Firefox vs Microsoft Edge
March 20, 2025 | Author: Adam Levine
17★
The free, non-profit browser for your desktop and mobile devices. Firefox is created by a global non-profit dedicated to putting individuals in control online. Designed to protect and respect your private information. Supports a wide range of extensions and themes for enhanced customization and functionality.
16★
Microsoft Edge is the only browser that lets you take notes, write, doodle, and highlight directly on webpages. Features vertical tabs for improved organization and easy navigation of multiple open pages. Offers a built-in (PDF) reading mode that simplifies web pages for distraction-free reading.
See also:
Top 10 Web Browsers for Business
Top 10 Web Browsers for Business
Firefox and Microsoft Edge are, at first glance, two perfectly respectable web browsers, each providing a perfectly good way to look at cat pictures, argue with strangers and occasionally do something useful. They both speak fluent HTML5, understand CSS3 quite well and can parse JavaScript with a level of enthusiasm that suggests they don’t know any better. They both offer private browsing, presumably so users can research surprise birthday gifts or pretend they don’t spend hours reading conspiracy theories. And they are both free, because charging money for web browsers in the 21st century is roughly as fashionable as wearing a powdered wig to a rock concert.
Firefox, born in 2002 from the noble chaos of open-source idealism, is built for the sort of person who enjoys tweaking things, distrusting corporations and whispering sweet nothings to their `about:config` settings. It runs on its own Gecko engine, which isn’t particularly keen on following the herd and occasionally enjoys making life difficult for web developers just to stay interesting. Mozilla, the American non-profit behind it, wants you to know that privacy matters, that trackers are evil and that the web should belong to the people—presumably including those who insist on running Linux on everything, even their microwave.
Microsoft Edge, on the other hand, has had something of an identity crisis, starting in 2015 as a bold new thing before being rebuilt on Chromium in 2020, much like a restaurant that keeps changing its name because nobody eats there. It is deeply embedded in the Windows ecosystem, whether you like it or not and is optimized for business, productivity and reminding you that Bing exists. It has AI tools built in, presumably so you can have a deep philosophical discussion with your browser about why you’re opening another tab. And thanks to Microsoft’s insistence on backward compatibility, it can still render ancient websites, just in case you ever feel the need to check your MySpace profile.
See also: Top 10 Web Browsers
Firefox, born in 2002 from the noble chaos of open-source idealism, is built for the sort of person who enjoys tweaking things, distrusting corporations and whispering sweet nothings to their `about:config` settings. It runs on its own Gecko engine, which isn’t particularly keen on following the herd and occasionally enjoys making life difficult for web developers just to stay interesting. Mozilla, the American non-profit behind it, wants you to know that privacy matters, that trackers are evil and that the web should belong to the people—presumably including those who insist on running Linux on everything, even their microwave.
Microsoft Edge, on the other hand, has had something of an identity crisis, starting in 2015 as a bold new thing before being rebuilt on Chromium in 2020, much like a restaurant that keeps changing its name because nobody eats there. It is deeply embedded in the Windows ecosystem, whether you like it or not and is optimized for business, productivity and reminding you that Bing exists. It has AI tools built in, presumably so you can have a deep philosophical discussion with your browser about why you’re opening another tab. And thanks to Microsoft’s insistence on backward compatibility, it can still render ancient websites, just in case you ever feel the need to check your MySpace profile.
See also: Top 10 Web Browsers