Hello, and welcome to my first blog post. I’m excited to start this. I’ve been using Firefox since I was 11. Two years ago, I switched to LibreWolf. LibreWolf was great, but the slower websites became a deal-breaker for me. I’ve always prioritised privacy, and I was willing to make trade-offs, but if websites become that slow, that’s not acceptable.
I considered Brave, Helium, and Ladybird. Ladybird isn’t out yet, which is disappointing, but I’ll return to it later. I also dismissed Helium quickly because it has no sync :(
Both have ad blockers:
Both rely by default on EasyList, so the ad-blocking experience is essentially the same. Both also offer an extensive range of pre-made filter lists to select from.
LibreWolf uses Firefox’s default resist fingerprinting option and all the features Firefox has. Brave has its own fingerprinting resistance feature, which we’ll discuss later.
In every use case I tested, Brave is faster. V8 (Brave’s engine) is significantly faster than SpiderMonkey (Firefox’s engine). This was a major factor in my decision.
Both browsers support extensions (duh). The Chrome Web Store is under Google’s domain, but I only use two extensions: BitWarden and LibRedirect. Both browsers update quickly, usually within 24 hours, which isn’t a concern for me.
I think LibreWolf is the best browser available. The only reason Brave has an edge is that it’s Chromium-based. The browser war and web APIs no longer matter as much, so, in my opinion, people who say Chromium is inferior because of Google are mistaken.
There is a risk of fingerprinting with Brave, but we’ll address that later.
V8 is faster. That’s all. That alone was a major reason for me to switch.
I tested both browsers for fingerprinting resistance using fingerprint.com.
So Brave performed shit in this test.
I do not use any FAANG websites. I use LibRedirect for YouTube and Reddit and Brave Shields to block most trackers.
This is a personal choice. I block most trackers with Brave Shields, which is a trade-off I’m comfortable with.
Primarily for performance. LibreWolf broke a lot of sites for me. After applying the recommended settings for Brave, I can almost match LibreWolf’s privacy stance.
Firefox’s web API choice is more privacy-friendly, but Brave’s speed and stability won me over.
Ladybird is a new browser, not based on Chromium or Gecko (Firefox) or anything like dat. It seems to prioritise privacy and selective web API implementation. The alpha should be released this year; I’ll likely switch to it.
At the end of the day, it’s your choice. You can achieve almost the same privacy features with Brave, but LibreWolf (and Firefox) will always be superior in that regard. Brave is for-profit and makes money from ads, which I block at the DNS level. LibreWolf does not even accept donations.