check out our list to find out which one offers the most protection (spoiler: it’s Puffin, and you can read our to find out why).
Best Browser for Mac:As we mentioned in the introduction, Brave is our top pick for Mac and iOS. The browser sports impressive security, featuring a built-in ad-blocker, automatic upgrades to HTTPS and script blocking. All these settings are easily accessed through the “shields” menu, which also shows you a rundown of what is currently being blocked on the website you’re on.Brave also lets users block various kinds of social media content, including Google and Facebook login buttons, as well as embedded posts from Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Furthermore, the browser also has a setting to block WebRTC from revealing your IP address, something that you usually need a to accomplish.There’s not a whole lot of features built in from the get-go. However, because Brave is based on a version of Chromium that’s stripped of callbacks to Google, it’s also compatible with most Chrome extensions, as long as they don’t make changes to the browser’s UI.
This means that you can add all sorts of functionality to the browser, as Chrome’s extension library is massive.That said, there are some minor features worth mentioning. On both desktop and mobile, there’s a “distill page” function that removes extraneous elements from a webpage to facilitate easier reading. Mozilla Firefox is another excellent browser choice on Mac and iOS, and would be at the top of our list if it wasn’t for Brave.
As it stands, the difference between the two is very small, but we gave the edge to Brave for its excellent security and privacy controls, though Firefox doesn’t skimp on this either.Firefox for Mac uses Google Safe Browsing to protect users from malicious websites. Additionally, the privacy controls give you detailed control over what trackers and cookies to allow.Passwords can be protected with a master password, but unfortunately this has to be enabled by default, leaving your passwords unprotected from anyone with physical access, if you don’t. Although a master password is good, it’s no replacement for installing the.Firefox is updated very frequently, which is another crucial aspect of browser security. Furthermore, specific vulnerabilities are generally fixed within a day or two of being discovered.There’s plenty of options for customization, as you can add countless themes and move almost every button and UI element to whatever location you prefer.
The cross-device synchronization is excellent and allows you to move your entire browsing experience seamlessly between your Mac, iPhone and iPad.You can set the default search engine to anything you want, and the dropdown menu under the address bar gives you quick and easy access to all your alternative search providers. The included screen capture tool is incredibly handy for capturing long webpages, as it’s not limited to what’s currently on the screen, like the screenshot tool included in the OS.Aside from these, there’s not a whole lot of features baked into the browser. This isn’t such a big deal though, as Firefox is blessed with an extensive library of add-ons, second only to that of Chrome.Firefox is also incredibly fast and is in the upper echelon of browsers when it comes to speed on both iOS and Mac. Although RAM consumption is quite high, it becomes comparatively low when you have a lot of tabs open, and you can hibernate tabs to improve performance even more.Instead of minimizing tabs to the point of obscurity, Firefox for Mac utilizes a horizontal scrollbar to make tab management a pain-free process.On iOS, there’s not much to say, but there are a few minor features worth mentioning. There’s a built-in QR code scanner, and the menu in the bottom-right lets you disable all images — which is ideal for users with limited bandwidth — and enable night mode. Other Reasons We Like FirefoxWhat really makes Firefox stand out is its long-standing commitment to users’ privacy. Because Mozilla — the company behind Firefox — is a nonprofit organization, it has little incentive to collect user data, as they don’t need to sell personal information or serve ads to fund development.That said, some minor information is collected for development purposes, but even this can be disabled by the user.
For a full rundown of Firefox’s strengths and weaknesses, read our full. In terms of usage numbers, Chrome is the undisputed king of web browsers. Depending on your source, between 45 and 70 percent of all web traffic goes through Google’s browser, and there are many good reasons for its incredible popularity.Above all, the Chrome browser is an especially easy-to-use and well-designed browser. Due to its popularity, it has become the industry standard in many ways, which means that the UI will feel familiar almost regardless of what browser you’re making the switch from.Chrome’s greatest strength is its positively huge library of extensions.
Thousands upon thousands of applications are available for download, covering every use case, from note taking and virus protection to ad blocking and security extensions. If you’re wondering what extensions you should download, check out our list of the.Although there’s not a lot of advanced features included in the browser, this isn’t that big of a deal for Chrome, due to the massive number of extensions available.The cross-device synchronization is excellent and could not be easier to set up. All you need to do is sign in with your Google account, and Chrome handles the rest.
This does hand significant amounts of information to Google, though, so those concerned with privacy might want to sync manually by following our guide on how to instead.However, privacy-minded users should probably steer clear of the Chrome browser entirely, as its track record in this area is beyond terrible. Countless privacy scandals have plagued the company over the years, and its data collection policy is vague and troubling, as it readily admits to storing all sorts of information about its users.Although Google claims that it doesn’t sell that said information, it readily admits that it uses it to personalize and optimize ads.
Google does offer a way for you to clear your userdata, which you can accomplish by following the steps outlined in our article on. However, Google has lied before, so who knows if it actually deletes anything for good.Security is good, though, as Google frequently updates Chrome and quickly patches security holes as soon as they’re discovered.
Google Safe Browsing is enabled by default, which protects you against malicious websites. The HTTP warning is also good, as it clearly states when your connection is not secure.Performance is also solid, as Chrome is a fast browser on both Mac and iOS. Unfortunately, it struggles with high resource consumption that, coupled with the terrible privacy, is what keeps Chrome from the top two spots on our list.
