Google Chrome vs Mozilla Firefox

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is today’s most popular browser in the world, managing in early 2014 to capture a little over 42% of the world’s non-mobile browser usage, easily beating all of its competitors – Internet Explorer (18%), Mozilla Firefox (15%), Safari (6%) and Opera (2%).

This complete domination was achieved not only by smart utilization of the Blink rendering engine (forked from WebKit), which enabled Chrome to be imbued with incredible speed, stability and the ability to run on old computers with slow hardware, but also by the streamlining of the user interface and the introduction of advanced features that enabled all users to easily take advantage of numerous Google cloud services (cloud-hosted bookmarks, profile info, full integration into Google infrastructure, including Gmail, YouTube and more). But even though all these features were present, Chrome was very distinct in constantly trying to maintain its simplistic interface and feature set. This meant that even though it aimed to become the most widely used browser in the world, Chrome never got official support for many features, most notably the ability to natively collect, manage and render RSS feeds.

So what can you expect if you decide to start using the Chrome browser today? You can expect incredible speed built on one of the world’s fastest JavaScript engines, a fully-supported ability to customize your browser via the 3rd party extension marketplace, instant syncing of your browsing sessions between desktop and mobile, and free access to up to 15 GB of online storage with Google Drive (sizes may change depending on current promotions).

Why use Google Chrome?

Speed

Chrome is designed to be fast in every possible way. It’s quick to start up from your desktop, loads web pages in a snap, and runs complex web applications lightning fast.

Simplicity

Chrome’s browser window is streamlined, clean and simple. For example, you can search and navigate from the same box and arrange tabs however you wish – quickly and easily.

Security

Chrome is designed to keep you safer and more secure on the web with built-in malware and phishing protection, auto-updates to make sure you have all the latest security fixes, and more.

Privacy

Chrome is designed not only to be faster, but also to put you in control of your private information while helping protect the information you share when you’re online.

Personalization

There are tons of ways to customize Chrome and make it yours. It’s easy to tweak your settings and add apps, extensions, and themes from the Chrome Web Store.

Signing In

Signing in to Chrome brings your bookmarks, history, and other settings to all your computers. It also automatically signs you in to all your favorite Google services.

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source browser that played one of the key roles in expanding the way we experience the internet. Originally introduced to the market on September 23, 2002 under its original name “Phoenix” by Dave Hyatt, Joe Hewitt and Blake Ross, this browser immediately caught the attention of the public and managed to attract an incredible audience, becoming the biggest challenger to Internet Explorer’s domination for several years. Today in early 2014, Firefox holds a steady third place, closely behind Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Google’s Chrome.

The popularity of Mozilla Firefox was achieved by constant delivery of revolutionary features and services that made browsing the internet much more pleasant, streamlined and ready for serious professional use. These features include tabbed browsing, live bookmarking, an integrated download manager, on-the-fly spellchecking, an option for private browsing, increased security, stability, support for work on older PC configurations, support for all the most popular web standards (HTML4, HTML5, XML, CSS, and dozens of others) and maybe most importantly, the ability to use third party add-ons that can be created by users themselves. These add-ons were placed in an easy to use online marketplace that supported single-click installation of those plugins, which tremendously boosted the ability of users to customize their browser experience just the way they want it.

No matter if you are just being introduced to the world of the internet or you are a longtime user, the Firefox browser represents one of the best ways you can experience everything that the internet has to offer. Firefox offers:

Browsing Made Easy

Get to your favorite sites quickly – even if you don’t remember the URLs. Type your term into the location bar (aka the Awesome Bar) and the autocomplete function will include possible matches from your browsing history, bookmarked sites and open tabs.

High Performance

With faster start-up times, rapid graphics rendering and improved page load speed, the latest version of Firefox is full of major performance improvements you’ll notice instantly.

Advanced Security

Want to be extra sure about a site’s legitimacy before you make a purchase? Click on its favicon for an instant identity overview. Another click digs deeper: how many times have you visited? Are your passwords saved? Check up on suspicious sites, avoid Web forgeries and make sure a site is what it claims to be.

Powerful Personalization

The Add-ons Manager has been redesigned to let you discover and install add-ons without ever leaving Firefox. Browse ratings, recommendations, descriptions and pictures of the add-ons in action to help you make your selection.

The Cutting Edge

Site authors and developers will love Firefox’s new and enhanced functionalities. If creating advanced content and applications gets you excited, Firefox is the best browser choice.

Universal Access

Firefox supports open font formats like WOFF, TrueType and OpenType, meaning site designers are no longer limited to a select handful of web-ready fonts as they create their sites.

The Verdict

Both Chrome and Firefox are excellent browsers, and choosing between them really comes down to what you value most. If you want raw speed, a clean minimal interface and deep integration with Google services, Chrome is hard to beat. If you prefer an open source browser with unmatched customization through add-ons, Firefox is the one for you. Whichever you pick, do leave your comments and tell us which side you are on!