12 Alternative Web Browsers You Should Try
Chances are you’re viewing this page in one of the following web browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Chrome. I can make this assumption because these three browsers combine for about 90% of the market share. Then again, you might be one of the few people that have adopted an alternative to the big name web browsers. Whatever the case, you do have options when it comes to web browsing. The three I’ve already mentioned have gained popularity for different reasons, but being popular doesn’t always mean something is the right fit for everybody.
In this article, we’ve rounded up 12 lesser known web browsers that you might want to try. Who knows – one of them might be a perfect fit for your browsing needs.
Maxthon
Maxthon has been around for a while. In 2003 it was known as MyIE2. Over the years it’s become a powerful tabbed browser built for all users. Besides basic browsing functionality, Maxthon Browser provides a rich set of features to improve your surfing experience. Some key features include: mouse gestures, anti-freeze, and magic fill which allows your to fill out forms with a single click.
Operating System: Windows
Arora
Arora is a lightweight cross-platform web browser. Arora uses the QtWebKit port of the fully standards-compliant WebKit layout engine. It features fast rendering, powerful JavaScript engine and supports Netscape plugins.
Operating System: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Amaya
Amaya is not only a web browser, but it’s also a web editor. Browsing features are seamlessly integrated with the editing and remote access features in a uniform environment. This follows the original vision of the Web as a space for collaboration and not just a one-way publishing medium. Amaya is an open source software project hosted by W3C.
Operating System: Windows, Mac OS X, Unix platforms
Flock
Flock is a browser with a focus on social media. It has features built in for just about every social media site you can think of. This browser is built on Mozilla, so as expected, there are also extensions available to expand it’s functionality even more.
Operating System: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Stainless
Stainless has features you won’t find in Chrome or in any other browser. One example is parallel sessions, which allow you to log into a site using different credentials in separate tabs at the same time.
Operating System: Mac OS X
Cruz
Cruz is a new social browser for Mac OS X with Twitter built-in. With Cruz you can view your Twitter Timeline and “@” Mentions in a split pane while browsing other sites. Cruz also allows you to open links from your Twitter Timeline in new tabs or browse multiple pages simultaneously in split views. Cruz has an open plug-in API for extending browser functionality.
Operating System: Mac OS X
Sunrise
Sunrise is an open-source web browser based on WebKit. It’s designed to be easy to use by making frequently used features easily accessible. The main window of Sunrise has the browser, bookmarks, downloads, source codes and find bars.
Operating System: Mac OS X
SeaMonkey
SeaMonkey aims to be an all-in-one internet application suite. So not only is it a web browser, but it also includes an email & newsgroup client with an included web feed reader, HTML editor, IRC chat and web development tools.
Operating System: Mac OS X, Windows, Linux
Lunascape
Lunascape is the world’s first and only triple engine browser. So it’s three web browsing engines rolled into one: IE (Trident)＋Firefox (Gecko)＋Chrome・Safari (Webkit). It allows you to choose the right engine at the right time, realizing a dramatic decrease in web-browser compatibility issues, long loading times, and messed up websites display. Lunascape is also compatible with the expanding array of Firefox add-ons in addition to the already supported Internet Explorer add-ons.
Operating System: Windows
SlimBrowser
SlimBrowser is a fast and secure tabbed web browser software fully loaded with powerful features. It saves you the burden of completing web forms with intelligent form filler.
Operating System: Windows
Midori
Midori is a lightweight web browser built on WebKit. Some key features include: user scripts, styles support, and a customizable interface.
Operating System: Linux, Windows
Camino
Camino is an open source web browser developed with a focus on providing the best possible experience for Mac OS X users. Some key features include: annoyance blocking, malware protection, and tab overview, which allows you to all of your open tabs at a glance.
Operating System: Mac OS X
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Mar 2, 2010
Never heard of Amaya, looks like something new to try.
