Comparison Of Web Browsers

Comparison Of Web BrowsersNOTE: For the sake of clarity I will be going back to update all Chromium based browsers to ensure all connections are correctly monitored and noted. I will also be going back to add comments on addition browsers as time goes on.This is a forensic examination of web browser privacy modes, in order to ensure the best comparison possible, I will not be listing proprietary browsers in this list. In order to make a fair comparison I will be going through several steps to ensure a fair comparison, some of these steps are...

A Clean Lab using Fedora (A fresh install will be used for every browser). This is to mimic a typical user's defaults.

Using the latest build as of the Timestamp listed and listing of the Build Number.

Detail on connections made by default. On Start / On Search.

Detail on connections made after adjustments to the browser. On Start / On Search.

Listing all necessary steps needed to reduce connections.

A test connection using Tor and Tor-Socks.

After these controls and steps have been completed I will be rating the browser 0-5 Stars, each category earns 1-Point based on the following...

Connections by default / Connections after adjustments (0-2 Points)

Auto-updates available and can be disabled (0-1 Points)

Add-On support (0-1 Points)

Ability to use Tor and Tor-Socks (0-1 Points)

A firm recommendation to ensure privacy is to maintain updates to the browser of your choosing and additional add-ons like a ad-blocker, JavaScript toggle, etc if available.Browser Engines

ENGINE

PARENT

LICENSE

DETAILS

Blink

Google

GNU LGPL / BSD-style

Blink is a 2013 fork of WebKit's WebCore component by Google.

Gecko

Mozilla

Mozilla Public

Gecko is developed by the Mozilla Foundation.

Goanna

Moonchild

Mozilla Public

Goanna is a fork of Gecko developed by Moonchild Productions.

KHTML

KDE

GNU LGPL

KHTML is developed by the KDE project.

Servo

Linux Foundation

Mozilla Public

Servo is being developed cooperatively by Mozilla and Samsung.

WebKit

Apple

GNU LGPL / BSD-style

WebKit is a fork of KHTML by Apple Inc.

Browsers

BROWSER

LICENSE

ENGINE

RATING 0-5 STARS

BREAKDOWN

Basilisk

MPL-2.0

Goanna

* * * *

Version=52.9.2021.12.14

On start Basilisk only connects to https://detectportal.palemoon.org/success.txt by default.

With basic adjustments this can be removed in about:config.

Auto-updates are available and can be disabled.

With availability to Legacy add-ons for Firefox and it's own 'store' you do have options available though not up to date or was wide of a selection.

Has no issues using tor network. Moonchild Productions, specifically New Tobin Paradigm, however does not support the use of the Tor Network.

Brave

MPL-2.0

Blink

* * *

Version=1.36.23

Brave using Chromium as a base holds to system-wide proxy and port settings. While connections are made to multiple services, I had issues with filtering what connections my system made and what connections Brave made by default.

Auto-updates to Brave however is available and can be disabled in the settings.

With Brave it does have a vast collection of add-ons available and comes prepackaged with it's own Add-Blocker based on ublock-origin and it's own Tor settings.

Even with it's own Tor settings, you can use Tor and Tor-Socks for Brave in isolation.

Chromium

BSD

Blink

* * *

Version=93.0.4577.82

Chromium holds to system-wide proxy and port settings. While connections are made to multiple services, I had issues with filtering what connections my system made and what connections Chromium made by default.

Auto-updates is available and can be disabled in the settings.

Chromium does have a vast collection of add-ons available.

While having system-wide proxy and port settings, Chromium has no issues connecting to the Tor network.

Comodo-Dragon

BSD

Blink

...

Comodo-IceDragon

MPL-2.0

Gecko

...

Dooble

BSD-3-Clause

Blink

...

Falkon

GPL-3.0-or-later

Blink

...

GNU-Icecat

MPL-2.0

Gecko

* * * * *

Version=60.7.0

Connections made by default and after configurations are 0.

Auto-updates are disabled by default.

Icecat is forked from Firefox-ESR so it has a vast array of add-ons. Though some newer versions may not be available.

Icecat has no issues with connecting through tor, and has onion-button pre-installed.

K-Melon

GPL

Gecko

...

Konqueror

GPL-2.0-or-later

KHTML/WebKit

...

Links

GPL-2.0-or-later

Custom

...

Lynx

GPL-2.0-only

Fork-of-LibWWW

...

Mozilla-Firefox

MPL-2.0

Gecko/Servo

* * * *

Version=96.0.2

On start Firefox makes quite a few connections.

With basic adjustments these can be removed in about:config and user.js to only ping ocsp.sectigo.com and ocsp.digicert.com.

Auto-updates are available and can be disabled.

Firefox has a vast collection of add-ons available.

Has no issues using tor network.

NetSurf

GPL-2.0-only

Custom

...

Pale-Moon

MPL-2.0

Goanna

* * * *

Version=29.4.4

Connections made by default is to ocsp.pki.goog by default.

After basic adjustments in about:config this can be disabled.

Auto-updates are available and can be disabled.

Pale Moon 29.2.0 does not support legacy Firefox extensions anymore that are not ported. You do have options available though not up to date or was wide of a selection.

Has no issues using tor network. Moonchild Productions, specifically New Tobin Paradigm, however does not support the use of the Tor Network.

Qutebrowser

GPL-3.0-or-later

WebKit/QtWebEngine

...

Seamonkey

MPL-2.0

Gecko

* * * *

Version=2.53.10

On start Seamonkey makes 0 connections. Though this was only for the browser, Seamonkey however is an entire suite inlcuding Browser, Email, IM, and RSS.

Auto-updates are available and can be disabled.

Seamonkey has a little add-ons available, none considered standard.

Has no issues using tor network.

Surf

MIT

WebKit

...

W3M

MIT

Custom

...

Waterfox

MPL-2.0

Gecko

* * * *

Version=G4.0.6

On start Waterfox makes 0 connections. On search Waterfox makes 1 connection to ocsp.sectigo.com.

Auto-updates are available and can be disabled.

Waterfox being forked from Firefox, has a vast collection of add-ons available.

Has no issues using tor network.

Basilisk

Mozilla-Firefox

Pale-Moon

Waterfox

Moonchild Productions on Tor

Addition Sourceshttps://privacytests.org/AForensicExaminationOfWebBrowserPrivacyModes.pdfWebBrowserPrivacyWhatDoBrowsersSayWhenTheyPhoneHome.pdf