Tor
Tor, short for The Onion Router, is for enabling anonymous communication. It directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network, consisting of more…
Best Google Chrome Alternatives in 2026
10 private alternatives, vetted against our public criteria.
Chrome is built by an advertising company, and incognito mode does nothing to stop the profiling that funds it. The browsers below keep the modern web fully usable while dropping the telemetry, the forced sign-in, and the constant reporting home.
Mullvad Browser
Anti-fingerprinting Firefox fork built by the Tor Project and distributed by Mullvad VPN, designed to be used with a VPN. Available on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
LibreWolf
A modified version of Firefox designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including security improvements.
Brave
Fast, cross-platform Chromium browser that blocks ads and trackers by default. A complete package out of the box, suitable for beginners or when setup time matters.
Firefox
Reliable, fast and privacy-friendly. Harden it with add-ons, enable DNS-over-HTTPS, and sync across all your devices.
Cromite
Open-source Chromium fork for Android with built-in ad blocking and anti-fingerprinting. The actively maintained successor to Bromite.
Firefox Focus
Dedicated mobile privacy browser with automatic tracking protection and ad blocking. With Focus, your pages load faster and your data stays private.
Onion Browser
Free, open-source browser that routes your iOS traffic through the Tor network for extra anonymity.
DuckDuckGo
Privacy-focused search engine and mobile browser. Blocks trackers, forces encrypted connections, and does not profile you. Partially open-source, based in the US.
Orion
WebKit browser by Kagi for macOS and iOS with zero telemetry and support for Chrome and Firefox extensions.
Why settings won’t fix Chrome. The browser’s defaults and its direction are set by a company that sells ads, so even a hardened Chrome still steers the web toward ad measurement and still phones home in ways you cannot fully switch off. Choosing a different browser is also a vote against a single vendor controlling how the whole web renders.
What actually matters in a browser. Strong anti-fingerprinting and tracker blocking out of the box, no built-in telemetry, fast and frequent security updates, and sane privacy defaults so you are not stuck hunting through menus. Engine diversity counts too: a healthy web needs browsers that are not all the same Chromium core.
How to switch. Import your bookmarks and passwords, set your preferred private search engine as the default, and add a content blocker if one is not already built in. Sign into sync if the browser offers an encrypted version, and keep Chrome around for the odd site that misbehaves until you are confident nothing breaks.
Frequently asked
- Can I bring my bookmarks and saved passwords?
- Yes. Every browser here imports bookmarks, history, and saved passwords from Chrome in a couple of clicks, so the first launch already feels like home.
- Will my Chrome extensions still work?
- Most of these browsers run Chrome extensions, so your blockers and tools carry over. The few that use a different engine have their own add-on library covering the popular ones.
- Is a Chromium-based browser still Google underneath?
- Chromium is open source, and privacy-focused browsers strip out the Google sign-in, telemetry, and phone-home services before shipping. Using one keeps the web compatibility while cutting the data flows. Browsers on a separate engine avoid the dependence entirely.