My favourite part about Floorp is they're actively working one of my favourite features from Edge (Native Vertical Tabs) into a fork of Firefox, it's not perfect and in the meantime they're just recommending addons like TST but once it's ready it'll be the ultimate browser personally. Edit: PWAs too!
Yeah, treestyle tabs are a necessity for me. there is nothing even close when managing huge amount of tabs. So far, the only good implementation I've seen is in Yandex browser which I'm not a huge fan of.
Firefox has been my primary browser for over a decade. The only thing Firefox is missing, and I don't know what the hold up is, is it doesn't have HDR support on Windows (but it does on Mac and Linux). I have to use chrome for RUclips because Firefox doesn't have it. There are no signs of HDR support anytime soon either, I don't get it.
@@GoolagThemTube Correct, you should absolutely not use Chrome. Brave is OK, I'm sure there are other Chrome spins that are fine. The problem is the pro-censorship corporations. Thankfully, their software is open source.
I've been using Floorp for a few months already and I'm happy with the actual performance and customization possibilities. Aside from the usual drawbacks that Firefox also has (e.g. some websites that are optimized for Chromium only), it's better than Firefox for me. Hell, even RAM consumption seems to be lower (but don't expect humongous differences) than on Firefox - though now I don't care that much about this since I built another PC with much more and faster RAM, but it is important for people that use low-end machines, for instance. For Chromium-related stuff, I just keep ungoogled-chromium with some extensions installed, in case I need it. It's simple and efficient.
I'm using it now, and it's great. Once small thing: when at the usual pie rat sites and I'm viewing orn previews prior to downloading, it will not give me the picture of the screenshots of the orn. I guess because when you are redirected to see the screenshots, you are tracked, and Floorp has anti-tracking built in. A minor nit since most of the time I'm not downloading orn so it's not a deal breaker for me.
@@nicolaskeith8945 Partially. Works on some websites, on others it just stays the same, and if you use it on Google Meet (for instance) it won't work at all unless you change the user agent back to FF.
I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't trust browsers not made by a gigantic company with heaps of cash and developers behind. Web browsers are a central point of our life nowadays, and not having a gigantic security team behind is simply a deal breaker. This kind of smallish browsers, the second they fall a bit behind pulling the latest update, they are leaving you unprotected. And because they don't have a large team behind the bus factor is smaller, one or two people get sick, someone retires, etc. and suddenly they missed an update. I just use Firefox and live with its flaws.
An even important question: how does it make money? I literally wouldn't even look at such a product without at least there being a blog post explaining how they plan to make money and survive. It's such a no brainer.
@@jeffhines2895 security > privacy companies do unethical , immoral and even borderline legal stuff but criminals actually do like yk real criminal stuff
I believe the Firefox ESR denotes the "Extended Support Release" that continues working for "legacy" OS systems (like my Mac OSeX 10.13 installs) after full support and development has been forced to. move on to newer OS releases.
ESR is also used by companies like LTS Linux Distros. Basically they will not push feature/compatibility breaking changes via update except between major releases. It's used in companies that don't want to have to re-test all their crappy internal/external WebApps with each update before approving it for full roll out.
I've been using ESR for about 15 years. It works fine for home use if you want a stable browser without constant feature updates and experiments, like any sane person. Can also recommend W10E 21H2 LTSC.
Firefox ESR is something luxurious for the end user, and they gave it away for free. Much more stable and less massive feature update. As far as I know, even chromium based browsers don't have it. Think like Windows LTSC, but you can use it on retail/oem lisence.
Sounds like good news. Mullvard, Mercury, LibreWolf, Tor .. those are already nice alternatives but since it's better to have more choices I'll try this Floorp out to see how it measures. Good to see the Chromium dev cleaning up its fork, this project didn't needed to spawn such unnecessary trouble.
Always have two browsers based on two DIFFERENT tech bases. So, Firefox and Chromium (or your favorite forks of them). This way is one gets borked, the other should still work. I've seen blown Firefox and Chromium updates break browsers, as well as other tech issues break one but not the other. There is also the issue that more and more websites are reverting to the 1990s thing of "Best viewed with X browser". So much for "browser standards". But I've used a site that seems to hate Firefox, and they recommend Chrome. WHY??
@@jeijei3255 I haven't compared that measure. Some come only in flatpaks and this factor bloat their installed space despite being stripped down of useless FF features. For that reason I do prefer when my linux distro have the softwares in binary to avoid flatpak installs if needed. (Arch AUR is good for that). Lightweight is also dependent on how the browser cache and temporary files is set as it can explode the disk space depending how the program is configured. Librewolf example has its cache in auto-delete by default and therefore avoid this bloat trap but it create some inconvenience of using the more bandwidth and cancels sites log in after restarts. It is advisable to be familiar with the settings of all browsers to tune them at your preferences.
@@markh.6687 I've bumped into sites that supposedly only work on Chromium and refuse to load on my FF browser at all. I'd use an agent spoofer to disguise my FF as Chromium, and suddenly the sites would load and work like a charm. Yeah, WHY is a good question. 🤔 Floorp having this built in is nice, tho I've yet to thoroughly test the browser.
I'm not moving away from Firefox simply because I don't want to lower its market share. If Firefox had a huge market share, I'd definitely use an alternative browser. I know I'm one use and I probably won't make a difference, but we do need more people using Firefox for the sake of browser diversity.
Floorp is nice. If they only added similar functionality to vertical tabs as Arc has. Namely the possibility to add 'folders' for tabs. Yes, I know I could add an extension for it, but it'd be nice to have it baked in.
Floorp Is very customizable, with a little elbow grease and an extension called Sideberry I got very nice vertical tabs with Space switching and Folders and stuff
Thanks for introducing me to this browser, I had never heard of it. I decided to switch from Chromium based browsers to Firefox based ones and ended up missing one feature that stuff like Edge, Opera and Vivaldi have and it might sound dumb, but the sidebar, and is something I gave up for Waterfox, but now I don't have to as sometimes you have things you regularly check/look at/use and don't want to navigate to the website sometimes and the sidebar is convenient for setting up pages/web apps like that. Plus it has a couple of features I was using plugins for (like the spoofing) and seems pretty solid performance wise.
Downside is it does a lot of reaching out to a lot of different domains. Just watch the traffic with any packet capture tool. Would be worth detailing the need for each of these to comfort the community.
