When Brave Browser joined the market, many viewed it as a significant threat to Google Chrome. The browser is safe, fast, secure and crypto friendly — which Chrome isn’t so much. According to developers, Brave is trying to fix the internet. They introduced a system that block ads and ad trackers by default, eliminating the need of ad block extensions. These capabilities make Brave a candidate for mass adoption.

Due to the unusual model by Brave, many viewed the browser as the next Chrome. Chrome is feature packed with fun extensions. The browser keeps your digital life organised across multiple devices.

Here is a comparison between the two browsers that have been projected to fight for dominance in the market.

Speed

Unlike Chrome, Brave blocks ads and trackers by default.

This allows websites on Brave to load noticeably faster than Chrome. Below is a speed test between Brave, Chrome, and Firefox.

Brave tracks the time it saves you, and displays it when you open the browser.

Privacy

Brave blocks ads by default (unlike Chrome, which requires a 3rd-party extension such as AdBlock).

Brave blocks 3rd-party tracking by default.

• On Chrome, mega-advertisers like Google and Facebook use 3rd-party cookies to track your browsing on nearly every website.
• By blocking 3rd-party cookies, Brave limits the amount of data Facebook, Google, and other ad networks can collect about your browsing habits.

Brave stores all your browsing data locally on your computer, which means you can delete it at any time.

Brave supports Tor browsing, making it the first all-purpose browser to do so.

Security

Brave automatically encrypts your website connection when possible (on Chrome, this only occurs with an extension like HTTPS Everywhere).

Brave now supports all Chrome extensions, including popular password managers like LastPass and 1Password.

RAM Usage

Just like any other Chromium-based browser, Brave uses a lot of memory. But not as much as Chrome.

Chrome is known to eat up a lot of memory. The browser splits each tab, plugin and extension into its own process. The RAM usage is higher because Google Chrome duplicates some tasks for every tab.

However, this functionality makes things convenient. Furthermore, the Chrome pre-rendering feature also uses a lot of memory. Some extensions can leak memory which ends up uncleaned. Over time it causes high RAM usage.

Drawbacks of Brave

Every once in a while, Brave blocks part of a website that you wanted to load.

When this happens, it’s easiest to click the lion icon, and toggle the shield to down.

Since the latest Brave update, this is rarely necessary (maybe once per week).

Recommendation

Brave’s speed alone is enough to make the switch worthwhile, and the added privacy and security benefits are icing on the cake.

Not surprisingly, Brave has skyrocketed to popularity, going from 1 million to 10.4 million users in the past 2 years alone.

Brave is almost exactly like Chrome, but faster and less sleazy.

Download Brave here