Please allow me to plug the DuckDuckGo browser. It has AI search options which can be turned off. I also pay them $10 a month to help delist me from data broker sites. They also have DuckPlayer which allows you to view YouTube videos not on YouTube.
Replaced Edge with Vivaldi and FireFux with LibreWolf yesterday.
Long time coming.
Took all of five minutes to have everything imported and set up how I wanted.
During the "why did you leave FireFux" questionnaire I linked the Verge interview where the CEO gushes over 'AI', and warned them not to mess with Thunderbird.
Aside from all the shady stuff linked in another reply, Brave is basically lipstick on a pig: it’s yet another Chromium browser.
Chromium is open source in name only, Google retains overall control over it. If Google doesn’t want something to be changed then it doesn’t get changed; if Google wants to change something then it gets changed. Like crippling privacy and ad-blocking plugins by introducing Manifest V3, which fundamentally changed the way plugins function.
Every single Chromium-based browser will dance to Google’s tune, whether they want to or not. Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Amazon Silk, Opera, Vivaldi, Brave, DuckDuckGo, etc… All of them.
The largest advertising company on the planet now controls how you use the web. That’s what’s wrong with Brave.
It started with Mozilla removing references to “we won’t sell your data” in their documentation and terms.
Then came the slow drip-feed of “AI” features.
And now they’re going balls-deep on “AI”.
If you care about this stuff - and you really should, but that’s a separate discussion - then look into the following:
Waterfox
LibreWolf
Zen
Floorp
Mullvad
If you don’t want any connection to either Google or Mozilla, then you want Ladybird. But it’s still under heavy development, and its engine, LibWeb, is nowhere near as “complete” as Blink, WebKit, or Gecko.
They’ve all got various different pros and cons - e.g. some are much more privacy focused, some just rip out Mozilla’s features, etc - so it’s worth doing some reading about them if you’re interested.
Too new. Stick with Mosaic Netscape, with the rotating glass panels to look at while your page slowly loads, before they had to change the name because they weren't connected to NCSA.
I never used Mosaic, before my time maybe? I remember Netscape Navigator in grade school. I liked the old fashion ship wheel icon logo. Made me feel like I was going on an adventure clicking it. Then I remember Mozilla with the Dinosaur icon but then that changed to a knock off Sonic the Firefox looking icon. Maybe Firefox needs to be investigated for pushing their products on children who think browsers are games.
Mosaic Netscape invented the horrifying <blink> tag which caused many a flame war and (surprisingly accurate) thinkpiece about how browser makers would get too much power over the web
Been using Firefox for a little over a decade now. This is so disappointing seeing a once tried and true browser turning into the same slop as everyone else.
It's just what happens when companies push out rushed features using the new industry trend rather than creating quality features that actually improve consumer experience.
They always care more about making the stock holders bust with random buzz words until all of the sudden their consumer base collapses when their product turns into an empty, hollow mess.
I use DuckDuckGo exclusively because it allows me to turn off AI features and has an option to hide AI images. I really don't need anymore nonsense in my life.
The biggest cyber security risk you could add. It will "scrape" the pages you visit, to potentially shorten it or make a summary of it. Thing is, malicious actors will be able to prompt inject your browser.
Lynx is fast, not "Chrome on a new MacBook" fast, but "loads-before-you-let-go-of-Enter" fast. By skipping over images, scripts, and layout styling, pages render in milliseconds. Even modern sites like Wikipedia or plain blogs open almost instantly.
2. Minimal Distractions
No pop-ups, autoplay videos, cookie banners, modals, newsletter popovers, or "Accept our Privacy Terms" screens. Just pure HTML content and links. In Lynx, websites forget how to annoy you.
3. Built-in Resilience
Lynx laughs at broken layouts, unresponsive scripts, and bloated frameworks. Most modern websites degrade into something readable when JavaScript is turned off. Lynx makes that default behavior.
(That React app with 12MB of JS? Let's just say Lynx won't be impressed.)
4. Works Virtually Anywhere
Got an old ThinkPad? Raspberry Pi Zero? A VM running with 128MB RAM? Lynx runs there. As long as the system boots and has a terminal, Lynx will quietly do its job.
5. Privacy by Simplicity
Lynx doesn't run JavaScript, and therefore can't execute most tracking scripts, fingerprinting code, or third-party analytics. You're effectively invisible to the modern marketing stack.
Cookies are optional and can be toggled off. (Yes, it asks politely.)
6. Surprisingly Functional
You can:
Fill out basic forms.
Follow relative and absolute links.
View plain downloads and text attachments.