@@blobisback Might be why he has already switch away from this one. I don't feel like reinstalling my OS again after installing this and watching all domains it reached out to not related to Mozilla and some in .jp domain space I was just uncomfortable. That is why I feel like it would be nice for Chris to look into it for us as an experiment on the channel. Not misinformation but I am concerned and have no valid evidence to prove that anything malicious is going on and what exactly is being sent to many of these domains that the same Firefox install does not reach out to. I was not comfortable so that is why I moved on.
Since it became chromium based it has a been a good enough choice for the lay man to use, but in typical Microsoft fashion they include so much bloat and popups it's basically just annoying to use, aswell as trying their hardest to make it your default browser
@@Woodsie_Lordyes, with Firefox-UI-Fix which is the same thing Floorp uses. But on vanilla firefox, it requires modifying css iirc, which is annoying, especially since you'd have to keep the thing up-to-date manually
Floorp and LibreWolf respectively, LW prioritises privacy at the cost of usability. And Floorp is tweaked for better performance and caters more to power-users.
Thanks Chris! Have been a FF user for a very long time. Lately, I've been bouncing back and forth between Brave and FF, due to the issues with YT (issues being ads).
I have a dream browser. Website being displayed on the main window, with no top bars, that can stretch from the bottom to the top of the monitor. Everything else, address bar, extensions, tabs on a side panel or two on either or both sides. We're not using 4:3 monitors anymore and websites aren't designed to be shown in wide pages anyway. We have abundance of horizontal space and limited vertical space but we're utilizing them in the wrong way. That's actually a dream design for me for all apps displayed on wide screens.
Arc Browser on mac already did that. but arc are closed source, only on mac(windows on beta) and written in swift(which mean not possible for crossplatform outside apple devices), and there is no sign of porting swift app to linux
If anyone is interested. I compared Firefox and Floorp on Arch Linux both using the exact same tweaks and extensions and both were exactly the same speedwise. Thorium and Chromium were indeed faster than both of these though but that could also have to do with both of those having less extensions installed. I also did a Thorium vs Chromium test and Thorium was 0.28 secs faster than Chromium. Not really enough to bother switching but if I was ever gonna use an Ubuntu distro again I'd probably slap both of these on it so I wouldn't have to bother with snaps or finding deb files.
@@konstantink07 I do but thats still additional pointless steps that I don't need to bother with if I just used a different distro. Especially if it's to replace something that usually ships standard with the OS.
I am already back on Thorium. Alex updated it and removed the YIFY and offending content. However, I'm not going to make a video on it, because the comments would be an absolute shit storm.
After video about Thorium i tested this browser and use it everyday.Thorium great for me,for second browser sometimes I use firefox.For development and adaptive design i check my projects in Thorium,Firefox,Opera and it's good for me and users whom using projects of company.I will look what's about this browser and if he have something new and interesting,maybe I will use it.
as of October 22, 2024 the native user agent spoofer in Floorp settings has disappeared I don't know when this occurred nobody seems to be talking about it anywhere online am I crazy?
This browser is great, and some of its hidden features are very neat too, for example about to run addon inside Sidebar, and customizable hotkeys, something most web browsers don't have.
I've long been in camp firefox. But recently been making the switch to librefox and enjoying it. I know I could get a slightly more hardened firefox by doing it custom (and I have in the past) but having librefox take care of 90% of it is sooo nice. Plus I can use Tree Style Tabs and a custom user.css to hide my regular tabs and get this same look as Floorp. Not sure I see much advantage to floorp over librefox but I might give it a try anyway. Little reluctant since I know so little about the company behind it too though.
the company behind Floorp is called Ablaze. And one killer feature for me is the sidebar on the right. You can add shortcuts for quite literally anything, like any about: page, normal websites, extension windows... I for example have Bitwarden, ChatGPT and about:config in there. Also, 90% of the customisation that would require manually downloading, copying, modifying and maintaining css can be done right from the settings since most of what you'd use is already integrated with the browser.
Thanks Chris - I follow you for the past 6 months, and get good advise and useful tips. This one, I'm happy to check out, since I'm checking also mullvad vs. my librewolf (so far my favorite). Off the bat,, it floorp seems to have some things I was looking for - like embedded side tabs and the elimination of the top bar. Not sure yet of ublock and noscript are embedded or not (I usually like to be able to control them myself), but I will check out if it has also the multi-container and anti-fingerprinting and so forth which I habitually install as addons, amongst others). Trying to eliminate as many of them as possible these days, but still get the functionality.
I've been in the Firefox camp since around the late-2000s. Since August 2023, I've been using a fork of Firefox called LibreWolf as my main web browser, and I've been satisfied with it so far. LibreWolf emphasizes privacy and security by blocking/disabling certain features and settings by default and doesn't include telemetry. Floorp doesn't have any features that I find compelling enough to make me want to switch browsers. In addition, Floorp is built from Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release), which in turn is based on an older version of the Firefox source code. Since the ESR version is available longer, it has the potential to give hackers more time to develop exploits for it. That's no bueno for me. LibreWolf, on the other hand, is always built from the latest Firefox source code, so it always has the most recent security updates, features and stability. I think I'll stick with LibreWolf for now.
What I was searching for. Doesn't appear to answer comments. Researching for new browser due to chromium/ublock. Chris did a thorium vid a month b4 this one, so 2 diff browsers within weeks. No new browser vids since, so "guess" his still using Floorp.
I'm so dependent on chromium dev tools that I can't even consider switching to FF, although I love it. I use it the same way I was using IE back in the day, I fire up FF when my main browser doesn't work for any reason.
I might look into Floorp but Thorium is still the more interesting project for me and i'm very happy it got updated just a few days ago. Also i had the feeling early on that most of the "Allegations" around the developer could be explained or they weren't that big of a deal for me.
@@GeoSpectatorauthor has put a suggestive drawing into a hidden page as an easter egg, and people went unreasonably angry and harassed the guy for drama, to put things shortly
I gave floorp a go as it seemed interesting but not really sure what the issue is but it's incredibly sluggish, most noticeable with scrolling and even video playback.
Thank you for bring this browser ro our attention. I personally would love to see more Brave-like Firefox forks in the future, especially with how things are going with Chromium/Chrome.
