Top 5 Best Web Browsers to Use in 2026

Howdy folks, Brett here. To qualify to make our list of the top 5 web browsers to use in 2026, I must have used them actively as my default browser for at least 2 weeks over the past year. They must have cross-platform support for all the major operating systems, Windows, macOS, and Linux, and also have apps for both iOS and Android with support for syncing your data. I won't be including any of the so-called AI-specific web browsers like Perplexity Comet, Opera Neon, and ChatGPT Atlas. According to many of the top security experts, they pose significant security, privacy, and functional risks. Some concerns include prompt injection attacks where malicious websites trick the AI into executing harmful commands, massive data leakage creating risks for unauthorized data sharing, and unreliable security where the default settings are optimized for user experience rather than safety making them less secure than traditional browsers. Starting off our countdown, coming in at number 5 is Microsoft Edge. I have a love-hate relationship with this browser. Let me get the first negative out of the way, which you can see on your screen. While it does have some co-pilot AI features built in, which are optional, calling it your AI browser is just stupid. It's not an AI browser in the same way as those I mentioned earlier. Now for the positive. Included are useful performance features that include Sleeping Tabs, which puts inactive tabs to sleep when not in use, Energy Saver saves power and helps save battery usage when using a laptop, and there's Startup Boost to help launch Edge quicker. Edge has a decent-looking interface and useful tools built in. Split Screen comes in handy for those times you have one monitor to view two tabs at the same time. To use it, select the Split Screen icon to the right of the address bar. You can search here or enter a web address, choose a site you frequently visit, or select a tab that you have open. The Screenshot tool comes in handy as well to capture what is on your screen. Also to the right of the address bar, selecting its icon lets you capture a specific area of what is visibly seen on your screen, and it can capture a full webpage from top to bottom. Microsoft Edge would be higher in this list if it did not nag all the time to try out its various features or beg to be the default browser, and I'm kind of worn out with their marketing of Copilot within Edge. Instead of caring more about what the Wall Street types want to boost their stock, they should focus more on the individual user experience, but that probably won't happen. Next up, coming in at number four, is Google Chrome. Lacking features found in most other browsers, sometimes it's best to use a basic web browser like this if you just want to browse the web with less distractions. But if you do want more features, their Chrome web store has tons of extensions to enhance the functionality of their browser, and other browsers built on Chromium, which is all on our top five, except our number three pick coming up. While Chrome does have built-in AI, it's not begging you to use it, unlike our number five pick. To quickly see the extensions you have installed in Chrome, click the extensions icon to the right of the address bar. Clicking the pin icon or any extension will make it easily available here at the top as well. Coming in at number three is Mozilla Firefox. This free and open source browser is the oldest in our top five. It first launched in 2004, which is four years before Chrome, which was released in 2008. While not being perfect at any one thing, it is great for privacy and security. The performance is good and has customization features that won't overwhelm the average user. By default, third-party cookies are blocked. It blocks those annoying videos that autoplay on websites, and it blocks social media trackers from sites like Facebook. Recently, Firefox announced that it'll be getting AI features, but thankfully, those will be disabled by default. Firefox also has a screenshot tool built in as well, but to use it, right-click on the page and select take screenshot. To capture a specific area, you can left-click and drag the area and then select download or copy. I'll cancel that. Or to capture what is on your screen or a full page from top to bottom, you'll see both of those options here in the upper right. To enhance the functionality of Firefox and to customize the look, extensions and themes are available in their add-on store. In fact, Firefox was the first browser to offer extensions. Before we get to our top two, here are the other browsers I tested this past year that might be worth your time to check out. Apple Safari, built into macOS, is a decent browser. Its best feature is using it to download other browsers that are much better than Safari. Opera has three browsers I tested this past year, the first of which is their mainstream browser simply called Opera. It does have a ton of features. It's available for all the major platforms, but many people have trust issues with it. While it is developed in Norway, it is Chinese owned. The Opera Air browser is a fully functional browser with a minimalistic design to make you feel more calm while using it. It's available for Windows and macOS with no mobile apps. And the last of the Opera browsers I tested is Opera GX. This one is geared towards gamers and power users, offering unique built-in features. It's available for all the major platforms except Linux, where it's currently in development. The Tor browser is an open source modified version of Firefox that uses the Tor network to anonymize web traffic and protect users online. It's available for all of the major platforms except iOS. And the last of our bonus picks I tested is the Z browser, also based on Firefox. It's free and open source and similar to Opera Air in that it attempts to minimize distractions to help with productivity. It's available for Windows, macOS, and Linux with no mobile apps at this time. Jumping up to our number two spot this year is Brave. This open source browser is the best for privacy. When tested by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, it had the best results in their Cover Your Tracks privacy test. It has a ton of features. Its Brave shield blocks trackers and cross-site cookies by default. It allows for vertical tabs to better organize your tabs, has a speed reader to declutter web pages, and a whole lot more. It even has its very own search engine called Brave Search that's really good. Unlike most other search engines, its search does not use Google or Bing as its web crawler. On any site, to see how many ads, trackers, and other stuff are being blocked, click on the Brave shield to the right of the address bar. And you can see here it's blocking 60. You can also turn this off if a site is not loading properly or you're just curious to see what a website looks like with nothing being blocked. I'll turn that back on. That is so much better. And the speed reader located to the right of the address bar, when clicked on, makes a web page more readable without the clutter. Taking the top spot, coming in at number one is Vivaldi. It's my default browser when I'm not testing out others. Created by one of the founders of Opera back when it used to be great, it's based in Norway and the company is employee-owned. For productivity, no other browser can match its features. It has tab tiling to view web pages side by side. Tab stacking is great for those times you have a bunch of tabs open. Web panels to easily access your favorite sites in a side panel. It has its own built-in email client, screenshot tool, and a private newsread feeder. It's also great for privacy and security with blockers of various types and now has ProtonVPN built in, which is one of our favorites, available with free and paid plans. Available for all the major platforms, it has a great looking interface. Real quickly, when on a site, left of the address bar, clicking on the shield lets you decide the blocking level for sites. In the upper right corner is where you can access the VPN for extra privacy, but on the free plan, you can't choose the location of the server. Let's go to the left side bar here. This comes in handy to access your bookmarks and other stuff, including your favorite sites. And in the bar here at the bottom, on the right side, there's a screenshot tool to capture what is on your screen. And to the right of that, page tiling to tile vertically, horizontally, and tile to grid allows you to tile four tabs within one window. Here's what it looks like vertically. And moving your cursor in between both lets you make each side bigger or smaller. Thanks for watching. If this video was useful for you, give it a thumbs up and share it with others. What is your favorite web browser and why do you use it? Let me know in the comments. And if you're new to our channel, subscribe and make sure to click the bell to not miss out on our newest top fives and other tech related stuff here on Brett in Tech.