The 2020 Browser Battle: Surfing With Speed

What’s in a Browser?

Perhaps the most interesting part of testing these browsers is just how the results are a snapshot in time. With credit to Google, browser development happens at a very rapid pace, so these results may skew one way or another with time, with the tendency for better performance as time goes on, but sometimes there is some degradation as well. It will be interesting to check back again in a year.

Microsoft Browser Evolution

When Windows 10 was first announced, Microsoft was very keen to promote their new browser, eventually named Edge. They took their Trident rendering engine from Internet Explorer, and stripped it back to its core, then rebuilt it as a more modern, and more standards compliant browser than they had ever done previously. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Google’s Chrome browser continued to gain usage share, and with it came developers testing against Chrome. There was a years-long PR war with Microsoft begging developers to write websites to standards and features, rather than just based on a User Agent String, but that war was lost, and in a surprising, but also necessary move, Microsoft abandoned its browser and joined the Chromium gang. While it is great to see them embracing open source and the Chromium project, it is also somewhat sad to see the open web consolidating so much around Chromium. Firefox remains the only major browser in the PC space to not utilize Chromium. Apple continues to utilize WebKit, which was the code base that Chromium’s Blink came from, but Apple’s strong developer relations (current feuds not withstanding) and presence in the mobile market will keep WebKit as a valid option for them.

Google Chrome is currently the most popular browser on the PC

While there was no decisive winner in any category, there were trends in the data worth covering. First, the performance of all modern browsers is similar enough that choosing a browser based only on performance is not necessary. It should be features that drive usage, and it seems like we are close enough on performance to see that happen. Of the Chromium-based browsers, somewhat surprisingly Google Chrome was not the winner here, at least with the versions tested. Microsoft has made the best of their move to a new browser engine, outperforming both Chrome and Opera by a small margin in all tests. The differences were not massive, but they were there consistently. Mozilla Firefox was able to hold its own as well, scoring a few wins, and almost obtaining the same HTML5 score as well.

On the battery life side, it is clear that Microsoft did give up its advantage there, with classic Edge easily outclassing the field, but with low usage, and issues with website compatibility mostly stemming from the low usage, Microsoft will have to continue their efforts, but this time those efforts will be shared among all of the Chromium browsers. In our testing, Chromium Edge, as it did on the performance side, slightly outperformed Chrome and Opera. Firefox was not quite as competitive, but not so far from the rest that it would likely sway someone to use another browser over Firefox if that is already their preference, unless they really need that extra runtime.

It may seem a bit anti-climactic to say that all the browsers tested performed well, but that was the case. Choosing a browser based purely on performance is not necessary at the moment, as no single browser easily out-muscles its competitors. One of the big questions was in regards to Microsoft’s move from EdgeHTML to Blink, but it is definitely a win in terms of browser compatibility, and even if it did result in a net-loss of power savings, having a power efficient browser you can not use on your favorite website helps no one. Chromium Edge has been in alpha and beta versions for some time, and Microsoft started making it available as a released version earlier this year. The new Edge is great and should only get better. Whether it puts a dent in Google’s dominance is something only time will tell.