WOW! Im impressed how snappy Floorp is! The design of UI is astonishing its like I have installed Linux 😂. This is my favourite now! I tried WaterFox before but went back to Firefox. It has Multi-Row Tab Bar! This is the most important thing that was lost in Firefox update & stopped working the Tab Mix Plus exactly for multi-row tabs! I always like to leave many tabs open but always was a pain to scroll between them but now I see them all! Im astonished how great this Firefox based browser is! So happy Im signed up to this channel although I thought I would never learn nothing new here but boy I was wrong! Always enjoy all your videos even if the subject is well known too me. Great find Chris!
@@grebap It's primary focus is privacy, with most of the settings available being security measures and other snazzy nerd settings. Edit: forgot to mention it also comes preinstalled with uBlock Origin and (I think?) has some filter lists, but I replaced mine with a larger filter from github.
@@grebap It's a fork of firefox with telemetry disabled and preconfigured to better resist fingerprinting. Also comes with ublock origin pre-installed.
@@grebap Minor hardening, all Mozilla tracking/bloat/ads removed, quick security updates (usually within 12-48 hrs, I believe occasionally pulling in code from Firefox nightly before it hits Firefox), and good defaults.
One thing I like about Firefox is the "take a screenshot" feature. Installed Floorp on Debian 12 using Flatpak, just to take a look, and the first thing I noticed was it doesn't have the "take a screenshot" feature. So I'll just stick to Firefox I think, but thanks anyway.
I have never used firefox much but i was shocked at the amount of customization options available. like moving the address bar , tab bar everything down to mimic the safari ios experience and so much more. I use Arc browser mainly but this looks like a great browser.
The fact that it's based off of ESR version is kinda a dealbreaker for me. Firefox's Quantum engine is already behind Chromium to the point it could easily affect every user (I'm still a Firefox fan and it's my no. 1 browser). But my point is, unless you're on an older/LTS distro or have to use older version due to legacy applications, using ESR will only bring drawbacks and there's no point in using it (ESR is basically an older version that only gets security updates and maybe bugfixes as the non-ESR).
Give it a try. Its even faster than the newest Firefox version. The internal settings of firefox have been tweaked to the core. Personally, its the snappiest browser I've used.
@@raygunsforronnie847 Maybe I didn't explain it clearly. It's basically an "LTS" version of a browser. Feature updates are held until the next "major" release while the security updates are still pushed regularly.
Been going back and forth between Mercury Browser, Floorp and Thorium Browser. I can't really decide what FF browser I like the most, Mercury and Floorp both are so good.
Oh this is odd I was just looking at this browser in the discover 5.27.10 package manger and I was wondering about it and then your video comes up as a recommended video. That is so strange. I clicked on the install in the package manager so will give it a test my self. Great video. Oh and I have use Thorium. I use it at work but boy it locks up a lot. Then again most chrome based browsers lock up on that computer at work.
Hey Chris been watching your channel for a while and I love it eventually I'm going to get around to grabbing that new utility you've got I am running to osas but I pull out the drives I have a Dell m6500 laptop any recommendations for a nice Linux distro I've had Linux Mint on before any recommendations for a Linux distro would be greatly appreciated
After seeing your poll, i came to know such a browser existed. Now I've switched to it. Its blazing fast. Also I found an extension to replace the "Tabs Outliner" extension which i used with edge earlier. I'm not going back. Until I encounter a roadblock.
I was using Firefox previously, now switched to Floorp (also after seeing the poll!), and in real-life, everyday usage I see no difference in speed or reliability. It's as fast and reliable, as FF was. Out of curiosity I did some benchmarks (Speedometer 2.0 and 2.1) and Floorp was actually slower about 10-20% ! But like O said before, I can't see any difference in real-life usage
@@Klusio19 ah it might be placebo or new browser bias then. Somehow it seems very springy and responsive 😬. Maybe edge was very slow. I love that we can place the sidebar where ever and get rid of title bar and all these customizations..maximum utilization of space!
@@engineering_guy It can just be that your accumulated user gunk is slowing down the browser. Make a different profile and see if the problem persists.
@@S.F.D.R Something from a year or so ago should still have you covered. Every other thing not covered by those you'll have to figure out as you go along.
@@pastoryoda2789 If you wanna trust some random fork to be maintained as frequently as the real thing, be my guest. Or you can just do the work yourself and call it a day.
I just installed it on pop os and i like the notes that sync between browsers using the encrypted firefox sync.. i'll probably use that. I'm interested in giving web apps a spin in it. I have used waterfox too.
Done, installed. Use Firefox as main browser as I never seem to run out of new tabs to open. Chrome and the like seem to have a limit and new tabs then disappear until I close some. I might try Thorium again, but first impression was disappointing as I could not find an installer for it.
Vivaldi has been my daily driver for at least 5 years, and is likely to remain so. That said, I'm always keeping an eye out for alternates in case Vivaldi joins the partisan politics party or in some other way 'copulates with the canine.' Floorp looks like a contender. That said... is it just me, or is this just Midori with a different name?
Does it have tab grouping? The only thing that prevents me from moving to Firefox is the native tab grouping like Edge. It's such a killer feature for vertical tab browsing.
@@PraxssSome people might need a chrome based browser or, they need a browser that is intuitive to use. There might be other reasons, in my opinion it's just personal preference and what people need a browser to do.
One thing that i love with Chrome and that i miss in Firefox is that every tab uses its own process. That means if one tab is very busy for some reason then only that tab is busy, the rest of the browser works just normal while if that happens with Firefox the whole browser is blocked. Sure, Chrome uses much more Ram because of that feature, but if i have to choose between a browser that uses less Ram, but can get stuck sometimes and a browser that uses way more Ram, but never gets stuck then i would choose the browser that never gets stuck. A Firefox with that feature would be my dreambrowser.
I was using Floorp for a bit, but uploading videos onto RUclips takes longer somehow on Firefox browsers. Idk if it's just google doing their thing or just an issue I'm causing. I'd like to continue to use Floorp though. I'll probably switch back to it.
You never get this right. Remember when you were hawking Thorium? I do. Librewolf already does some of the best blocking and other useful things out there. And it is not brand new. Theme stuff is boring and pretty common to many. Some spoofing is built in to Librewolf. Maybe this one is better on this. I don't see anything compelling about this one over librewolf.
