What just happened? The first attribute most people want in a browser is speed – waiting even three or four extra seconds for a page to load can seem an eternity in internet time. If that is the only thing important to you, then look no further than Chrome, which beat five other browsers in tests for web page rendering, JavaScript and graphics. But there are other considerations, too, starting with Chrome's habit of collecting a voracious amount of user data.
How fast a web page loads depends on many factors, starting, of course, with your broadband speed. But the browser you are using can have a significant impact as well, as PCWorld set out to prove.
Browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, or Safari will perform differently when interpreting HTML, executing scripts, or loading graphics and videos, contributor Steffen Zellfelder pointed out. To find out which browser performed best at these tasks, the publication tested them on a mid-range system that featured an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti graphics, 16 GB of DDR4-3200 memory, and a Samsung 970 Evo SSD. For the operating system, it opted for Windows 10 version 22H2.
Zellfelder put Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Microsoft Edge, Brave, and Vivaldi through their paces using three benchmark tools: Speedometer 3.0, Jetstream2 and Motionmark 1.3.
Speedometer tests web page rendering. Jetstream is more focused on assembly and JavaScript. To perform well in this test, browsers must start quickly and not waste time executing code. Motionmark tests in-browser graphics, which means the browsers have to fulfill complex tasks and achieve a certain frame rate in complex animations.
The bottom line is that Chrome came first in Speedometer and second in the other two benchmarks by a very thin margin. PCWorld dubbed Google's browser the clear winner – especially as it was only a few points short of taking first place three times.
But there are other considerations when selecting a browser. As PCWorld noted, Google's business model is based on data processing and Chrome collects a disproportionate amount of user data. Meanwhile, Firefox, which came in last place for Jetstream and the graphics benchmark, makes data protection a priority.
Security is also an important factor to most users who want to see robust features and frequent updates to protect against threats. In this case, Brave has been ranked as one of the most secure browsers available.
Also, if you use multiple devices, a browser that can sync bookmarks, passwords, and browsing history across platforms would be important to you. Here, Chrome is a leading candidate as it has built-in sync functionality that is easy to turn on.
And while the average web surfer may not be interested in this, market share can be important too, as the more popular browsers often have better support and compatibility with websites.