Updated my ranking of browsers, added Arc since I’ve now used it for a decent amount of time. A few notes:
I’m ranking them based on the Windows versions of each browser, I’ve tried them all on my current machine running Windows 11.
I’ve tried other niche browsers like Ungoogled Chromium, LibreWolf, Zen Browser, etc. However, I’m keeping it to the most “mainstream” browsers. I added Tor Browser since it’s less a Firefox fork but a uniquely set up browser for a specific use case.
I have more pros for my best browsers and more cons for my worst browsers but wanted to keep it to the biggest ones.
Okay that's it here's the list:
comments
I’m using Zen Browser right now! based on firefox, I love that ff is on top 
but I also love how this forked version removes telemetry/other invasive stuff and adds a vertical tab bar :)
Welcome! Glad I could convince you to try a different browser (that I personally think is better than what you were using before). Hope you enjoy your time with Firefox!
Firefox + uBlock Origin is my go-to. Edge is in my view very bloated and constantly interrupts or interjects itself, telling me to try features or some AI crap I don’t want. I even just tested while typing this, I opened Edge, and it opened a second tab advertising new features saying the browser just “updated”, I checked the version yesterday while making this post, and it’s the same one as today.
its not cross platform, afaik all other browsers mentioned here run on almost all major operating systems (iOS/Android/macOS/Linux/Windows)
As I said at the top of the post: “I’m ranking them based on the Windows versions of each browser, I’ve tried them all on my current machine running Windows 11.” Safari doesn’t have a Windows version, and I don’t own a Mac.
i’m on firefox. it’s really nice, and i have a totally custom config that works quite nice (eg. i hacked in browser profiles like chrome, but a sidebar like arc)
firefox is the best browser hands down, it has stood the test of time and is mad customizable
Firefox is wonderful to use. It doesn’t intrude and just does its job while giving a really robust customisation suite. I also just like how it looks, the floaty tabs ad icons are really nice.
agreed! although my ideal browser would have as little ui as possible haha. my Firefox custom css is close, it’s just got a urlbar and sidebar. very minimal
That’s one of the advantages of Firefox, you can change it to work how you personally like.
I've been using brave and the ad blocker is very good. I don't even get ads on YT. It may also be boosting the number of blocked ads artificially though (citation needed)
I can’t confirm that either, but I just struggle to use Brave more recently due to some of its previous actions (see my comment below). Plus I just prefer Vivaldi if we’re talking about Chromium browsers.
Brave has a myriad of crypto features baked in (aka web3 features). They have their own crypto token called BAT which they try to push to the user as well as a crypto wallet which is on by default, it’s annoying, and I wish they were off by default.
Brave was caught a few years ago of hijacking URLs you typed into the URL bar and changing them to affiliate links that made the Brave company money. This was done without the users’ knowledge. An example was if you typed Binance.us into the URL bar, Brave sneakily attaches an affiliate link when you hit enter. Personally, for me, I find a browser sneakily modifying links I type in without my knowledge dodgy, especially one that harps on about privacy. More info here: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2020/06/06/the-brave-web-browser-is-hijacking-links-and-inserting-affiliate-codes/
web3 is a catchall term for a new iteration of the internet that incorpoates decentralisation and mostly Blockchain technology like cryptocurrencies. Most people use it to refer to Blockchain and crypto stuff generally. Wikipedia describes it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web3
Vivaldi is my favorite, once you set everything up it's super nice. I kinda like edge (no idea why). Opera mobile is ok, opera desktop is stupid, opera gx is just stupid with two extra letters, brave is just cringe and chrome is too 2010s
Vivaldi is my secondary browser and my favourite Chromium based browser, it can be quite daunting to set up but man the control you get is awesome, plus the settings are laid out very cohesively and logically, which is really needed considering the amount of settings. Firefox mobile on Android is goated, it can run most full fat desktop extensions like uBlock Origin which is heavenly on mobile.