Lightweight browser extension tools are becoming essential for users who want faster browsing without slowing down their systems. Many extensions consume high RAM, which affects performance, especially on low-end PCs. In this guide, we’ll explore how lightweight browser extensions improve speed, reduce memory usage, and enhance your overall browsing experience.
Understanding which browsers are more RAM-efficient can help streamline your workflow and prevent disruptions like gaming lag and lightweight browser extensions caused by resource-hungry browsers. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of the most lightweight browsers of 2024, ensuring you make an informed choice for a smoother experience.
Which Browsers Use the Least Memory?
In this section, we are going to talk about which browser uses less RAM. They are ordered from the most browser memory usage to the least so, so buckle up!
1- Microsoft Edge
The dark horse topping our list of which browser uses the least RAM is none other than Microsoft Edge. Gone are the days of Internet Explorer with bugs and exploitations galore; now, with a Chromium engine, things are looking up for Edge. Although not exactly the most popular browser (with only 3.39% of the browser market share), Microsoft Edge has proven to be much better than its reputation would have you believe.
Based on our test results, Edge occupies only 790MB of memory with 10 tabs open, much lower than all the other browsers on our Windows RDP list. Open 20 tabs at once, and Edge will take up only 1.2GB RAM, which shows great optimization of browser memory consumption.
Even though Edge uses the same Chromium engine as Chrome, it is much more efficient in using memory and, as such, is the ideal browser in terms of RAM use. Using the least browser memory, however, does not necessarily mean that it’s the best browser. There are many other factors to take into account when analyzing a browser’s general efficiency.
2 – Opera
Remember Opera? It used to be a top contender back in the day, and in many ways, it still is. Opera is a great browser for older or low-spec PCs since it doesn’t put much strain on the system. Its webpage-loading speeds are within acceptable limits, especially if your computer isn’t exactly on the cutting edge. Let’s see how it did on our tests.
With 10 tabs left running, Opera used 899 MBs of RAM, which is somewhat better than the browsers above. We did expect Opera to perform much better, however, since it’s the lightest browser that trades user-friendliness and features for efficiency. Opera occupied 1.5GB of memory when we tested it with 20 open tabs, and that makes it only slightly better than Firefox.
3- Brave
Meet the (somewhat) new browser on the blog: the privacy-minded Brave. It’s actually one of the best ways to stay in control of your data without putting in the time to become a hacker-level Linux genius!
This browser even has a feature where it pays you tokens for watching ads. is definitely worth a try for these and so many other reasons, but how resource-efficient is it really?
Brave consumed a lot of RAM, almost as much as Chrome did when it was in the earlier release versions. continued to improve its memory management, and in 2024, it uses a lot less memory than Chrome.
Brave ties with Firefox in terms of RAM usage, so if you’re stuck between these two choices, you have to find some other way to decide.
4- Chromium
Are you the type of person who’s so deeply embedded in the Google environment and ecosystem that you see yourself putting up with Chrome’s intensive hardware usage? Or maybe you simply enjoy Chrome’s UI and looks and put up with its intense usage of resources because of that. Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that Chrome could use a helping hand in many different areas in order to be better. Enter Chromium, which is the open-source base code that Chrome and many other browsers are based on.
Chromium emphasizes privacy and has proprietary codes that Chrome uses to that end. Chromium is overall more of a “wildcard” option for people with a hand in developing themselves, who can use it to customize and tailor the program to a browser that they themselves can enjoy. The UI is identical to Chrome’s, so if that was what kept you coming back to Chrome, you can use Chromium to still enjoy the program while enabling yourself to endless personalization and customization opportunities at the developer level.
However, be mindful that, as far as performance goes, Chrome is surprisingly lighter compared to Chromium since it is the optimized version of Chromium. But the other aspects of Chromium are enough to override this.
5 – Mozilla Firefox
Coming in at number 5 is Mozilla’s popular and privacy-minded browser, Firefox. And no, despite the browser’s reputation for efficiency, it can take up almost just as much RAM as Chrome.
When tested with 10 tabs open, Firefox occupied about 960MB of memory, which is only slightly less than Chrome. At 20 tabs, the number went up to 1.6GB: certainly, a lot even if it is 300 MB lighter. Few users leave 40 tabs open at once, but we tested to see just how much RAM that would take. The answer: if you run 40 tabs on Firefox, it’ll devour 3 GB of your memory, which will hurt the efficiency of just about any computer.
Among popular browsers, Firefox has the perk of being the most suitable for privacy, given its tough tracker and cookie policy. It is hardly the least RAM-hungry browser, though, and you have to weigh the options on this one.
6 – Google Chrome
Google Chrome is the most popular browser worldwide, known for its heavy consumption of RAM. If you tend to keep a lot of tabs open, it can significantly slow down your computer’s performance.
In our tests, just having 10 tabs open will consume nearly 1 GB of RAM. The memory usage skyrockets as you add more tabs, with Chrome using up to 1.9 GB for 20 tabs. This also puts a strain on your CPU, which can hinder your work efficiency.
