Comparison of lightweight web browsers
A lightweight web browser is a web browser that sacrifices some of the features of a mainstream web browser in order to reduce the consumption of system resources, and especially to minimize the memory footprint.[1][2][3]
The tables below compare notable lightweight web browsers. Several of them use a common layout engine, but each has a unique combination of features and a potential niche. The minimal user interface in surf, for example, does not have tabs,[4] whereas xombrero can be driven with vi-like keyboard commands.[5]
Four of the browsers compared—Lynx, w3m, Links, and ELinks—are designed for text mode, and can function in a terminal emulator. Eww is limited to working within Emacs. Links 2 has both a text-based user interface and a graphical user interface. w3m is, in addition to being a web browser, also a terminal pager.[6]
Overview
[edit]Browser | Developers | Status | Engine | Programming languages | License | Latest release | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Version | Date | ||||||
Arora | Benjamin C. Meyer et al.[7] | Discontinued | QtWebKit[8] | C++ | GPL-2.0-or-later | 0.11.0[9] ![]() |
2010-09-27 |
Dillo | Jorge Arellano Cid et al. | Active | Dillo | C, C++ | GPL-3.0-or-later | 3.1.1[10] ![]() |
2024-06-08 |
ELinks | Petr Baudiš, Jonas Fonseca, et al. | Active | Links | C, C++ | GPL-2.0-only | 0.17.0[11] ![]() |
2023-12-25 |
Eww | Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen | Active | GNU Emacs libraries | Emacs Lisp | GPL-3.0-or-later | ||
Falkon (QupZilla) | David Rosca | Active | QtWebKit / Qt WebEngine | C++ | GPL-3.0-or-later | 24.05.2[12] ![]() |
2024-07-04 |
hv3 | Dan Kennedy & team | Discontinued | Tkhtml | Tcl | GPL | ||
K-Meleon | Christophe Thibault et al. | Active | Gecko / Goanna (fork) | C++ | GPL | 76.4.7[13] ![]() |
2023-04-07 |
Links | Mikuláš Patočka, Twibright Labs, et al. | Active | Links | C | GPL-2.0-or-later | 2.30[14] ![]() |
2024-07-27 |
Lynx | Lou Montulli, Thomas Dickey, et al. | Active | libwww derivative | C (ISO C) | GPL-2.0-only | 2.9.2[15] ![]() |
2024-05-31 |
NetSurf | John-Mark Bell, Michael Drake, et al.[16] | Active | NetSurf | C (ANSI C) | GPL-2.0-only | 3.11[17] ![]() |
2023-12-28 |
Otter Browser | Michał Dutkiewicz[18] | Active | QtWebKit / Qt WebEngine | C++ | GPL-3.0-or-later | 1.0.03[19] ![]() |
2022-02-22 |
QtWeb | LogicWare; LSoft Technologies[20] | Unmaintained | QtWebKit | C++ | GPL-2.0-or-later | 3.8.5[21] ![]() |
2013-09-09 |
qutebrowser | Florian Bruhin et al. | Active [22] | QtWebKit / Qt WebEngine[23] | Python3 | GPL-3.0-or-later | 3.2.1[24] ![]() |
2024-06-25 |
rekonq | Andrea Diamantini et al. | Discontinued | QtWebKit[8] | C++ | GPLv3 | 2.4.2[25] ![]() |
2014-01-12 |
surf | Christoph Lohmann et al. | Active | WebKitGTK | C | MIT | 2.1[26] ![]() |
2021-05-08 |
uzbl | Dieter Plaetinck et al. | Discontinued | WebKitGTK | C, Python | GPL-3.0-only | 0.9.1[27] ![]() |
2016-10-27 |
w3m | Akinori Ito et al. | Unmaintained | w3m | C | MIT | 0.5.3[28] ![]() |
2011-01-15 |
WebPositive | Andrea Anzani, Ryan Leavengood, et al. | Active | HaikuWebkit | C++ | MIT | 1.3-alpha[29] ![]() |
2021-08-01 |
xombrero | Marco Peerboom et al. | Discontinued | WebKitGTK | C, JavaScript | ISC | 1.6.4[30] ![]() |
2015-02-17 |
Operating system support
[edit]Browser | BSD | Haiku | Linux | macOS | OpenIndiana | OS/2 | QNX | RISC OS | Windows | Android |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arora | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[31] | Yes | No | No | Yes | |
Dillo | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes[32] | No | No | Yes[32] | Cygwin[32][33] | |
ELinks | Yes[34] | ? | Yes[34] | Yes[34] | Yes[34] | Yes[34] | No[34] | Dropped[34] | ? | |
Falkon (QupZilla) | Dropped[35][36] | Yes[35][36] | Yes[35][36] | Dropped[35][36] | No | Dropped[35][36] | No | No | Yes[35][36] | |
K-Meleon | Wine | No | Wine[37] | Wine | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
Links | Unofficial | No | Yes | Unofficial | ? | Yes | No | No | Yes | |
Lynx | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[38][39] | Yes | |
NetSurf | Yes[40] | Yes[41] | Yes[40] | Yes[40] | Yes[40] | No | ? | Yes[42] | Yes[43] | |
Otter Browser | Yes[44] | Unofficial[45] | Yes[44] | Yes[44] | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
QtWeb | Yes | Unofficial[46] | Yes | Yes | Unofficial[i] | No | No | No | Yes | |
qutebrowser | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | |
rekonq | Yes | No | Yes | No | Unofficial[i] | No | No | No | Inactive[ii] | |
surf | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | |
uzbl | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
w3m | Unofficial | Unofficial | Yes | Unofficial | Unofficial | Inactive | No | No | Cygwin | |
WebPositive | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
xombrero | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
- Notes
Features
[edit]Test scores reflect the version of the browser engine in use. Generally, a lower score indicates an older version of the browser engine.
