The 2020 Browser Battle: Surfing With Speed
by Brett Howse on September 10, 2020 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Software
- Browsers
- Mozilla
- Google Chrome
- Microsoft Edge
What’s in a Browser?
Perhaps the most interesting part of testing these browsers is just how the results are a snapshot in time. With credit to Google, browser development happens at a very rapid pace, so these results may skew one way or another with time, with the tendency for better performance as time goes on, but sometimes there is some degradation as well. It will be interesting to check back again in a year.
Microsoft Browser Evolution
When Windows 10 was first announced, Microsoft was very keen to promote their new browser, eventually named Edge. They took their Trident rendering engine from Internet Explorer, and stripped it back to its core, then rebuilt it as a more modern, and more standards compliant browser than they had ever done previously. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Google’s Chrome browser continued to gain usage share, and with it came developers testing against Chrome. There was a years-long PR war with Microsoft begging developers to write websites to standards and features, rather than just based on a User Agent String, but that war was lost, and in a surprising, but also necessary move, Microsoft abandoned its browser and joined the Chromium gang. While it is great to see them embracing open source and the Chromium project, it is also somewhat sad to see the open web consolidating so much around Chromium. Firefox remains the only major browser in the PC space to not utilize Chromium. Apple continues to utilize WebKit, which was the code base that Chromium’s Blink came from, but Apple’s strong developer relations (current feuds not withstanding) and presence in the mobile market will keep WebKit as a valid option for them.
Google Chrome is currently the most popular browser on the PC
While there was no decisive winner in any category, there were trends in the data worth covering. First, the performance of all modern browsers is similar enough that choosing a browser based only on performance is not necessary. It should be features that drive usage, and it seems like we are close enough on performance to see that happen. Of the Chromium-based browsers, somewhat surprisingly Google Chrome was not the winner here, at least with the versions tested. Microsoft has made the best of their move to a new browser engine, outperforming both Chrome and Opera by a small margin in all tests. The differences were not massive, but they were there consistently. Mozilla Firefox was able to hold its own as well, scoring a few wins, and almost obtaining the same HTML5 score as well.
On the battery life side, it is clear that Microsoft did give up its advantage there, with classic Edge easily outclassing the field, but with low usage, and issues with website compatibility mostly stemming from the low usage, Microsoft will have to continue their efforts, but this time those efforts will be shared among all of the Chromium browsers. In our testing, Chromium Edge, as it did on the performance side, slightly outperformed Chrome and Opera. Firefox was not quite as competitive, but not so far from the rest that it would likely sway someone to use another browser over Firefox if that is already their preference, unless they really need that extra runtime.
It may seem a bit anti-climactic to say that all the browsers tested performed well, but that was the case. Choosing a browser based purely on performance is not necessary at the moment, as no single browser easily out-muscles its competitors. One of the big questions was in regards to Microsoft’s move from EdgeHTML to Blink, but it is definitely a win in terms of browser compatibility, and even if it did result in a net-loss of power savings, having a power efficient browser you can not use on your favorite website helps no one. Chromium Edge has been in alpha and beta versions for some time, and Microsoft started making it available as a released version earlier this year. The new Edge is great and should only get better. Whether it puts a dent in Google’s dominance is something only time will tell.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
121 Comments
View All Comments
Gigaplex - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link
If we get complacent and stop testing, the quality will go downhill.TheJian - Sunday, September 13, 2020 - link
ROFL. That already happened. It's why I'm still on firefox 50's (ESR stopped at ~53.x before jumping to BS new versions). A browser without multi-row tabs in 2020? WTF? You all failed. Firefox=chrome now...Again, firefox, you failed to realize who you are. DIFFERENT, CUSTOMIZATION. Now, you're just chrome lite, I mean, chrome sh!te. LOL. My family hasn't ENJOYED the web since firefox gave up. Dad's on opera now (minor complaints, he just suffers through with lots of groaning all day), moms on new firefox (accidently updated) and wants to kill her PC, and I'm on old firefox which even rottentomatoes is attacking now as not being supported...WTF do you care about my browser for anyway RT? RT is just the new GAY IMDB now anyway as if IMDB didn't own that title lock stock and barrel already. We need a new TV site...LOL. But yeah, start doing browser articles on how each has destroyed their users fun. Start doing articles highlighting what they are NOT doing, as what they ARE doing sucks already and I have no need to read about how much worse they're getting. I can see that daily. They all suck now.lioncat55 - Monday, September 14, 2020 - link
Man, who hurt you. Your family can't enjoy browsing the web now? WTF is that. Unless your compiling your own browser, most people don't remotely care about the browser they use.Also, stacked tabs? F that, that just adds on more tool bars, what are you using a 800x400 crt, do you want your browser window to be 80x400 with all the old tool bars.
Carmen00 - Friday, September 11, 2020 - link
Definitely not! The browser wars are still ongoing, and I hope that there will continue to be choice in the browser world. We've seen the terrible things that happen to standards and software when a single dominant browser decides to do its own thing, just because of its market position ... looking at you in particular, IE and Chrome. I hope that we never end up in a "Best Viewed With Browser X" scenario again — and if you don't know what I'm talking about here, thank your lucky stars. But with choice comes the necessity of seeing how good all the choices are, and this article is exceptionally useful in that regard.From the article,
"There was a years-long PR war with Microsoft begging developers to write websites to standards and features, rather than just based on a User Agent String, but that war was lost, and in a surprising, but also necessary move, Microsoft abandoned its browser and joined the Chromium gang."
Now, for those of us who remember (and had to code for) the IE6 days, this "write standard code" attitude from Microsoft was preceded by YEARS of completely ignoring the standards and telling developers to suck it up and ONLY write for IE6. They trained devs to look at the user-agent string. They created the problem, and ironically, they're the ones who had to abandon their own technology because of it!
lmcd - Friday, September 11, 2020 - link
Microsoft abandoned its browser way before then, when the Windows team or whoever is above them decided the Edge team should be stuck on a 6-month release cycle with no backports to old Windows 10 feature versions.grant3 - Sunday, September 13, 2020 - link
Would you mind clarifying: is it your opinion that it's GOOD or that it's BAD for a dominant browser engine to ignore web standards and force developers to look at user-agent strings?Or is it only bad in 2001, but good in 2020?
Or is it only bad when Microsoft does it, but good when Google does it?
Carmen00 - Sunday, September 13, 2020 - link
?? It's bad, period. Developers should never have to look at user-agent strings. What part of my post made you think that I think it's a good thing?It's just funny and ironic that it's Microsoft who made the problem and is now decrying it.
Lord of the Bored - Sunday, September 13, 2020 - link
Before Internet Explorer, we had "best with Netscape Navigator". Only diffrence was scripting to detect useragent wasn't really possible, so we put animated buttons in to make sure people knew what they were supposed to run.flyingpants265 - Saturday, September 12, 2020 - link
Firefox is clearly faster than Chrome but I don't understand why the UI sucks so bad. Just give us the option to make the UI identical pixel-for-pixel to Chrome, and I'll switch to FF instantly.JfromImaginstuff - Tuesday, September 15, 2020 - link
Well there some themes that you could use if all you're after is looks else I don't know