Other Reasons We Like Google ChromeChrome is deeply integrated with Google’s various services, so users who frequently use applications like Google Drive or Google Docs will find that these work exceptionally well on the browser.Additionally, Google Translate is included by default, which lets you easily translate webpages in most languages. As always, check out our for the full breakdown.
Vivaldi was the clear winner of our list of the overall, but it ends up in fourth place in this ranking. This is because there is currently no version of the browser available for iOS, which makes up two-thirds of the Apple ecosystem.That said, Vivaldi is an excellent browser on Mac. As covered in our, its customization is second to none, as the browser lets you change almost every aspect of how it looks and feels.
This includes various themes, colors and fonts, as well as the ability to move pretty much every button and menu element to a different part of the screen.The browser is chock-full of minor features, from note taking to a dedicated screenshot tool. Puffin scores itself a spot on this list mainly due to its unparalleled security and privacy, as well as the excellent iOS version. However, its weak showing on Mac (and desktop in general) lands it firmly in fifth place, rather than higher up on our list.By utilizing a unique approach to browsing, Puffin protects users by “streaming” all the websites they visit through its own servers. This means that any malware embedded in website code will never even reach your machine, and anyone tracking you won’t be able to do so further than the Puffin servers.On iOS, this approach also results in excellent speed. In fact, Puffin is by far the fastest browser we’ve tested on the platform, even faster than the native Safari. Furthermore, the browser strips down websites to only the essential elements, resulting in significant data saving, which is a godsend for users with limited bandwidth.thummb id=40109 nocopy=trueUnfortunately, the great speed doesn’t extend to Mac, where Puffin is often slow and sluggish, and occasionally suffers from severe input lag. Making things worse for the desktop version is the fact that you need to pay a subscription to use it at all, which is unusual, to say the least, for a web browser.You’re also limited to Google, Bing, Naver and Yandex for search engines, which is a bit restrictive.The free iOS version is also limited, as you need to purchase Puffin Pro for $4.99 to block ads, though at least this is a one-time purchase, unlike on Mac.
Unfortunately, despite being based on Chromium, Puffin is not compatible with any Chrome extensions and offers none of its own. There’s also no way to sync anything between devices, which is a significant downside.There are several neat minor features built into the browser, including the option to save directly to the cloud in the form of Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive (read our comparison).
These are all good options, but none of them are our pick for the, as we prefer Sync.com (read our ).There’s also support for gamepads, keyboard and mouse on iOS, which is excellent for playing browser games. The iOS version also gives you access to a news reader, as well as light and dark themes, but that’s it in terms of customization. Other Reasons We Like PuffinIf you do most of your browsing on iOS, Puffin might be the best browser for you.
However, if you have need for cross-device synchronization and a solid browsing experience on desktop, you might want to look elsewhere.That said, users worried about their security or privacy while browsing should seriously consider Puffin, despite its shortcomings, as no browser can even come close to competing with it in this particular arena. Honorable MentionsNow that we’ve covered the five best browsers for Mac and iOS, it’s time to look at two that didn’t make it onto our list, but still have something to them.Opera is not a bad browser by any means, and it in fact received excellent scores in both features and ease of use in our.
Unfortunately, its privacy is terrible, and both security and speed are mediocre at best.Nonetheless, Opera comes with a lot of neat minor features, such as a built-in VPN and social media integration, in addition to support for Chrome’s huge extension library.Safari is the default browser and comes preinstalled on both iOS and Mac. Although we’re not big fans of the Safari browser, if all you’re looking for is a fast browser with low resource consumption, then it’s a decent option.However — as we covered in our — it also suffers from a dearth of features, a frustrating UI and terrible security, which is why it didn’t make it onto our main list. Final ThoughtsAlthough Vivaldi is our favorite browser overall, the lack of an iOS version severely hurts it in this comparison, but we still felt it deserved a spot for its excellent showing on Mac. Instead, Brave — our second-favorite browser overall — snatches the victory by offering a browser that excels in every category across all of Apple’s devices.Firefox, Chrome and Puffin are also all great choices, but for very different reasons. Firefox is excellent all-round, while Chrome’s huge extension library and clean UI acts as a counterbalance to its terrible record on privacy and unquenchable hunger for RAM.Puffin, meanwhile, benefits greatly from a unique approach to browsing that ensures great performance, security and privacy. Unfortunately, although it performs very well on iOS, on Mac it’s a very different story, as there it’s often sluggish and unresponsive, and you even need to pay a subscription to use it. Still, we felt the excellent iOS version earned it a spot on our list.What browser do you use on your Mac or iOS device?
Did we leave out your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.
Thank you for reading. I stick with Safari for it’s good integration with the Apple ecosystem because I am vested into that system. I have tried Brave which works well but is just too busy trying to implement an over complicated crypto bit coin system which is an opt in but still provides a confusing layer to the browser. Firefox has always interest me, but lacks too much in battery life to consider right now. Chrome does have the more optimal choice if you do not use Safari.
Its cross platform which Safari lacks, and it has great extension and web compatibility. Safari’s Windows version hasn’t been supported in years and does not get security updates. Vivaldi to me is the browser pro’s dream browser with all sorts of function and customizing. But it’s overkill for so many who just want a browser without all the bell’s and whistles.
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January 2023
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