Vanilla Firefox still lacks in the privacy and security department. If you want a web browser that emphasizes privacy and security, but still want a Firefox-like experience, I recommend LibreWolf. It's a fork of Firefox that doesn't include telemetry, blocks/disables certain features and settings by default for your privacy and security, and conveniently comes with uBlock Origin pre-installed.
as a long time Vivaldi user floorp felt like the perfect alternative for it fixing some of the nitpicks from Vivaldi without losing the intense customization it has
Every time you recommend something, it becomes my daily apps! I love this browser a lot. Been using this since you've talked about this browser in your previous video.
Nice, I'm sure I'll try it soon. No mention of performance. Wonder if they did any perf tweaks. Not that FF is a slouch, but Thorium has def been speed king _for me_ hands down. Only wish it was as customizable as some of the others and had vert tabs. But mostly looking forward to no longer caring who's fastest once my maxxed-out Framework 16 ships Q2. I just hope the anticipation doesn't kill me before I can enjoy it.
One think to point! If in settings in User Agent you choose something else from firefox (chrome for example) you will not be able to login in firefox account for sync.
I have to switch from Firefox to Brave for banking on my Cinnamon mint laptop because it starts asking me to do other stuff while trying to do my banking! I will give this one a try...good job Chris
My favourite part about Floorp is they're actively working one of my favourite features from Edge (Native Vertical Tabs) into a fork of Firefox, it's not perfect and in the meantime they're just recommending addons like TST but once it's ready it'll be the ultimate browser personally.
Edit: PWAs too!
I've been using tree style tab (tst) since 2011, how come mozilla never absorbed it like it did with firebug, I'll never understand.
I really just want horizontal tree style tabs right up in the bar (Edit: For context, I generally only put firefox on half my screen)
Yeah, treestyle tabs are a necessity for me. there is nothing even close when managing huge amount of tabs. So far, the only good implementation I've seen is in Yandex browser which I'm not a huge fan of.
Sidebery is a great alternative to TST, fwiw.
what site was TST?
Firefox has been my primary browser for over a decade. The only thing Firefox is missing, and I don't know what the hold up is, is it doesn't have HDR support on Windows (but it does on Mac and Linux). I have to use chrome for RUclips because Firefox doesn't have it. There are no signs of HDR support anytime soon either, I don't get it.
No HDR support for the most popular platform? That's weird.
Not a single person should use a browser from a company who supports the censorship of "harmful content."
@@phobes Google does the same thing, so I guess you can't use a Chromium based web browser either. Just pull the plug man.
@@GoolagThemTube Correct, you should absolutely not use Chrome. Brave is OK, I'm sure there are other Chrome spins that are fine.
The problem is the pro-censorship corporations. Thankfully, their software is open source.
@@phobes Brave is a Chromium based web browser.
The name really is terrible.
Marketing team getting fired with this one
@@petethepeteI like it.
Very terrible indeed!
Sounds like something from Rick and Morty
That's another point in its favor. 🙂
I've been using Floorp for a few months already and I'm happy with the actual performance and customization possibilities. Aside from the usual drawbacks that Firefox also has (e.g. some websites that are optimized for Chromium only), it's better than Firefox for me. Hell, even RAM consumption seems to be lower (but don't expect humongous differences) than on Firefox - though now I don't care that much about this since I built another PC with much more and faster RAM, but it is important for people that use low-end machines, for instance.
For Chromium-related stuff, I just keep ungoogled-chromium with some extensions installed, in case I need it. It's simple and efficient.
I'm using it now, and it's great. Once small thing: when at the usual pie rat sites and I'm viewing orn previews prior to downloading, it will not give me the picture of the screenshots of the orn. I guess because when you are redirected to see the screenshots, you are tracked, and Floorp has anti-tracking built in. A minor nit since most of the time I'm not downloading orn so it's not a deal breaker for me.
best browser for low end pc or any pc edge
Well, isn't the Chrome spoofing taking care of the "optimized for Chromnium" aspect?
@@nicolaskeith8945 Partially. Works on some websites, on others it just stays the same, and if you use it on Google Meet (for instance) it won't work at all unless you change the user agent back to FF.
I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't trust browsers not made by a gigantic company with heaps of cash and developers behind.
Web browsers are a central point of our life nowadays, and not having a gigantic security team behind is simply a deal breaker.
This kind of smallish browsers, the second they fall a bit behind pulling the latest update, they are leaving you unprotected. And because they don't have a large team behind the bus factor is smaller, one or two people get sick, someone retires, etc. and suddenly they missed an update.
I just use Firefox and live with its flaws.
An even important question: how does it make money?
I literally wouldn't even look at such a product without at least there being a blog post explaining how they plan to make money and survive.
It's such a no brainer.
And thats how you play into their hands. Good luck with that.
You need to protect yourself from those giant corporations first.
@@jeffhines2895 security > privacy
companies do unethical , immoral and even borderline legal stuff but criminals actually do like yk real criminal stuff
Google chrome's security is a joke and that's coming from a tech giant company
I believe the Firefox ESR denotes the "Extended Support Release" that continues working for "legacy" OS systems (like my Mac OSeX 10.13 installs) after full support and development has been forced to. move on to newer OS releases.
ESR is also used by companies like LTS Linux Distros. Basically they will not push feature/compatibility breaking changes via update except between major releases.
It's used in companies that don't want to have to re-test all their crappy internal/external WebApps with each update before approving it for full roll out.
I've been using ESR for about 15 years. It works fine for home use if you want a stable browser without constant feature updates and experiments, like any sane person. Can also recommend W10E 21H2 LTSC.
Firefox ESR is something luxurious for the end user, and they gave it away for free. Much more stable and less massive feature update. As far as I know, even chromium based browsers don't have it.
Think like Windows LTSC, but you can use it on retail/oem lisence.
@@nasimicin or Ubuntu LTS and Debian Stable! that thing were meant to be built to last and rock solid
I love this Browser because it has the vertical tabs like Microsoft Edge.
brave has that too
@sumbodee3 I don't like brave
The biggest surprise is that Floorp is developed by Japanese high school and junior high school students.
Sounds like good news.
Mullvard, Mercury, LibreWolf, Tor .. those are already nice alternatives but since it's better to have more choices I'll try this Floorp out to see how it measures.