Connect over HTTPS just fine.
Customize bookmarks.
Use keybindings for just about everything.
Browse Gopher directories and menus, for when you want to see the web as it was before the web was the web.
Sure, you can't shop on Amazon or edit Google Docs, but you can read Hacker News, parse blog posts, or browse your own local HTML notes.
The new CEO's overarching goal is to turn Mozilla into the “world’s most trusted software company,” citing public dissatisfaction with today’s privacy practices
what a delusional idiot. he wont get that status. this will be their failure. those who want privacy dont want Ai.
I hope ladybird delivers something worthwhile and I hope libre wolf doesnt become a whore to ff like ff is googles whore
Floorp is a good alternative, built on a somewhat older version of firefox (only like a few months behind the "main" build) but I feel like they wouldn't add the AI slop to it.
Uninstalling Firefox right now, thanks for the update.
This goes badly. I'm off to find another browser. FFS!
Why does everything need to be a fucking ecosystem which is not compatible to any other of those stupid ecosystems?
I fucking hate what software has become.
Until it does email and AI, ensuring the death of it all.
You can’t in one breath say trust and AI
Another potential casualty in the AI crash.
I use Ecosia which plants trees
Please allow me to plug the DuckDuckGo browser. It has AI search options which can be turned off. I also pay them $10 a month to help delist me from data broker sites. They also have DuckPlayer which allows you to view YouTube videos not on YouTube.
Does duckduckgo have a browser now?
It does! Pretty solid.
Ok, I guess I'll be trying Vivaldi, LibreWolf ... DuckDuckGo?
Hate that fucking name. ,🙄
DuckDuckGo is a good browser!
Replaced Edge with Vivaldi and FireFux with LibreWolf yesterday.
Long time coming.
Took all of five minutes to have everything imported and set up how I wanted.
During the "why did you leave FireFux" questionnaire I linked the Verge interview where the CEO gushes over 'AI', and warned them not to mess with Thunderbird.
Did my part.
Welp, off to the brave browser for me 🫡
Aren’t they bad to?
Yeah, they are. They used to be really good.
wait whats wrong with brave?
Aside from all the shady stuff linked in another reply, Brave is basically lipstick on a pig: it’s yet another Chromium browser.
Chromium is open source in name only, Google retains overall control over it. If Google doesn’t want something to be changed then it doesn’t get changed; if Google wants to change something then it gets changed. Like crippling privacy and ad-blocking plugins by introducing Manifest V3, which fundamentally changed the way plugins function.
Every single Chromium-based browser will dance to Google’s tune, whether they want to or not. Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Amazon Silk, Opera, Vivaldi, Brave, DuckDuckGo, etc… All of them.
The largest advertising company on the planet now controls how you use the web. That’s what’s wrong with Brave.
https://www.reddit.com/r/browsers/comments/1j1pq7b/list_of_brave_browser_controversies/
Thank you for this! TIL
He's having a Gerald Ratner moment...
So much for the good guys. Will be cancelling and switching in the new year I guess.
Welp, looks like I’m going to stop updating Firefox until I can get my hands on something at least as good as its pre-AI state.
Vivaldi for life! They just posted this on their X.
https://x.com/vivaldibrowser/status/2000874212999799198
Reminds me of the old school PS1 "$299" mic drop at E3 1995.
Really glad I cancelled out of my premium/vpn membership with them.
God dammit. What do I even use now? Maybe it's finally time to just ragequit the web. We had a good run.
Waterfox. Explicitly anti AI, and solid performance on both desktop and mobile.
Seriously this sucks. I switched back to Firefox to get away from the Chrome changes.
GDI I just switched back to Firefox on my phone last year. Any mobile options?
I use Brave
I use the Waterfox fork on both PC and Android. It works well and uses the same extensions as Firefox.
Of course I’m a basic iPhone bitch 😭
Same situation, I just downloaded Brave recently and it's been good
I enjoy brave as a browser, but the search engine is SO BAD I have to constantly change to something else when I need to find something.
Ughhh I’ve also been dissatisfied with DuckDuckGo so I’m assuming this is even worse.
Ive been using brave on all my devices for the past year, no complaints.
Brave is heavily backed by Peter Theil.
On my Android I use Fennec, installed using FDroid.
Why can't my web browser just be a fucking web browser
You will own nothing
And you will like it!
It started with Mozilla removing references to “we won’t sell your data” in their documentation and terms.
Then came the slow drip-feed of “AI” features.
And now they’re going balls-deep on “AI”.
