6 reasons why you should forget Chrome and use Firefox

When it comes to web browsers, you can't get around the fact that Google Chrome is far and away the most popular choice. The web has basically surrendered to Chrome's power, and almost every other browser uses the same Chromium engine to ensure that they can be compatible with most pages on the internet.

But Chrome isn't without competition. Most notably, Mozilla Firefox is still one of the top competitors, and a very notable one since it's the only major player (outside of Apple's Safari) to not use Chromium. Mozilla still develops its own engine, and Firefox is a completely different entity from Chrome. And because it's completely different, I'd argue there are a few good reasons to leave Chrome behind and switch to Firefox.

Here's why switching to Mozilla's browser is better for you and for the internet.

Mozilla is the last major player standing up to Chromium

One reason why you might want to support Firefox, even from a simple moral standpoint, is the idea of an open internet that isn't under any one company's control. Google Chrome is built on the open-source Chromium project, yes, which should mean everyone can see everything about what's behind it. But Google Chrome itself isn't just Chromium, and even then, the decisions on what makes it into Chromium aren't always controlled by the community at large.

Every browser aside from Firefox (and its derivatives like Floorp) or Safari is based on Chromium, which means they all have the same base, and that restricts freedom in web development to some extent. Everything is designed around Chromium, and both web developers and users are at the whim of how that project evolves.

Choosing Firefox supports the idea of multiple browser engines remaining available and supported by the internet, giving users more choice over their experience on the web. Plus, it helps ensure that the internet evolves in a way that generally benefits everyone.

5 The privacy

Google doesn't care about it

It's impossible to talk about Google without addressing how it is, in essence, an advertising company. That's how so much of its money is made, and that comes from the company's ability to specifically target ads to each user. How does that happen? It's well-known that Google collects all kinds of data from its users that help build profiles of them to make them more valuable to advertising partners. While Google has made some strides to improve privacy on its platforms, it's still obvious that ads and selling user information is essential to the company's business.

Mozilla, on the other hand, has always been a champion for user privacy on the internet, and it's the main reason the organization behind it hasn't given up. Firefox offers a range of privacy-protecting features including enhanced tracking protection, total cookie protection, and even fingerprinting protection to prevent websites and advertisers from building a profile of your usage based on your hardware. Firefox even has a built-in VPN to help protect your personal information from websites you visit. And Mozilla's commitment to respecting user privacy is found all throughout the foundation's website.

4 Most of your extensions are still available

Firefox uses the same extension platform

While Firefox is a completely separate entity from Chrome, Mozilla does recognize that some things are better off standardized. So if you're worried about your extensions not working on Firefox, that shouldn't be a problem.

Since 2015, Firefox has supported the WebExtensions platform that's also used by Chrome's extensions, meaning any extension developer can easily create their extension for Chrome and Firefox alike. It's not always a guarantee that an extension will be available for both browsers, but most of the big ones are, and if a specific extension isn't on Firefox, there's a good chance an alternative exists that's just as good.

And while the extension platform is the same, Firefox still has the freedom to change certain implementations. You may have heard about the controversial Manifest V3 changes that are coming to Chrome extensions next year, which will greatly affect how effective content blockers such as uBlock Origin can be. While Firefox is also adopting Manifest V3, Mozilla has said it will keep supporting the WebRequest feature that content blockers rely on to function properly, meaning developers can continue developing this feature and providing effective content blocking. And yes, Firefox will also support the new declarativeWebRequest that replaces it, to ensure compatibility with Chrome extensions isn't affected going forward.

What's more, Firefox actually supports extensions on Android, too, something pretty much no other browser is doing.

3 Better performance

Based on our testing, at least

Measuring browser performance is complicated, and there are a lot of variables to consider. However, I will point out that when I did my research on the best gaming browsers, I found that Firefox was significantly lighter on resources than Google Chrome.

Indeed, while opening the same set of tabs, Firefox used about 700MB of RAM, whereas Google Chrome was hovering around 1.2GB. Now, using more RAM isn't always a bad thing (it's there for a reason), but if Firefox can do the same thing while using fewer resources, that sounds like an advantage to me. I'd recommend at least giving it a try and seeing how it goes for you.

2 Better PDF handling

Chrome is as basic as it gets

Browsers have been the easiest way to open a PDF file for a long time now, but it's surprising just how basic and barebones the integration in Chrome is. Essentially, all you can do is open a PDF file, view it, and print it. You can view PDF annotations or hide them, but that's about it.

Mozilla actually put some effort in to make its PDF reader decent in Firefox. Not only do you have basic viewing functionality with multiple options for how documents are presented, but you can also make some actual edits. Firefox supports pen, highlighter, and text box tools to add more context to a PDF file. Perhaps even more interesting is that you can add images to the PDF file, too.

All the options are clearly presented, and navigating PDF files in Firefox is so much better than Chrome. This is an easy win for Firefox.

1 An actual reading mode

And Pocket integration

An important feature in making the web more accessible to users is reading mode, a capability that makes webpages more readable by removing most custom formatting and extraneous content like ads. Most browsers have a reading mode available, but Google Chrome's is shockingly bad.

Reading mode in Google Chrome opens in a tiny sidebar that barely lets you see more than one paragraph at a time. You can resie the sidebar, but why split the view in the first place? And in terms of options, well, you can change text size, font, and a couple of other settings, but nothing too crazy. Specifically, there's no option to listen to the article. And this is to say nothing of how hard it is to even toggle reading mode in Chrome, since the option is hidden away in the menu.

Firefox has this down to a tee. You click the reading mode button in the address bar, and the entire page transforms into this reading view that is much cleaner and far more capable than Chrome's. For one thing, Firefox provides an estimate of how long an article will take to read, which is a great start already.

All the text and theming options are also available here, but Firefox lets you listen to the article, too, so you don't have to focus on it exclusively. And then, of course, there's Pocket integration.

I remember Pocket integration being a bit controversial at first, but this is a neat service that saves any article or webpage to view later, and it syncs across devices, including Android and iOS. Wherever you open it, you have the option to view an article in this clean reading mode without unnecessary extras, as well as listen to it out loud. And now that Pocket has been acquired by Mozilla, you don't have to worry about your data potentially leaving Mozilla's hands nearly as much. Google does have a reading list feature, but just like reading mode, it's sort of hidden in the menus and not a major feature at all.

Firefox does a lot right

I've never a been a big fan of Google Chrome, and I've actively avoided using it for a long time. If you're looking to make the switch as well, Firefox is an excellent alternative with some great features and benefits that make it an extremely important part of today's internet. Moral reasons alone are a great reason to support Firefox, but it helps that there's a great browser behind it, too.