Mar 2, 2010
There is also Sr Iron http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php, it’s based on Chromium, and unlike Google Chrome, it doesn’t phone home.
Mar 2, 2010
I never heard about these browsers. I think I should give them a try. nice post
Mar 2, 2010
What about Opera..?
Mar 2, 2010
It’s currently (10.5) the fastest browser of them all, including Safari and Chrome.
Mar 3, 2010
Please explain how you came to that conclusion
Mar 3, 2010
Yeah, cause actually it’s just advertise.
But you’re right they should have talk about Opera 10.5
Mar 2, 2010
Not very familiar with any of those, wonder how well they work.
Mar 2, 2010
why should i try 12!!! webbrowser the world wasn’t waiting for? sorry, pointless and a waste of time ….
Mar 2, 2010
Flock is actually pretty cool since it concentrates on Social Media … hope you’re not so biased in all aspects of life … variety is the spice of it they say.
Mar 2, 2010
http://cybergyaan.blogspot.com/2009/12/top-22-browsers-in-world-of-internet.html
collection of 22 browsers .. that u dont know
Mar 2, 2010
Superb List. I was only ware of few browsers. Thanks to you i got to know about others too.
You can add “Wyzo” its better and same as Fire fox.
Mar 2, 2010
Any idea if there is a Windows browser with the parallel sessions feature like Stainless?
Mar 2, 2010
Sorry… responding to my own question here. Chrome and other browsers can do parallel processing if you open separate accounts in private (incognito) windows.
Mar 2, 2010
I’ll side with Don on this. You say we *should* try 12 obscure, almost unknown browsers, half of which share one rendering engine. But why should we bother? It’s just trivia knowledge.
Guys, please don’t waste your time checking out the prehistorical stuff mentioned in the article, have a look at another modern browser «Opera» from opera.com, very fast, powerful, promising (they are already working towards supporting HTML5). It’s a shame few people in America know about it.
Mar 4, 2010
Flock really doesn’t get the credit it deserves. It’s an excellent browser, and pulls some of the things we all use so regularly into a single window interface. That said, I still don’t use it… and there’s no good reason why.
And I do agree with the above – Opera (10.4) is incredible. It’s leaps and bounds over what it used to be. I downloaded it for browser testing the other month, and was blown away by the fancy interface. Opera 10.5 unfortunately just doesn’t look as good *yet*, but it does perform brilliantly.
Mar 4, 2010
With all that research, did you decide to switch to any of them?
Mar 5, 2010
I’ve been using jtcm for a while (www.ncssmconnected.com/jtcm), it uses PyQt to emulate the Dynamic Window Manager from linux in a web browser. Steep learning curve, but I’m sure loving it.
Jun 1, 2010
Is a nice browser! But it has trouble opening the Gmail and other sites that require authentication. Has a solution?
Jun 1, 2010
Sorry! I should have read better the documentation. Just run the applications listed in the file “installation.html” and the pages that require authentication open correctly. It’s a great work of Robert Peele.
Mar 5, 2010
Lunascape is a buggy, resource-hogging, bloated piece of garbage.
And Opera is actually still listed as a “major” browser, with Safari / Chrome / Firefox / IE, which is probably why it is not on this list of the “alternative” browsers.
Odd that someone above calls Opera a “modern” browser when it is older then just about all 12 listed here (save Camino I think) and is older then 3 of the top 5 (Firefox/Safari/Chrome).
Mar 5, 2010
Cool list – can’t wait to try out some of these. I’m sooooo tired of clunky IE.
Mar 10, 2010
There is Konqueror ( http://www.konqueror.org/ ) also. It’s part of KDE and runs on Linux, Windows, Mac OS and probably on some others as well. I don’t know how many people use it, many KDE users prefere Firefox or others. But one most if not all KDE-systems it ships as the default.
I use Konqueror myself and really like it.
Apr 7, 2010
we should try these browser
May 18, 2010
Hello, cool read. I just now clicked a link to your website and I am already a fan.