Good to see the Chromium dev cleaning up its fork, this project didn't needed to spawn such unnecessary trouble.
Which is the most lightweight?
Always have two browsers based on two DIFFERENT tech bases. So, Firefox and Chromium (or your favorite forks of them). This way is one gets borked, the other should still work. I've seen blown Firefox and Chromium updates break browsers, as well as other tech issues break one but not the other.
There is also the issue that more and more websites are reverting to the 1990s thing of "Best viewed with X browser". So much for "browser standards". But I've used a site that seems to hate Firefox, and they recommend Chrome. WHY??
@@jeijei3255 I haven't compared that measure. Some come only in flatpaks and this factor bloat their installed space despite being stripped down of useless FF features.
For that reason I do prefer when my linux distro have the softwares in binary to avoid flatpak installs if needed. (Arch AUR is good for that).
Lightweight is also dependent on how the browser cache and temporary files is set as it can explode the disk space depending how the program is configured.
Librewolf example has its cache in auto-delete by default and therefore avoid this bloat trap but it create some inconvenience of using the more bandwidth and cancels sites log in after restarts.
It is advisable to be familiar with the settings of all browsers to tune them at your preferences.
@@markh.6687 I've bumped into sites that supposedly only work on Chromium and refuse to load on my FF browser at all. I'd use an agent spoofer to disguise my FF as Chromium, and suddenly the sites would load and work like a charm. Yeah, WHY is a good question. 🤔
Floorp having this built in is nice, tho I've yet to thoroughly test the browser.
I'm not moving away from Firefox simply because I don't want to lower its market share.
If Firefox had a huge market share, I'd definitely use an alternative browser.
I know I'm one use and I probably won't make a difference, but we do need more people using Firefox for the sake of browser diversity.
you alone maybe not, but I and probably many others share that opinion. we should want every website we visit to know that chromium isnt the internet
Using a Fork of FF, add to its market share,, I just hope this fork survives!! Fairly new, try it but don't make it your daily driver
Floorp is nice. If they only added similar functionality to vertical tabs as Arc has. Namely the possibility to add 'folders' for tabs. Yes, I know I could add an extension for it, but it'd be nice to have it baked in.
Workspaces (which they just completely reworked) are pretty much that
Floorp Is very customizable, with a little elbow grease and an extension called Sideberry I got very nice vertical tabs with Space switching and Folders and stuff
actually floorp has it. just go to the preferences / setting, then search for vertical tabs
otherwise, use zen browser, also firefox's fork
Thanks for introducing me to this browser, I had never heard of it. I decided to switch from Chromium based browsers to Firefox based ones and ended up missing one feature that stuff like Edge, Opera and Vivaldi have and it might sound dumb, but the sidebar, and is something I gave up for Waterfox, but now I don't have to as sometimes you have things you regularly check/look at/use and don't want to navigate to the website sometimes and the sidebar is convenient for setting up pages/web apps like that.
Plus it has a couple of features I was using plugins for (like the spoofing) and seems pretty solid performance wise.
Downside is it does a lot of reaching out to a lot of different domains. Just watch the traffic with any packet capture tool. Would be worth detailing the need for each of these to comfort the community.
Can you elaborate ?
For cybersecurity there is MullvadBrowser (But it is not recommended for personal use).
@@blobisbackme when I spread misinformation 🤭
@@scooppoop180 ?
@@blobisback Might be why he has already switch away from this one. I don't feel like reinstalling my OS again after installing this and watching all domains it reached out to not related to Mozilla and some in .jp domain space I was just uncomfortable. That is why I feel like it would be nice for Chris to look into it for us as an experiment on the channel. Not misinformation but I am concerned and have no valid evidence to prove that anything malicious is going on and what exactly is being sent to many of these domains that the same Firefox install does not reach out to. I was not comfortable so that is why I moved on.
Hey. It’s that browser I’ve been using for a few months now! Yeah, Floorp feels like if Firefox became Edge, minus the spyware.
It's basically what firefox is supposed to be.
So Edge is actually a good browser in your opinion? Why that? Don't have much experience with Edge, hence I'm asking.
Since it became chromium based it has a been a good enough choice for the lay man to use, but in typical Microsoft fashion they include so much bloat and popups it's basically just annoying to use, aswell as trying their hardest to make it your default browser
@@Buddicious Ah thanks. I read "a good enough choice for the lay man to use" as "not entirely bad anymore".
@@homo192 Edge is a very good browser who's only downside is not being privacy friendly.
The biggest selling point for me, ironically, is the ability to hide tab bar. I exclusively use treestyle tabs and the wasted space drove me nuts.
Vertical tabs waste more space though
@@GrigRP they can be toggled plus vertical space isn't as valuable as horizontal. I have basically 0 GUI when I read something
You can do it on firefox, but not that easily.
@@GrigRPyou can auto hide them like in edge
@@Woodsie_Lordyes, with Firefox-UI-Fix which is the same thing Floorp uses. But on vanilla firefox, it requires modifying css iirc, which is annoying, especially since you'd have to keep the thing up-to-date manually
Hi Chris, what about LibreWolf? Which one would you choose for a daily usage? Which one is better for privacy etc?
Thanks so much 🙂🙂
For cybersecurity there is MullvadBrowser (But it is not recommended for personal use).
librewolf does break some websites that i visit, so i use firefox with arkenfox
Floorp and LibreWolf respectively, LW prioritises privacy at the cost of usability.
And Floorp is tweaked for better performance and caters more to power-users.
@@WyvernDotRed thanks!👍
Thanks Chris! Have been a FF user for a very long time. Lately, I've been bouncing back and forth between Brave and FF, due to the issues with YT (issues being ads).
Same here... any solutons you have landed onto???
@@ikabrain Been using FF and UBlock Origin again, without issue, for about a month
@@ikabrain ublock origin ext. is what you need to install..
I have a dream browser. Website being displayed on the main window, with no top bars, that can stretch from the bottom to the top of the monitor. Everything else, address bar, extensions, tabs on a side panel or two on either or both sides. We're not using 4:3 monitors anymore and websites aren't designed to be shown in wide pages anyway. We have abundance of horizontal space and limited vertical space but we're utilizing them in the wrong way.
