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Comparison of web browsers

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The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of web browsers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.

The usage share of web browsers.
Source: Net Applications[1]      Internet Explorer (65.50%; Usage by version number)      Mozilla Firefox (22.51%)      Safari (8.43%)      Google Chrome (1.80%)      Opera (0.72%)      Other (1.04%)


Contents

[edit] Web browser history

[edit] Web browsers by year

A rough estimation of usage share by percent of layout engines/web browsers, see usage share of web browsers.

This is a table of personal computer web browsers by year of release of major version, in chronological order, with the approximate number of worldwide Internet users in millions. Note that Internet user data is related to the entire market, not the versions released in that year. The increased growth of the Internet in the 1990s and 2000s means that current browsers with small market shares have more total users than the entire market early on. For example, 90% market share in 1997 would be roughly 60 million users, but by the start of 2007 9% market share would equate to over 90 million users.[2]

Year Web Browsers Internet
Users (in millions)[2]
Pre-browser: HyperCard, Gopher
1991 WorldWideWeb
1992 ViolaWWW, Erwise, MidasWWW, MacWWW
1993 Mosaic, Cello, Lynx 2.0, Arena, AMosaic 1.0
1994 IBM Web Explorer, Netscape Navigator, SlipKnot 1.0, MacWeb, IBrowse, Argo, Minuet
1995 Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator 2.0, OmniWeb, WebRouser[3], Internet Explorer 2, Grail 16
1996 Arachne 1.0, Internet Explorer 3.0, Netscape Navigator 3.0, Opera 2.0,
PowerBrowser 1.5[4], Cyberdog, Amaya 0.9[5], AWeb, Voyager		 36
1997 Internet Explorer 4.0, Netscape Navigator 4.0, Netscape Communicator 4.0, Opera 3.0[6], Amaya 1.0[5] 70
1998 Internet Explorer 5.0 Beta 1, iCab, Mozilla 147
1999 Amaya 2.0[5], Mozilla M3, Internet Explorer 5.0 248
2000 Konqueror, Netscape 6, Opera 4[7], Opera 5[8], K-Meleon 0.2, Amaya 3.0[5], Amaya 4.0[5] 361
2001 Internet Explorer 6, Galeon 1.0, Opera 6[9], Amaya 5.0[5] 513
2002 Netscape 7, Mozilla 1.0, Phoenix 0.1, Links 2.0, Amaya 6.0[5], Amaya 7.0[5] 587
2003 Opera 7[10], Safari 1.0, Epiphany 1.0, Amaya 8.0[5] 719
2004 Firefox 1.0, Netscape Browser, OmniWeb 5.0 817
2005 Safari 2.0, Netscape Browser 8.0, Opera 8.[11], Epiphany1.8, Amaya 9.0[5], AOL Explorer1.0, Maxthon 1.0, Shiira 1.0 1018
2006 SeaMonkey 1.0, K-Meleon 1.0, Galeon 2.0, Camino 1.0, Firefox 2.0, Avant 11, iCab 3, Opera 9[12], Internet Explorer 7, Sputnik 1093
2007 Maxthon 2.0, Netscape Navigator 9, NetSurf 1.0, Flock 1.0, Safari 3.0, Conkeror 1262
2008 Konqueror 4, Safari 3.1, Opera 9.5[13], Firefox 3, Amaya 10.0[5], Flock 2, Google Chrome 1, Amaya 11.0[5] 1565
2009 Internet Explorer 8, Google Chrome 2, Safari 4
Beta Camino 2, Opera 10
Alpha SeaMonkey 2, Maxthon 3, Google Chrome 3
See also: microbrowser

[edit] Historical web browsers

This table focuses on OS and browsers of the 1990s and turn of the century. The year listed for a version is usually the year of the first official release, with an end year being end of development, project change, or relevant termination. Releases of OS and browser from the early 1990s to before 2001-2002 time frame are the current focus.

Many early browsers can be made to run on later OS (and later browsers on early OS in some cases), however, most of these situations are avoided in the table. Terms are defined below