Image formats | Advanced | Test scores | Plug-in APIs | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Browser | GIF, JPEG, PNG | WebP | JavaScript | Frames | Acid3 | HTML5test | Netscape | Pepper |
Arora | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i] | 359/550[48] | No[ii] | No |
Dillo | Yes | No | No | Partial | —[iii] | —[iii] | No | No |
ELinks | No | No | Partial[iv] | Partial | —[iii] | —[iii] | No | No |
Falkon (QupZilla) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i] | 497/550[50] | Partial | Partial |
K-Meleon | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i] | 416/555[51] | Partial[52] | No |
Links | Yes[v] | Yes | No[vi] | Partial | —[iii] | —[iii] | No | No |
Lynx | No | No | No | Partial | —[iii] | —[iii] | No | No |
NetSurf | Yes[54] | Yes | Partial[55] | Yes | —[iii] | —[iii] | No[56] | No |
Otter Browser | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 100/100 | 370/550[57] | Yes | No |
QtWeb | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i][vii] | 234/550[58] | No[ii] | No |
qutebrowser | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 99/100[citation needed] | 521/550 | No | No |
rekonq | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i] | 385/555[59] | No[ii] | Partial[60] |
surf | Yes | Yes[viii] | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i] | 385/500[62] | Yes | ? |
uzbl | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 98/100 | 461/500 | Yes | ? |
w3m | Yes[63] | No | No[64] | Yes | —[iii] | —[iii] | No | No |
WebPositive | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 98/100[i] | 358/500[65] | No | No |
xombrero | Yes | Yes[viii] | Yes | Yes | 100/100 | 385/500[66] | Yes | ? |
- Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Some tests take too much time to complete.
- ^ a b c NPAPI is ported to QtWebKit, but is not implemented in this browser.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l The test requires JavaScript, which is not sufficiently supported by this browser.
- ^ ELinks implements Mozilla's SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine.[49]
- ^ Only Links 2 supports graphics.
- ^ JavaScript support was removed in 2007 (in release 2.1pre29).[53]
- ^ The final state does not match the reference rendering.
- ^ a b WebP is supported via the WebKitGTK browser engine.[61]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Arora, Himanshu (6 November 2013). "5 lesser-known browsers: Free, lightweight and low-maintenance". Computerworld. International Data Group. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
- ^ Klimkiewicz, Kamil (18 January 2003). "Lightweight Web Browsers". Freecode. Dice Holdings. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
- ^ Arimbra, Krishnan (16 July 2013). "Memory usage of the browsers – Lightest browser". Geekiest.Net. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
- ^ "surf". Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- ^ Peereboom, Marco; Hill, David; et al. (1 March 2012). "xombrero wiki § Quick-Start Tutorial". Conformal Systems. Archived from the original on 28 September 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- ^ Ito, Akinori. "w3m". w3m.sourceforge.net. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- ^ Meyer, Benjamin (2 October 2009). "Arora 0.10.0!". Arora Development. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- ^ a b Poulain, Benjamin; et al. (10 May 2010). "Applications Using QtWebKit". Qt Wiki. Qt Project Hosting. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ "Release 0.11.0". 27 September 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
- ^ "Release v3.1.1". 8 June 2024.
- ^ "Release 0.17.0". 25 December 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
- ^ "Falkon - KDE Applications".
- ^ "K-Meleon 76.4.7 on Goanna 3.5.0". 7 April 2023.
- ^ "RELEASE 2.30". 27 July 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- ^ Thomas E. Dickey (31 May 2024). "ANN: lynx2.9.2". Retrieved 1 June 2024.
- ^ "The NetSurf Developers". netsurf-browser.org. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
- ^ "NetSurf Change Log". 28 December 2023.
