I already use Firefox for browsing normally, but I have to test on a Chromium based browser too. One soft requirement is that it should be installable with Flatpak on Linux.
Unless something’s changed recently, you can just install the Chromium browser itself. And it looks like it’s available as a Flatpak. As a bonus this will eliminate anything extra added by browser manufacturers as a potential problem.
Yes. I’ve considered that, but does it still report back to Google? Even though that majority of what I visit will be “http://127.0.0.1:8080”, I’d still rather not be spied on by Google.
How about Ungoogled Chromium?
I though that was Linux only, but I just looked it up and it is also available on Mac.
It’s not available on Windows, but I’m ok with that.
I will add that to the list to try out.
Definitely available on Windows too, here: https://chromium.woolyss.com/#windows
I’m confused. In your initial post, the only OS you mentioned was Linux:
One soft requirement is that it should be installable with Flatpak on Linux.
But you don’t use/want a Linux browser…?
I mostly code on Linux, but I also code on Mac, since I have to test on Safari. I don’t really ever code on Windows. Windows exists on a separate disk in my computer just to boot into every 3 or 4 months when I release a new version of a desktop app and need to build for Windows.
So I want a browser that at least works on Linux and Mac. What I meant in my post was I wanted it installable through Flatpak rather than a snap or deb, since I use Fedora.
It does phone home, but with the right DNS settings you can block that. Heck, if you’re just going to localhost you can disconnect the machine from the network entirely.
I use Vivaldi because of it’s tab management.
I have it configured to put the tabs in a bar on the right side of the screen. That way you have full tab titles no matter how many you have open.
It’s also got a tiling window manager. So you can select two tabs and tell it to split screen them within the single window of Vivaldi. Or select 3, or 4, or whatever and put them in a grid. All sorts of options.
I’ve got big 4k monitors, so I’ve grouped up some pinned tabs to always be tiled (like my email and calendar)
It’s got lots of other nice tab features and just regular features, but those are the main selling ports for me personally.
plus 1 for Vivaldi. No complaints here.
Yess! Came here to recommend Vivaldi too. I switched from Brave for same reason as OP, and looked at a few options… Vivaldi won. It’s been a couple months and I haven’t looked back.
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I don’t like Google trackers.
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Yeah, this is a contender. No Windows build and no sync are the downsides, but neither is a deal breaker, since I’m only testing with it, and I code on Linux and Mac.
If you’re using Windows, Edge is an option. You already have the Microsoft telemetry watching you regardless of using Edge, so you might as well use it if you need chrome for testing or a specific website.
I try as hard as I can to never boot into Windows. The only time I ever do is to build a Windows version of one of my desktop apps.
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Does vanilla Chromium have Google trackers?
Yes. https://www.chromium.org/Home/chromium-privacy/
But not nearly as many tracking mechanisms as Chrome, because it lacks API keys for some services. By default, it will still send the URL of every page you visit to Google, though. At least that’s my understanding, reading their privacy policy.
But it also doesn’t update itself, doesn’t seem to have a working Mac build (the one on their website doesn’t launch), and doesn’t sync (which I can live without, but end-to-end encrypted sync is nice).
Thanks!
You don’t want google tracking you while you test your website? Why not?
The best Chromium browser in terms of compatibility is of course Google Chrome.
The best in terms of privacy is Vivaldi. (and i hate Vivaldi).
I haven’t tried Vivaldi. Is it available on Linux?
Edit: Looks like they do with both .deb and .rpm packages. They’re not on Flatpak, but the rpm would work for me on Fedora.
There’s Thorium… which is basically “The same thing but with lots of tweaks”.
Thanks, I’m gonna give it a try, but I’m a bit confused: why are there a public, webview and shell version to download (android)?
I just saw someone on Mastodon saying they replaced Chrome with Vivaldi, so maybe that?
Vivaldi is pretty good. It’s my second choice of browser after Firefox
Maybe I’m out of the loop, but what did Brave do?
Their latest thing that pushed me to look for a new testing browser is installing a system wide VPN on your computer without your consent.
I think there’s no good option. Your best bet is probably to run chrome in some sort of temporary vm so there’s nothing worth tracking. Maybe there’s a docker image with chrome ?
This page might be helpful.
This is awesome! Thank you.
Unfortunately, based just on this, Brave seems to be the best, but there’s additional stuff in Brave that makes it much less appealing.
Does the DDG browser report back to Google?
I would assume not, but isn’t that a mobile only browser?
They have a Mac version and a Windows beta, but I don’t think there’s one for Linux available yet.
I didn’t know that! Awesome! I hope there’s a Linux version soon, then I’ll probably switch to it.
I really like Vivaldi for sites that dont like to play well with Firefox.
if you use Windows and want to have Chrome, why not just use Edge? It’s just conveniently therr, you need nothing to install.
It works with everything that “needs” chrome.
edit: one comment gave me the idea you use Windows but now I’m not sure in it. if not, then sry, ignore this comment :)
I don’t use Windows much, but Edge is available on Mac and Linux. I’m just not a fan of all the “features” they put in it. I’m looking for more of a clean browser experience, if you get what I mean.
I think you can’t go more clean than Chromium. Pretty sure all browsers based on Chromium has some extra features, since those are the only differences in them. Vivaldi, Brave, Maxthon etc…, the same engine in different car, with different extras.
this is why I usually recommend people to use Edge if they really want Chrome, since on Windows, it’s already there. But yeah, on Linux, I wouldn’t really tell anyone to apt install edge.
Why not use Chromium then?
I just discovered Thorium the other day.
I’ve been using it for a few months now and it’s great. Firefox is my main browser but a chromium based one is good to have. Wonder why it asks for my password every now and then but think it’s likely auto update stuff.
Now this looks promising! The list of improvements and patches looks really nice.
Tempest browser is basically Brave but without the Crypto stuff. It’s still in beta atm so take that as you will.
I tend to use Falkon, which is developed by the KDE community…
I don’t see a Mac build. Are they planning to support Mac?
Oh, I rather doubt it.
It is built on top of Qt, so I assume, theoretically, it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to do the port, but you need someone who regularly tests+fixes it under macOS. And well, it’s a non-commercial project, so you need someone who volunteers to do that…
The KDE team is awesome, and they already have Mac devs. So maybe if people show support for it, they’d do it. :)
Possible, yeah. Falkon was previously an independent project (QupZilla). I don’t know how much they’ve intermingled with the other KDE devs yet, but that’s certainly no insurmountable problem either.