The browser’s excessive resource consumption can even cause system crashes, potentially disrupting whatever tasks you’re working on.
Despite these drawbacks, Chrome offers an array of features and a vast selection of extensions, which are not as available in other browsers. Its visually appealing interface also helps balance out the performance issues.
One useful aspect of Chrome is its silent installation feature. If you’re short on time and need to install it on multiple devices—say, ten computers at your workplace—you can do so without interrupting anyone’s work.
Another great feature is hardware acceleration, which optimizes Chrome’s performance. Want to know more? Check out our detailed guide on Chrome’s hardware acceleration!
7- Safari
Many users might be surprised to find Safari on this list, and there are certainly valid reasons to argue that Safari could outperform other browsers here. However, the reason for its relatively low ranking isn’t due to poor performance, but because of how it performs.
Safari is a browser created by Apple, exclusively available on its own devices, including iPhones, various macOS systems, and iPads. While Safari’s performance is seamlessly optimized for these Apple devices, offering an exceptional experience within the Apple ecosystem, this advantage is only available to those who use Apple hardware. lightweight browser extension In regions like North America and Europe, where Apple’s premium devices are common, this may not pose a significant problem. But in other parts of the world, you’ll find a wide range of different operating systems that cannot run Safari at all. This limitation is why Safari holds the last position on the list. Nonetheless, its performance, when used within its intended ecosystem, is undeniably top-tier.
Browsers RAM Usage Comparison 2024 (What Browser Uses the Least RAM)
Up to now, we have underlined the 7 most popular worldwide browsers, which are distinguished for their low RAM usage (of course, they hold other beneficial features as well). Now, we want to draw your attention to a comparison we prepared on the different features of the above-mentioned browsers.
As in this post, our main concern was the amount of RAM each browser occupies. We organized the list below from the least RAM usage browser to the most RAM usage browser (among these 7).
Apart from this, it is also worth it to quickly evaluate the RAM usage of the most popular browsers in a quick one-on-one comparison. We are going to compare Chrome, notorious for its RAM usage, against the other two most popular choices, those being Edge and Firefox.
Edge vs Chrome RAM Usage Comparison
We are going to run the test using each browser to see which browser uses the least RAM with 10, 20, and 60 tabs open. This will enable us to quickly see how each browser uses your RAM, but also how each one of them scales as the number of tabs increases. First, we ran the test on Chrome to see if it still gobbles up the RAM as it is well-known to do. Microsoft Edge performance features vs Chrome
At 10 tabs open, Chrome consumed 950 MB worth of RAM, and this scaled to 1.8 GB at 20 open tabs, and finally it peaked at around 3.7 GB at 60 open tabs. Chrome has no doubt improved compared to the past iterations of the browser. But it still certainly has a good punch.
Then we got to Edge. Edge scored 870 MB worth of RAM usage at 10 tabs opened and then scaled this to 1.4 GB at 20 tabs and finally 2.9 GB at 60 tabs. Not only is Edge better at every single instance, but it progressively gets better from a scalability standpoint as you add more and more tabs. At 69 tabs, Edge beats Chrome by approximately 800 MB worth of RAM, which is definitely considerable.
Firefox vs Chrome RAM Usage Comparison
Now we are going to run the same test with the difference that this time, RDPextra.com Chrome lost the last round quite badly against Edge, even with the recent updates that Google has implemented to prevent it from being so RAM-hungry.
Firefox is well known for its smooth performance already. Let’s see how it matches up against Chrome in RAM usage. As already mentioned, Chrome consumed 950 MB worth of RAM, and this scaled to 1.8 GB at 20 open tabs and finally it peaked at around 3.7 GB at 60 open tabs. So this is going to be the metric that Firefox needs to perform in comparison with.
Firefox began the test on a surprisingly low note. It scored a RAM usage of 990 MB at 10 open tabs, which is actually worse than Chrome. It then managed to improve its performance by using 1.6 GB of RAM at 20 tabs open. And finally, it reverted back to being the loser by consuming a whopping 3.9 GB of RAM at 60 tabs. I guess this indicates that Firefox is the better browser only if you have an average of 15 to 20 tabs open in your browser. But on the extreme sides of 1 to 5 tabs and 50 to 60 tabs, it performs worse than Chrome.
Which One Is the Lightest Browser?
There are two factors to consider when choosing the lightest browser: RAM and storage. Considering the fact that Chrome, Firefox, and Edge are nowhere near being light, I did a little more digging and found out that the lightest browser on our list is actually Opera. lightweight browser extension As you already know, Opera is light on memory; it also doesn’t hog CPU or storage. In fact, Opera comes with a RAM/CPU limiter and even has a battery saver feature that helps improve battery life by 35%. I mean, Opera is truly the best option if you need a lightweight browser that would still give you tons of features and extensions.
Why Is Chrome So RAM-Heavy?
