Browsers: tracking defaults, open code, and who pays
A browser is the window every website looks back through. Almost every browser in our comparison is free to download, so price rarely settles this one. What differs is what the browser blocks before you touch a setting, whether its code is published, and how the company behind it earns its money.
The short answer. If you want more privacy without changing how you browse, Firefox, Brave, Safari and the DuckDuckGo browser all block known trackers by default. If you want the strongest protection and can live with some friction, Tor Browser and Mullvad Browser are built to make their users look alike, so any one of them is harder to single out. Chrome is the most familiar, and Google's privacy policy lists Chrome browsing history synced to your Google Account among the things it collects. There is no single best browser: the harder a browser locks down its defaults, the more often an ordinary site breaks or slows.
What to compare
| Measure | The question to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Default protection | What does it block before you change anything? | Most people never open the settings |
| Open code | Is the browser's own code published, or only the engine under it? | Published code lets outsiders check the claims |
| Who pays | Search deals, ads, subscriptions, a nonprofit, or a separate product? | The funding shapes what the browser is built to protect |
| Everyday fit | Do your sites, extensions and devices still work? | A browser you abandon after a week protects nothing |
Weigh what you care about
Default protection. Firefox has switched on Enhanced Tracking Protection by default for new users since June 2019, blocking known third-party tracking cookies. Apple says Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention is on by default and hides your IP address from trackers. Brave says its Shields block trackers, cross-site cookies and fingerprinting with nothing to configure. Microsoft Edge ships at a level it calls Balanced, which aims to block trackers from sites you never engage with; Microsoft describes its Strict level as trading some site compatibility for more privacy.
The strongest end. Tor Browser isolates each site you visit so trackers and ads cannot follow you between them, and stops anyone watching your connection from seeing which sites you visit. The Tor Project says it can feel slower because traffic is routed through relays around the world, though it is much faster than it used to be. Mullvad Browser, developed with the Tor Project for Windows, macOS and Linux, calls itself a Tor Browser without the Tor network; without a trustworthy VPN alongside it, your IP address is not masked. LibreWolf, an independent version of Firefox, ships with uBlock Origin, but it has no automatic updates and disables playback of DRM-controlled content by default.
Open code. Mozilla publishes Firefox in a public repository. Mullvad Browser and Zen, another Firefox-based browser, publish theirs under the Mozilla Public License. Many browsers share an engine rather than build one: Vivaldi says about 92 per cent of its code comes from the open-source Chromium project and only its 5 per cent interface layer is closed. Safari's engine, WebKit, is open source, and Orion is built on WebKit too.
Who pays. Mozilla's 2024 annual report says the majority of its revenue has recently come from commercial search partnerships. The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Mullvad says it earns no money from its browser; its income comes from its VPN. Orion, which runs on Apple devices with Linux in beta and Windows still in development, says it is funded entirely by its users, with no ads. DuckDuckGo says its browser is free and that it makes money from search ads rather than from your data. Brave blocks other people's ads and sells its own, offering brands native ads across the browser and on Brave Search. At the far end, the European Commission lists Chrome and Safari as core platform services of designated gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act, the EU law for the largest platforms; in February 2024 it decided Edge should not be designated.
If you care most about...
There is no best browser for everyone. Match the browser to the thing you most want protected.
| If you care most about | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Not being followed from site to site, with no setup | Firefox, Brave, Safari, DuckDuckGo | Each blocks known trackers out of the box |
| Being hard to identify at all | Tor Browser | Site isolation plus the Tor network, at some cost in speed |
| Fingerprint defences on an ordinary connection | Mullvad Browser, paired with a VPN | Built with the Tor Project; the VPN hides your IP |
| Money that does not come from ads | Tor Browser, Mullvad Browser, Orion | A nonprofit, a separate VPN business, or user payments |
| Published code | Firefox, or a Firefox-based browser such as Zen | Public repositories anyone can read |
| Everything working as before | The browser you already have, at its stronger setting | Fewest surprises, and the change is free |
The switch that costs nothing
You may not need a new browser at all. Open the privacy settings of the one you have and look for a stronger level: Edge, for example, offers Strict above its Balanced default, and lets you switch protection off for a single site that breaks. If you sign in to your browser, check what it syncs; syncing less is free and takes a minute.
What we're not telling you
- Defaults change between releases. We checked these pages in September 2026; check the maker's current page before relying on any one fact.
- We do not score speed, battery use, or access for disabled users, and our scores read makers' documents rather than lab tests.
- Blocking trackers does not stop an account you are signed in to from recording what you do there.
How we made this
We take no money from any browser maker. Every fact above comes from a maker's own documentation, a regulator, or a nonprofit's support pages, all linked below. Each browser's scores, with the source behind every cell, are in the browsers comparison. If something has changed, tell us through Contribute and we will correct it.
Sources
- Mozilla: Enhanced Tracking Protection on by default (June 2019), checked 2026-09
- Mozilla Foundation 2024 annual report: financing an open internet, checked 2026-09
- Firefox source repository, checked 2026-09
- Apple privacy features, checked 2026-09
- WebKit, checked 2026-09
- Brave Shields, checked 2026-09
- Brave Ads, checked 2026-09
- Microsoft Edge tracking prevention, checked 2026-09
- Google privacy policy, checked 2026-09
- Tor Project home page, checked 2026-09
- Tor Project history, checked 2026-09
- Tor Project support: Tor Browser speed, checked 2026-09
- Mullvad Browser, checked 2026-09
- Mullvad Browser source repository, checked 2026-09
- LibreWolf, checked 2026-09
- LibreWolf FAQ, checked 2026-09
- Zen Browser source repository, checked 2026-09
- Vivaldi: why isn't Vivaldi open source?, checked 2026-09
- Orion Browser, checked 2026-09
- DuckDuckGo browser, checked 2026-09
- European Commission: DMA gatekeepers, checked 2026-09
- European Commission: iMessage, Bing, Edge and Microsoft Advertising not designated (13 February 2024), checked 2026-09