That's actually a dream design for me for all apps displayed on wide screens.
Arc Browser on mac already did that. but arc are closed source, only on mac(windows on beta) and written in swift(which mean not possible for crossplatform outside apple devices), and there is no sign of porting swift app to linux
Stock FF can be close to this with TST or Sidebery and some CSS tweaks
"fullscreen" inside window on firefox will give you maximum vertical space
thankyou, someone get this man the power to decide screens should be 3:2
plus the windows taskbar and the browsing experience is like watching a cinemascope movie
If anyone is interested. I compared Firefox and Floorp on Arch Linux both using the exact same tweaks and extensions and both were exactly the same speedwise. Thorium and Chromium were indeed faster than both of these though but that could also have to do with both of those having less extensions installed. I also did a Thorium vs Chromium test and Thorium was 0.28 secs faster than Chromium. Not really enough to bother switching but if I was ever gonna use an Ubuntu distro again I'd probably slap both of these on it so I wouldn't have to bother with snaps or finding deb files.
you do know that ppas exist?
@@konstantink07 I do but thats still additional pointless steps that I don't need to bother with if I just used a different distro. Especially if it's to replace something that usually ships standard with the OS.
Chris next video:
I'm returning to Brave browser
You beat me too it. 😆
Brave always good
I am already back on Thorium. Alex updated it and removed the YIFY and offending content. However, I'm not going to make a video on it, because the comments would be an absolute shit storm.
@@ChrisTitusTech 💀
I've been using brave since Firefox v56 when they killed the plugins, then a certificate died in the subsequent versions and I went buh bye.
It has the best customization. Vertical tabs and address bar on bottom made me really happy!
After video about Thorium i tested this browser and use it everyday.Thorium great for me,for second browser sometimes I use firefox.For development and adaptive design i check my projects in Thorium,Firefox,Opera and it's good for me and users whom using projects of company.I will look what's about this browser and if he have something new and interesting,maybe I will use it.
as of October 22, 2024
the native user agent spoofer in Floorp settings has disappeared
I don't know when this occurred
nobody seems to be talking about it anywhere online
am I crazy?
This browser is great, and some of its hidden features are very neat too, for example about to run addon inside Sidebar, and customizable hotkeys, something most web browsers don't have.
I've long been in camp firefox. But recently been making the switch to librefox and enjoying it. I know I could get a slightly more hardened firefox by doing it custom (and I have in the past) but having librefox take care of 90% of it is sooo nice. Plus I can use Tree Style Tabs and a custom user.css to hide my regular tabs and get this same look as Floorp. Not sure I see much advantage to floorp over librefox but I might give it a try anyway. Little reluctant since I know so little about the company behind it too though.
do you mean librewolf?
Librewolf just breaks too much for my comfort and usability, that's why I switched to waterfox.
the company behind Floorp is called Ablaze. And one killer feature for me is the sidebar on the right. You can add shortcuts for quite literally anything, like any about: page, normal websites, extension windows... I for example have Bitwarden, ChatGPT and about:config in there. Also, 90% of the customisation that would require manually downloading, copying, modifying and maintaining css can be done right from the settings since most of what you'd use is already integrated with the browser.
@@Vide501waterfox is spyware bought by a ad company
It uses the Mozilla 2.0 license, and in fact there are multiple forks, which is a guarantee of continuity, independent of the company.
Just installed it, and it's already caught my eye with its improved vertical tabs as well as PWA support!
Please don't capitalize the second F in Firefox it hurts my eyes
FireFox
FireFFFoX
I use floorp as my backup to vivaldi. Really happy, it works fine. Would probably move to it full time if it had vivaldis tiling and sync features.
Thanks Chris - I follow you for the past 6 months, and get good advise and useful tips. This one, I'm happy to check out, since I'm checking also mullvad vs. my librewolf (so far my favorite). Off the bat,, it floorp seems to have some things I was looking for - like embedded side tabs and the elimination of the top bar. Not sure yet of ublock and noscript are embedded or not (I usually like to be able to control them myself), but I will check out if it has also the multi-container and anti-fingerprinting and so forth which I habitually install as addons, amongst others). Trying to eliminate as many of them as possible these days, but still get the functionality.
Did you try it!! What's your thought? Is it good for the average user
@@farouqstray1411 It was fast, but had limited functionality to my needs and workflow, so I reverted to librewolf/ Mulvad.
I've been in the Firefox camp since around the late-2000s. Since August 2023, I've been using a fork of Firefox called LibreWolf as my main web browser, and I've been satisfied with it so far. LibreWolf emphasizes privacy and security by blocking/disabling certain features and settings by default and doesn't include telemetry. Floorp doesn't have any features that I find compelling enough to make me want to switch browsers.
In addition, Floorp is built from Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release), which in turn is based on an older version of the Firefox source code. Since the ESR version is available longer, it has the potential to give hackers more time to develop exploits for it. That's no bueno for me. LibreWolf, on the other hand, is always built from the latest Firefox source code, so it always has the most recent security updates, features and stability. I think I'll stick with LibreWolf for now.
Same, i use Firedragon with is Librewolf with KDE integration and some bling. love it.
floorp still your main ? after half year
What I was searching for. Doesn't appear to answer comments.
Researching for new browser due to chromium/ublock. Chris did a thorium vid a month b4 this one, so 2 diff browsers within weeks. No new browser vids since, so "guess" his still using Floorp.
@@westaus666 He replied to some other comment from 6 months ago that he's back on Thorium.
@@westaus666 he replied almost in the same month above to another comment that he is already back on thorium
wow floorp its impressive, out of box customization that exceed firefox with tab bar position, status bar etc... great advice
20 yrs relying on Firefox, this review was much appreciated, thanks.. My theme contributions: Pop-White and =BLACK DIRE=
by GreatScott
I'm so dependent on chromium dev tools that I can't even consider switching to FF, although I love it. I use it the same way I was using IE back in the day, I fire up FF when my main browser doesn't work for any reason.
I like FF dev tools more. I think this is a matter of what you are more used to.
absolutely in awe of this browser. I've been using firefox for the better part of 3 years now and was looking for just this.
I´m on Waterfox... should I switch to?
no unless you dont use chrome extensions
what about Librewolf??
if i may ask what's the font name you used? it looks so clean i like it
did you find it?
