Most of us are living our “digital lives” on the web. Whether it’s responding to emails, accessing an online service, doing research or keeping up with the latest news — a web browser is our window to the world. So it would be nice to know that the web browser is on our side, keeping our web whereabouts private and not allowing anyone to track us down online. Or at least, make it hard for third parties to do that.
With that in mind, here are what we consider to be the best web browser for privacy:
Opera Browser
One of the most popular alternative web browsers, Opera is used by 350 million people all over the world. It is available across devices and platforms, meaning that it can work both on your computer(s) and mobile devices.
Opera also has the ability to import bookmarks and passwords, making for an effortless switch from another browser. Plus, it’s a RAM-friendly app that, consequently, makes it faster than competing products.
In addition, as part of the deal – you get an integrated VPN and an ad blocker that will make for an even better browsing experience. The cool thing is that you get to enable/disable VPN based on the website you’re visiting; plus there is an option to use a VPN only in Incognito mode.
UR Browser
UR Browser packs some serious privacy features to keep you safe online, including a VPN that is combined with an unbreakable 2048-bit RSA encryption. Also, there is a built-in ad blocker that delivers that much cleaner experience with no pesky ads to deal with.
However, the most important thing users notice is the speed of UR Browser. Because the app is light on memory usage, it feels much smoother than Chrome. Even with a dozen tabs open, the browser is snappy and responsive.
Tor Browser
Tor (The Onion Router) is all about privacy but unfortunately, it can be slow. The reason for this is the way the Tor Network is structured; instead of using the infrastructure of a single or a few companies, Tor is relying on volunteers donating their (limited) resources to the network.
Nevertheless, with Tor Browser you are virtually impossible to trace. If that’s what you’re trying to achieve — you can at least want to give it a try.
Tor itself acts in a similar way to the VPN, changing your IP address in the process. And this in turn lets you access the content that could otherwise be outside of your reach.
Also read: Tor vs VPN
Epic Privacy Browser
Like a few other browsers mentioned above, Epic Privacy Browser also comes with a built-in VPN capability — letting you connect to servers in 8 countries.
Another privacy protection feature will let you block JavaScript trackers that are these days scattered all across the web. Plus, the ever-handy ad-blocker comes included, as well.
In addition, we would highlight the fancy Download Manager that lets you easily grab audio and video files from various websites.
Like Google Chrome, Epic Privacy Browser is based on the Chromium project, which means that the majority of Chrome extensions work with Epic.
Brave
Another browser based on the Chromium project, Brave will also let you use most (if not all) Chrome extensions. It’s a product heavily focused on privacy and the company behind it also operates a search engine of its own — which doesn’t track down its users.
The Brave browser and its search engine are meant to “constitute the industry’s first independent, privacy-preserving alternative to Google Chrome and Google Search.”
Alternatives and the bottom line
Aside from using a dedicated privacy-focused browser, you could also opt to try some of the plugins that will do the same thing. There are quite a few options out there for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. While they will get the job done — i.e. protect you against third-party trackers and remove ads — those who take their privacy seriously will get a full-blown web browser instead. And even combine it with a rock-solid VPN app — which will further protect their privacy and security. But, we’ll leave that part for some other article…