Here’s the billion-dollar question: while being the most user-friendly browser, why can’t users enjoy Chrome without worrying about their computers’ well-being? The main reason why Chrome takes up as much as 50% of your RAM is simply that it’s fast. To ensure smooth and fast performance, Chrome relies on your hardware resources and takes as much RAM as possible. Another factor is caching. Chrome burns off RAM by caching all the web pages you visit. Yet, another reason can be the extensions. Chrome owns the biggest library of extensions and every Chrome user has at least two active extensions. These factors, alongside cookies, are all reasons which browser is best on ram usage why Chrome is so hungry for RAM.
Honestly, it’s understandable. But keeping Chrome on the good side of your memory solely depends on how smartly you use it. By clearing cookies and caches, and closing unwanted tabs and extensions, you can enjoy using Chrome and decrease its browser memory usage
Scraping the Barrel: Best Browser for a Low-End PC?
The intention of this blog posts was to cover the best browsers out there regardless of the hardware at hand. However, with the prime choices all getting heavier to use over time, I believe there is solid ground here to also evaluate some of the options for the best browser for low-end PC users.
K-Meleon
Going by any different metric, K-Meleon remains as one of the best options for the best browser for low-end PC users. The interface does not look ancient compared to other heavier browsers and the cherry on top is of course the incredible performance that it offers. K-Meleon is free and open-source. It uses the Gecko layout engine to make the performance as light as possible on your hardware with each new tab averaging at around 20 MB which is incredibly low. You are going to need a Windows XP-SP3 or later version to run it and there is a large online community as well!
UR Browser
UR Browser is another ideal browser for low-end PC users. Surprisingly, unlike many other light browsers out there, it also comes with a macOS version. It is one of the lightest browsers for macOS. It completely eliminates features such as trackers, cookies, targeted ads, etc. in order to maximize performance efficiency for the user. UR Browser also prioritizes your privacy. It comes with its own privacy mode selector that enables you to choose one of the three offered privacy settings. You can see all the ads in the world if you opt for their minimal privacy options, but there are medium privacy and “Ninja” modes that will block ads and make you completely untraceable, respectively.
Midori
Remember when we said UR browser is also available on macOS? Well, Midori takes this game into a whole new level and allows you to download it on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, with the iOS version also in the works. Midori is similar to the UR browser in many aspects. It will come with dedicated security and privacy features. To top it all off, Midori has excellent user support, which is often missing in many other lightweight browsers. Midori has a similar RAM and CPU usage to K-Meleon and will make life significantly easier for low-end PC users.
SeaMonkey
SeaMonkey is not a browser on its own. Rather, it is an application suite that also features a web browser and a lightweight one at that. It uses the same Mozilla base code as the famed Firefox. However, unlike Firefox, it does away with a lot of heavily added features and also uses optimization to maximize the capability of the browser to run on low-spec PCs. It can run on PCs that run the legacy Pentium processors. I need a bare minimum of 1GB total RAM, and it’ll run like a charm. Low-spec PCs crash often, so SeaMonkey has a restore session feature as well. A great browser overall.
Lynx
Originally released in 1992, Lynx is the oldest browser in the world that has continued support in 2024. This is not the only thing that makes it unique. Lynx also uses a text-based system to browse the web as opposed to using a graphical user interface (GUI), which means that you will not be able to see any images on it. This terminal-oriented approach of Lynx makes it the most lightweight browser on today’s list, but it also makes it the hardest for the average user to get into. Still, it remains a great option for coders and back-end developers who want to maximize their resource allocation while working. So, I think you’ve found the lightest browser!
What Can You Do if You Need to Use a Resource Consumer Browser?
So, what now? One way to go about improving your computer’s efficiency and thus your workflow would be to stop worrying about how much memory your browser hogs and just go virtual with our affordable RDPextra. Instead of being limited to your own computer system(s), you can just use the bleeding-edge, high-spec computers that we provide in all our VPS plans.
Run as many applications and open as many tabs as you want without having to worry about your system slowing down or crashing. Whether you run a company with loads of coders and developers or are a gamer looking for a better gaming experience, just choose one of the browsers that use less RAM than Chrome, and you will never be concerned with your RAM space again.
Conclusion
Choosing the right browser today is not just about picking the one that uses the least RAM. While our test shows that Edge performs well in terms of memory usage, that alone should not decide your final choice. A good browsing experience depends on multiple factors, and this is where a lightweight browser extension setup becomes important. Instead of relying only on the browser, optimizing it with the right lightweight browser extension tools can significantly improve speed and performance.
For most users, combining a stable browser with a few carefully selected lightweight browser extension options is the best approach. These extensions help reduce unnecessary resource usage, block trackers, and streamline your workflow without slowing your system. Whether you are using Chrome, Edge, or any other browser, adding a lightweight browser extension can make a noticeable difference, especially on low-end systems or VPS environments.
It’s also important to avoid overloading your browser with too many add-ons. Even the best lightweight browser extension can impact performance if used excessively. Focus on installing only essential tools that genuinely improve productivity or security. A minimal setup with a reliable lightweight browser extension ensures faster load times and a smoother overall experience.
In the end, the ideal setup is a balance between browser performance and smart extension usage. By choosing the right browser and pairing it with a well-optimized, lightweight browser extension strategy, you can achieve fast, secure, and efficient browsing without putting unnecessary strain on your system.
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