Might be monospace?
I might look into Floorp but Thorium is still the more interesting project for me and i'm very happy it got updated just a few days ago. Also i had the feeling early on that most of the "Allegations" around the developer could be explained or they weren't that big of a deal for me.
I have used Floorp before, but it found it too heavy on the cpu and ram, i prefer Thorium it is the fastest browser next to edge.
catgirl_fridge.png
Mind mentioning some of the allegations? I don't wanna go through the hassle ofooking for it😅
@@GeoSpectatorsexually suggestive animal arts “easter egg” and graphic image for anti circumcising on baby.
@@GeoSpectatorauthor has put a suggestive drawing into a hidden page as an easter egg, and people went unreasonably angry and harassed the guy for drama, to put things shortly
I gave floorp a go as it seemed interesting but not really sure what the issue is but it's incredibly sluggish, most noticeable with scrolling and even video playback.
Thank you for bring this browser ro our attention. I personally would love to see more Brave-like Firefox forks in the future, especially with how things are going with Chromium/Chrome.
There is difference between bringing attention, and claiming is the best FF browser!! this men don't learn
i would love to hear and see a review about mullvad browser from you
Me 2
WOW! Im impressed how snappy Floorp is! The design of UI is astonishing its like I have installed Linux 😂. This is my favourite now! I tried WaterFox before but went back to Firefox. It has Multi-Row Tab Bar! This is the most important thing that was lost in Firefox update & stopped working the Tab Mix Plus exactly for multi-row tabs! I always like to leave many tabs open but always was a pain to scroll between them but now I see them all! Im astonished how great this Firefox based browser is! So happy Im signed up to this channel although I thought I would never learn nothing new here but boy I was wrong! Always enjoy all your videos even if the subject is well known too me. Great find Chris!
Brave and Librewolf are my go to's. Really happy with both and having the best of both worlds between Chromium and Firefox.
What is special about librewolf?
@@grebap lots!!
@@grebap It's primary focus is privacy, with most of the settings available being security measures and other snazzy nerd settings.
Edit: forgot to mention it also comes preinstalled with uBlock Origin and (I think?) has some filter lists, but I replaced mine with a larger filter from github.
@@grebap It's a fork of firefox with telemetry disabled and preconfigured to better resist fingerprinting. Also comes with ublock origin pre-installed.
@@grebap Minor hardening, all Mozilla tracking/bloat/ads removed, quick security updates (usually within 12-48 hrs, I believe occasionally pulling in code from Firefox nightly before it hits Firefox), and good defaults.
One thing I like about Firefox is the "take a screenshot" feature. Installed Floorp on Debian 12 using Flatpak, just to take a look, and the first thing I noticed was it doesn't have the "take a screenshot" feature. So I'll just stick to Firefox I think, but thanks anyway.
Oh absolutely easily taking screenshots of the whole page without having to keep scrolling and take multiple screenshots. Oh! I love that.
It has Take a Screenshot on my Floorp Flatpak copy just fine - find it on the right-click menu of a page.
Why don't use ctrl+shift+s ?
Can’t wait for the Plumbus browser!
The big issue with thorium that was highlighted by Brodie is it isn’t up to date with security updates like other Chromium based browsers
I have never used firefox much but i was shocked at the amount of customization options available. like moving the address bar , tab bar everything down to mimic the safari ios experience and so much more. I use Arc browser mainly but this looks like a great browser.
The fact that it's based off of ESR version is kinda a dealbreaker for me. Firefox's Quantum engine is already behind Chromium to the point it could easily affect every user (I'm still a Firefox fan and it's my no. 1 browser). But my point is, unless you're on an older/LTS distro or have to use older version due to legacy applications, using ESR will only bring drawbacks and there's no point in using it (ESR is basically an older version that only gets security updates and maybe bugfixes as the non-ESR).
Give it a try. Its even faster than the newest Firefox version. The internal settings of firefox have been tweaked to the core. Personally, its the snappiest browser I've used.
Extended Support Release. You seem to think it does not mean what it means.
@@raygunsforronnie847 Maybe I didn't explain it clearly. It's basically an "LTS" version of a browser. Feature updates are held until the next "major" release while the security updates are still pushed regularly.
It's really good, try it
The name sounds like something out of Rick and Morty. Love this project!
Been going back and forth between Mercury Browser, Floorp and Thorium Browser. I can't really decide what FF browser I like the most, Mercury and Floorp both are so good.
Oh this is odd I was just looking at this browser in the discover 5.27.10 package manger and I was wondering about it and then your video comes up as a recommended video. That is so strange. I clicked on the install in the package manager so will give it a test my self. Great video. Oh and I have use Thorium. I use it at work but boy it locks up a lot. Then again most chrome based browsers lock up on that computer at work.
Hey Chris been watching your channel for a while and I love it eventually I'm going to get around to grabbing that new utility you've got I am running to osas but I pull out the drives I have a Dell m6500 laptop any recommendations for a nice Linux distro I've had Linux Mint on before any recommendations for a Linux distro would be greatly appreciated
Is it better than LibreWolf?
After seeing your poll, i came to know such a browser existed. Now I've switched to it. Its blazing fast. Also I found an extension to replace the "Tabs Outliner" extension which i used with edge earlier. I'm not going back. Until I encounter a roadblock.
I was using Firefox previously, now switched to Floorp (also after seeing the poll!), and in real-life, everyday usage I see no difference in speed or reliability. It's as fast and reliable, as FF was.
Out of curiosity I did some benchmarks (Speedometer 2.0 and 2.1) and Floorp was actually slower about 10-20% ! But like O said before, I can't see any difference in real-life usage
@@Klusio19 ah it might be placebo or new browser bias then. Somehow it seems very springy and responsive 😬. Maybe edge was very slow. I love that we can place the sidebar where ever and get rid of title bar and all these customizations..maximum utilization of space!
@@engineering_guy It can just be that your accumulated user gunk is slowing down the browser. Make a different profile and see if the problem persists.
The best version of FireFox is still FireFox, just hardened.
do you happen to have a guide for hardening the latest firefox? almost every guide i found is from a few years ago.
@@S.F.D.R Something from a year or so ago should still have you covered. Every other thing not covered by those you'll have to figure out as you go along.
@@slightlyaboveaveragebutaverage alright. Thank you kindly for your response.