If you care about this stuff - and you really should, but that’s a separate discussion - then look into the following:
If you don’t want any connection to either Google or Mozilla, then you want Ladybird. But it’s still under heavy development, and its engine, LibWeb, is nowhere near as “complete” as Blink, WebKit, or Gecko.
Thank you!!
No worries.
They’ve all got various different pros and cons - e.g. some are much more privacy focused, some just rip out Mozilla’s features, etc - so it’s worth doing some reading about them if you’re interested.
Firefox was the browser of my youth, but I haven’t used it in almost a decade
I'm staying with Netscape Navigator
AskJeeves
Too new. Stick with Mosaic Netscape, with the rotating glass panels to look at while your page slowly loads, before they had to change the name because they weren't connected to NCSA.
I never used Mosaic, before my time maybe? I remember Netscape Navigator in grade school. I liked the old fashion ship wheel icon logo. Made me feel like I was going on an adventure clicking it. Then I remember Mozilla with the Dinosaur icon but then that changed to a knock off Sonic the Firefox looking icon. Maybe Firefox needs to be investigated for pushing their products on children who think browsers are games.
Mosaic Netscape invented the horrifying <blink> tag which caused many a flame war and (surprisingly accurate) thinkpiece about how browser makers would get too much power over the web
Been using Firefox for a little over a decade now. This is so disappointing seeing a once tried and true browser turning into the same slop as everyone else.
It's sad that the word "modern" invokes dread when it comes to products and services.
It's just what happens when companies push out rushed features using the new industry trend rather than creating quality features that actually improve consumer experience.
They always care more about making the stock holders bust with random buzz words until all of the sudden their consumer base collapses when their product turns into an empty, hollow mess.
Sorry, mozilla already tried the suite of software. Thunderbird, firefox, etc.
Theres a reason they focus on keeping firefox firefox. I guess ill just switch to iceweasel fork
I like DuckDuckGo as a browser.
I use DuckDuckGo exclusively because it allows me to turn off AI features and has an option to hide AI images. I really don't need anymore nonsense in my life.
What the hell is an AI browser? Does it doom-scroll for me?
The biggest cyber security risk you could add. It will "scrape" the pages you visit, to potentially shorten it or make a summary of it. Thing is, malicious actors will be able to prompt inject your browser.
I suspect that Mozilla CEO is a plant from BCG or McKinsey
Right, so let's dust off our old pal Lynx...
Can i get NoScript for it ?
You don't need NoScript with Lynx.
(From: https://www.webnuz.com/article/2025-07-24/Surfing%20the%20Web%20Like%20It%27s%201992%20%28Lynx%20Browser%29 )
Why Use Lynx in 2025/2026?
1. Speed
Lynx is fast, not "Chrome on a new MacBook" fast, but "loads-before-you-let-go-of-Enter" fast. By skipping over images, scripts, and layout styling, pages render in milliseconds. Even modern sites like Wikipedia or plain blogs open almost instantly.
2. Minimal Distractions
No pop-ups, autoplay videos, cookie banners, modals, newsletter popovers, or "Accept our Privacy Terms" screens. Just pure HTML content and links. In Lynx, websites forget how to annoy you.
3. Built-in Resilience
Lynx laughs at broken layouts, unresponsive scripts, and bloated frameworks. Most modern websites degrade into something readable when JavaScript is turned off. Lynx makes that default behavior.
(That React app with 12MB of JS? Let's just say Lynx won't be impressed.)
4. Works Virtually Anywhere
Got an old ThinkPad? Raspberry Pi Zero? A VM running with 128MB RAM? Lynx runs there. As long as the system boots and has a terminal, Lynx will quietly do its job.
5. Privacy by Simplicity
Lynx doesn't run JavaScript, and therefore can't execute most tracking scripts, fingerprinting code, or third-party analytics. You're effectively invisible to the modern marketing stack.
Cookies are optional and can be toggled off. (Yes, it asks politely.)
6. Surprisingly Functional
You can:
Sure, you can't shop on Amazon or edit Google Docs, but you can read Hacker News, parse blog posts, or browse your own local HTML notes.
I had the same thought. Lynx was the first browser I used.
Bandwaggoning garbage. The AI trope is running very thin and every refuge being overrun. Overarching and overreaching indeed.
what a delusional idiot. he wont get that status. this will be their failure. those who want privacy dont want Ai.
I hope ladybird delivers something worthwhile and I hope libre wolf doesnt become a whore to ff like ff is googles whore
Floorp is a good alternative, built on a somewhat older version of firefox (only like a few months behind the "main" build) but I feel like they wouldn't add the AI slop to it.