- ^ "Otter Browser". otter-browser.org. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ https://github.com/OtterBrowser/otter-browser/blob/master/CHANGELOG.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "About QtWeb". QtWeb.NET. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- ^ "Qt Web Browser".
- ^ "qutebrowser/qutebrowser". GitHub. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ "qutebrowser - ArchWiki". wiki.archlinux.org. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ "Release 3.2.1". 25 June 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "rekonq 2.4.2". 12 January 2014.
- ^ "surf".
- ^ "Release 0.9.1". 27 October 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
- ^ "w3m Files".
- ^ "WebPositive: update version to 1.3". 1 August 2021.
- ^ "XOMBRERO_1_6_4". Retrieved 31 January 2018.
- ^ "Spec Files Extra Repository". OpenIndiana Wiki. 2011. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ a b c "Dillo Web Browser Compatibility". Dillo.org. Archived from the original on 24 August 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ^ Vibber, Kelson (28 April 2005). "Installing Dillo on Cygwin". Hyperborea. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g "About ELinks". elinks.cz. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f "Qupzilla - Lightweight multiplatform browser: Download". Qupzilla.com. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f "Download - Falkon". falkon.org. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- ^ "UKmeleon: Unofficial K-Meleon Distributions". kmeleonbrowser.org. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
- ^ "Nettle". nettle.sourceforge.net. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
- ^ "New Telnet Client and Web Browser for RISC OS". My RISC OS. 2 September 2001. Archived from the original on 22 May 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
- ^ a b c d "NetSurf | GTK Downloads". netsurf-browser.org. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ "NetSurf | BeOS Downloads". netsurf-browser.org. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ "NetSurf | RISC OS Downloads". netsurf-browser.org. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ "NetSurf | Windows Downloads". netsurf-browser.org. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ a b c "OtterBrowser/otter-browser". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
- ^ "Otter browser: new recipe by miqlas · Pull Request #1006 · haikuports/haikuports". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
- ^ "QtWeb - Web Browser". Haikuware. 31 May 2013. Archived from the original on 30 August 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- ^ Papp, Laszlo (24 September 2012). "Randa: Rekonq installer for Windows". KDE (Laszlo Papp's blog). Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ "HTML5test results for: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.21 (KHTML, like Gecko) Arora/0.11.0 Safari/537.21". HTML5test.com. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
- ^ Inge Bolso, Erik (8 March 2005). "2005 Text Mode Browser Roundup". Linux Journal. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- ^ "HTML5test results for: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) QupZilla/2.1.99 Safari/537.36". HTML5test.com. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
- ^ "HTML5test - How well does your browser support HTML5?". html5test.com. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ "ThirdPartyPlugins". kmeleonbrowser.org. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
- ^ "Links user documentation". Retrieved 14 March 2022.
- ^ Auza, Jun (27 June 2009). "5 Free and Open Source Web Browsers That You May Have Never Heard Of". Retrieved 26 June 2014.
- ^ "User Information".
- ^ "0001896: NPAPI plugin support". NetSurf Bug Report System. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
- ^ "HTML5test results for: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/602.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Otter/0.9.91". HTML5test.com. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ "HTML5test results for: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux; en-GB) AppleWebKit/534.34 (KHTML, like Gecko) QtWeb Internet Browser/3.8.5". HTML5test.com. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
- ^ "HTML5test results for: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.21 (KHTML, like Gecko) rekonq/2.4.2 Safari/537.21". HTML5test.com. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
- ^ Howell, Dean (22 May 2013). "ReKonq Gaining Chrome Extension Support, Still Sponsored By Blue Systems". The Powerbase. Archived from the original on 10 June 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
- ^ Jáquez, Víctor (31 December 2013). "Boosting WebKitGTK+ compilation for armhf with icecream". Herostratus’ legacy. Igalia. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
- ^ "HTML5test results for: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Unix; en-US) AppleWebKit/537.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/24.0.1295.0 Safari/537.15 Surf/0.6". HTML5test.com. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
- ^ Hoffman, Chris (23 January 2012). "How to Browse From the Linux Terminal With W3M". How-To Geek. How-To Geek, LLC. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- ^ "w3m man page". GitHub. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
- ^ "HTML5test results for: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Haiku R1 x86) AppleWebKit/606.1.4 (KHTML, like Gecko) WebPositive/1.2 Version/11.1 Safari/606.1.4". HTML5test.com. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
- ^ "HTML5test results for: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/538.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/538.15 Version/6.0". HTML5test.com. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
Further reading
[edit]- Sugianto, Masim (18 January 2010). "7 Lightweight Linux Browsers You may want to Consider for Fast Browsing Experience". Spirit of Change. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
- Arimbra, Krishnan (17 July 2013). "3 Alternate Browsers – Lightweight browsers". Geekiest.Net. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
- Murray, Richard (2007). "RISC OS browsers". Rick's World. Retrieved 26 August 2014.