The best version of firefox is called Mercury
@@pastoryoda2789 If you wanna trust some random fork to be maintained as frequently as the real thing, be my guest. Or you can just do the work yourself and call it a day.
i don't see any reason to use something other than firefox.
appreciate the vid either way.
I just installed it on pop os and i like the notes that sync between browsers using the encrypted firefox sync.. i'll probably use that. I'm interested in giving web apps a spin in it. I have used waterfox too.
Done, installed. Use Firefox as main browser as I never seem to run out of new tabs to open. Chrome and the like seem to have a limit and new tabs then disappear until I close some. I might try Thorium again, but first impression was disappointing as I could not find an installer for it.
Thanks for the info, setting up a new arch install in a couple days, this is going in it!
I still use Thorium and quite satisfied despite the drama 🙂
Vivaldi has been my daily driver for at least 5 years, and is likely to remain so. That said, I'm always keeping an eye out for alternates in case Vivaldi joins the partisan politics party or in some other way 'copulates with the canine.' Floorp looks like a contender.
That said... is it just me, or is this just Midori with a different name?
sounds like what Rick & Morty would name for a random character. "Floorp".
Hey man, I have got rid of Chrome and now use Tempest, not sure if you've used it but would love to see a video and review.
Tempest is a great browser. It seems just another Chromium fork, but for me it works better than other Chromium-based browsers.
Does it have tab grouping? The only thing that prevents me from moving to Firefox is the native tab grouping like Edge. It's such a killer feature for vertical tab browsing.
If I remember it has workspace option like vivaldi which is better if you ask me
Much as I'd like to not use Chromium browsers, Firefox still leaks memory like crazy. I don't think that will ever change.
ESR is not for everyone
Why?
@@Praxssdoesn't have newest Features
@@PraxssSome people might need a chrome based browser or, they need a browser that is intuitive to use. There might be other reasons, in my opinion it's just personal preference and what people need a browser to do.
How hard is it to use a browser?
@@ashwinrawat9622 new features are not included
One thing that i love with Chrome and that i miss in Firefox is that every tab uses its own process. That means if one tab is very busy for some reason then only that tab is busy, the rest of the browser works just normal while if that happens with Firefox the whole browser is blocked. Sure, Chrome uses much more Ram because of that feature, but if i have to choose between a browser that uses less Ram, but can get stuck sometimes and a browser that uses way more Ram, but never gets stuck then i would choose the browser that never gets stuck. A Firefox with that feature would be my dreambrowser.
just set it to unload tabs after some time
If I log into my google account for bookmark syncing on Thorium, will I still have the privacy advantages?
No!
I welcome any kind of browser based on Firefox engine. Chromium need some competition.
@@kurtm.7494 Servo may become a thing at some point, and might be worth keeping an eye on
I've been using this for close to a year now, it's legitimately amazing
Firefox forever o7
Maybe the development team for this browser are furries too XD
Mozilla Furryfox! hehe
What OS are your running and what desktop switcher do you use?
I appreciate what you do CTT. Your Windows update utility is damn cool.
That's a reason why I meanwhile love Flatpak so much. One short command line and testing can begin. Thanks for sharing!
thanks chris. going to test this out since i love firefox
Is it good for old laptops or any recommendations?
go pale moon or Midori for that. I use the latter for quite a bit until I went back to Brave for my A4-5000 and N4020 laptops. Works fine.
Finally.
People saying "Firefox-based browsers".
Imagine going around saying, ''I use Floorp'' I do prefer and use the GECKO based browsers. Firefox and Librewolf.
I was using Floorp for a bit, but uploading videos onto RUclips takes longer somehow on Firefox browsers. Idk if it's just google doing their thing or just an issue I'm causing. I'd like to continue to use Floorp though. I'll probably switch back to it.
You never get this right. Remember when you were hawking Thorium? I do. Librewolf already does some of the best blocking and other useful things out there. And it is not brand new. Theme stuff is boring and pretty common to many. Some spoofing is built in to Librewolf. Maybe this one is better on this. I don't see anything compelling about this one over librewolf.
I left firefox altogether about a year ago when it was revealed that it was VERY lacking in privacy. Is that still the case?
Vanilla Firefox still lacks in the privacy and security department. If you want a web browser that emphasizes privacy and security, but still want a Firefox-like experience, I recommend LibreWolf. It's a fork of Firefox that doesn't include telemetry, blocks/disables certain features and settings by default for your privacy and security, and conveniently comes with uBlock Origin pre-installed.
what are your opinions on libre wolf?
as a long time Vivaldi user floorp felt like the perfect alternative for it fixing some of the nitpicks from Vivaldi without losing the intense customization it has
Yeah I had been using Vivaldi but I kept having little problems here and there. It all added up and I had to get off.
Have you tried the lightning version?
Every time you recommend something, it becomes my daily apps! I love this browser a lot. Been using this since you've talked about this browser in your previous video.
Me personally am a huge Vivaldi browser fan
Nice, I'm sure I'll try it soon. No mention of performance. Wonder if they did any perf tweaks. Not that FF is a slouch, but Thorium has def been speed king _for me_ hands down. Only wish it was as customizable as some of the others and had vert tabs.
But mostly looking forward to no longer caring who's fastest once my maxxed-out Framework 16 ships Q2. I just hope the anticipation doesn't kill me before I can enjoy it.
Try it out. Its like snappy af. A lot, I mean, LOT. faster than firefox. Can't comment on Thorium cos I haven't used it.
I really like the side tab for bitwarden
LibreWolf
One think to point! If in settings in User Agent you choose something else from firefox (chrome for example) you will not be able to login in firefox account for sync.
whats your font, looks pretty nice
2:09 note that, i cant log in to google with spoof chrome enabled, i change it after i logged in
I have to switch from Firefox to Brave for banking on my Cinnamon mint laptop because it starts asking me to do other stuff while trying to do my banking! I will give this one a try...good job Chris
Thank you for the video, staying with Thorium, lesson learn for the dev.
Next Video : Moving from Roboform to Bitwarden
Been using it for a few months now and its really really good!!!
Love your content, if it were not for you I would never know about Thorium & Floorp. Also you Linux content is very informative for a new user.
i use native firefox and speed is not an issue. are you guys running benchmarks all day to flex ?