Ask HN: What browser do you use?

#1

Post by Pieczasz » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 2:23 PM UTC

At work, I use Chrome mainly because I work on an observability and analytics product, so it makes sense to use the browser that sends everything, everywhere by default.

Outside of work, though, I use Zen and have also been thinking about switching to Mullvad. Privacy-focused browsers, or even simple extensions like Mullvad, Zen, Brave, LibreWolf, or Firefox with uBlock Origin are easy to install and use these days, so I'm wondering why so many people still stick with Chrome, Safari, or Edge.

What keeps you using your current browser?

Re: Ask HN: What browser do you use?

#2

Post by stalfosknight » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 2:26 PM UTC

Safari because of the seamless integration with Apple platform features and because it is the most energy efficient browser while still being the most performant. It’s the best of all worlds.

Re: Ask HN: What browser do you use?

#3

Post by JohnFen » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 2:29 PM UTC

I came back to Firefox after a stint of trying others out. I returned because, despite all of its downsides, it's still the least bad option of the ones I've tried.

But (despite that I used to be hardcore Firefox user and advocate) I'm not married to any particular browser. It's so easy to change browsers that I'll do so the instant one that better meets my needs comes around.

Re: Ask HN: What browser do you use?

#4

Post by Pieczasz » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 2:45 PM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #3

I came back to Firefox after a stint of trying others out. I returned because, despite all of its downsides, it's still the least bad option of the ones I've tried. But (despite that I used to be hardcore Firefox user and advocate) I'm not married to any particular browser. It's so easy to change browsers that I'll do so the instant one that better meets my needs comes around.

Have you tried any other firefox based browsers, like Zen, or LibreWolf?

Re: Ask HN: What browser do you use?

#5

Post by Pieczasz » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 2:48 PM UTC

stalfosknight wrote: post #2

Safari because of the seamless integration with Apple platform features and because it is the most energy efficient browser while still being the most performant. It’s the best of all worlds.

If you are tied to apple ecosystem, then obviously Safari is going to be the fastest one since its apple specific so they can optimize it for their hardware, though I think with as powerful computers as we have right now, you can run almost any browser without performance issues

Re: Ask HN: What browser do you use?

#6

Post by moizrocky1 » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 2:52 PM UTC

I've been using Dia, and this got better after the recent inclusion of Spaces similar to Arc.

But, I'm suffering from RAM issues. Got 24GM RAM M5 (Non-Pro) MacBook Pro and about 10-15 tabs open, I'm consuming 19GB RAM with 5-9GB RAM in swap.

I mean... now I'm wondering if I should've got higher RAM.

Since I came from Air M1 8GB RAM, I thought 24GB is plenty enough but seems like not.

Re: Ask HN: What browser do you use?

#7

Post by Pieczasz » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 2:58 PM UTC

moizrocky1 wrote: post #6

I've been using Dia, and this got better after the recent inclusion of Spaces similar to Arc. But, I'm suffering from RAM issues. Got 24GM RAM M5 (Non-Pro) MacBook Pro and about 10-15 tabs open, I'm consuming 19GB RAM with 5-9GB RAM in swap. I mean... now I'm wondering if I should've got higher RAM. Since I came from Air M1 8GB RAM, I thought 24GB is plenty enough but seems like not.

It's plenty of RAM, I think it's not your machine's fault, it's just that Dia afaik uses chromium and chromium likes ram, I used to use arc, and I was not willing to switch to Dia looking at what The Browser Company did to arc

Re: Ask HN: What browser do you use?

#8

Post by eliagatti01 » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 3:00 PM UTC

I currently use firefox, works well for me.

Re: Ask HN: What browser do you use?

#9

Post by JohnFen » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 3:10 PM UTC

Pieczasz wrote: post #4

JohnFen wrote: post #3

I came back to Firefox after a stint of trying others out. I returned because, despite all of its downsides, it's still the least bad option of the ones I've tried. But (despite that I used to be hardcore Firefox user and advocate) I'm not married to any particular browser. It's so easy to change browsers that I'll do so the instant one that better meets my needs comes around.

Have you tried any other firefox based browsers, like Zen, or LibreWolf?

Yes, I have.

Re: Ask HN: What browser do you use?

#10

Post by Singular_Child » Thu, Aug 13, 2026, 3:11 PM UTC

Been using firefox recently, least laggy out of that chrome and (eww) edge.