Image credit: Mozilla in Europe/ Flickr

Since its debut, Chrome has grown in popularity, though its once-stellar reputation has taken a bit of a hit as of late. Examples of Chrome-only sites are more and more common, reminiscent of the days when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer dominated the web browser market. It’s been shown to be a massive memory hog as well, slowing down machines as users create more and more tabs. If you’re looking for a change this 2018, why not start with your browser? Ditch Chrome and switch to its longtime competitor, Mozilla Firefox. It’s just as fast, if not faster, than Chrome, and integrates tools to boost your privacy online while making it easier to share and save everything you find on the web.


It’s Just as Fast as Chrome

Both Firefox and Google Chrome are, at least in various benchmark tests, pretty equivalent. While Firefox, in tests performed by Mozilla, might outperform Google Chrome when loading webpages in private browsing mode, or use less RAM when dealing with multiple tabs, other independent tests show the browsers are often evenly matched when it comes to performance. At worst, you’ll be switching to a browser that’s just as fast. At best, you’ll be using one requiring less RAM while being just as responsive.


You Can Still Sync Across Devices

Like Google’s syncing functionality that lets you see your browsing activity across all of your devices, Firefox’s own syncing functionality makes it easy to send that webpage on your desktop to the phone in your pocket by selecting the option in your URL bar. If you’re someone who uses multiple Google accounts on the same machine, you can easily do the same with Firefox’s own Multi-Account extension.

Firefox Blocks Trackers Out the Box

Need to stop a site from tracking you? Firefox automatically puts the kibosh on trackers hiding in a web page’s code, protecting your browsing data from being recorded by third parties looking to sell you targeted ads. It works in both regular and private browsing mode. That removal of invasive tracking code also means pages load faster compared to browsing in Chrome.


Firefox’s Integrated Features are Choice

There are a slew of useful features built right into the browser, mitigating the need to add a bunch of third-party extensions and apps. The read-later service Pocket is integrated into the browser, so you can save any page easily. Like taking screenshots? With Firefox Screenshots, it’s easier than ever to click a button and save partial or entire shots of a web page to your hard drive or your cloud-based screenshot repository.


As someone wary of third-party services that might contain malicious code, the fewer extensions I need to add to my browser, the better. Firefox’s integrated screenshot tool, easy access to saved Pocket articles, and automatic disabling of invisible browser activity trackers make it a more secure and user-friendly experience compared to Chrome.

Some Extensions Work Across Browsers

In terms of extensions, Google might have Firefox beat, but the company’s adopting the WebExtensions API, making add-ons found in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge compatible with Firefox after some minor modifications by developers. Older Firefox extensions are now considered “legacy” extensions, but you can find potential alternatives by visiting your list of add-ons and selecting “Find a Replacement.” If there’s no alternative extension available at the time, you’ll simply see a page of featured extensions all compatible with the new version of Firefox.