Browser Years MS 2000/XP/Windows Vista(Major Browsers) 98/Me NT 95 3.1 IBM OS/2 Mac OS X
(Intel/PPC)		 Mac OS 9 Mac OS 8 System 7
(PPC/68k)		 Linux BSD Unix
(HP-UX,
Solaris)		 Other
Years (OS) - 2000/2001 1998 1993 1995 1992 1988 2001 1999 1997 1991 '94(1.0)/'91 1993 (1990s) -
AWeb 1996-Now No No No No No No No No No No No No No AmigaOS
MorphOS
Cello 1993-1994 NA Unknown Unknown Unknown Terminated Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown No
DocZilla 2003-2005 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No Yes No No No
IBM Web Explorer 1994 No No No No Unknown Terminated (1.1h) No No No No No No No No
ICab 1998-Now No No No No No No Yes (4.25) Dropped (3.03) Dropped (2.9.9) Dropped (2.9.9) No No No No
Mozilla Firefox (2 and 3) 2005 - Now Yes No Unknown No No No Yes Yes No No Included No No Unknown
Internet Explorer 6
(Trident)		 2001- 2004 Terminated (6.0 SP2) Included Dropped (6.0 SP1) Dropped (6.0 SP1) No No No No Dropped No No No No No No
IE 5.0
IE 4.0		 1998-2000
1997-1998		 Included Included Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Dropped * (5.01 SP1) Unknown Dropped * (5.01 SP1) No
IE 3.0 1996-1997 Yes Yes Yes Included Yes Unknown No Yes Included Yes Yes * Unknown Yes * No
IE 2.0
IE 1.0		 1995 Yes Yes Included (2.0) Yes Yes No No Unknown Unknown Beta (2.0) No No No No
IE Mac
(IE4, Trident)
(IE5, Tasman)		 1996-2003 No No No No No No Terminated (5.2.3) Dropped (5.1.7) Dropped (5.1.7) No No No No No
Konqueror 1996-Now Yes No No No No No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No
MacWeb 1994-1996 No No No No No No No No Unknown Terminated (2.0) No No No No
Mosaic 1993-1997 Terminated (3.0) Unknown Terminated Terminated Terminated Terminated No Terminated (3.0) Terminated Terminated Dropped (2.6) Dropped (2.6) Dropped (2.6) OpenVMS
Mozilla
(restarted SeaMonkey)		 2002-2006 Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) Dropped Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) Dropped (1.2.1) Dropped (1.0.1) No Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) OpenVMS
Netscape Navigator 9 2008 Terminated Terminated No No No No Terminated
(Mac OS X v10.2)		 No No No Terminated
(kernel 2.2.14)		 No No No
Netscape Browser 2004-2007 Terminated Terminated Terminated Terminated No No No No No No No No No No
Netscape 7
Netscape 6		 2000-2004 Terminated (7.2) Terminated (7.2) Terminated (7.2) Terminated (7.2) No No Terminated (7.2) Dropped (7.02) Dropped (7.02) Unknown Terminated (7.2) Terminated (7.2) Terminated (7.2) No
Netscape Communicator 1997-2002 Terminated (4.8) Terminated (4.8) Terminated (4.8) Terminated Terminated (4.08) Terminated No Terminated (4.80) Terminated (4.80) Terminated (4.08) Terminated (4.77) Terminated Terminated (4.77) No
Netscape Navigator 1994-1998 Terminated (4.08) Terminated (4.08) Terminated Terminated Terminated (4.08) Terminated No Terminated (4.08) Dropped Dropped 3.0.4 Terminated (4.08) Terminated (4.08) Terminated (4.08) OpenVMS
OmniWeb 1995-Now No No No No No No Yes Dropped (4.0) Dropped Dropped No No No NEXTSTEP
Opera 1996-Now Yes Yes Yes Yes Dropped (3.62) Dropped (5.12) Yes Dropped (7.54u2) Dropped (6.03) Unknown Yes Yes Yes Yes †
ViolaWWW 1992 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Yes X11
WorldWideWeb 1991 No No No No No No No No No No No No No NEXTSTEP
OPENSTEP
Browser Years MS 2000/XP 98/Me NT 95 3.1 IBM OS/2 Mac OS X
(Intel/PPC)		 Mac OS 9 Mac OS 8 System 7
(PPC/68k)		 Linux BSD Unix
(HP-UX,
Solaris)		 Other

[14][15]

[edit] General information

Basic general information about the browsers: creator/company, license/price etc.

Browser Creator Cost (USD) Open Source? Software license Current layout engine
Amaya W3C, INRIA Free Yes W3C Amaya
AOL Explorer America Online, Inc Free No Trident
Avant Avant Force Free No Trident
Camino The Camino Project Free Yes MPL, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license Gecko
Chromium Google Free Yes BSD WebKit
Dillo Jorge Arellano Cid, Geerken, Rota, et al. Free Yes GPL Dillo
DocZilla CiTEC Free for non-commercial use Partial proprietary software Gecko
ELinks Baudis, Fonseca, et al. Free Yes GPL built-in, based on Links
Epiphany GNOME Free Yes GPL Gecko, WebKit
Flock Flock Inc Free Yes GPL (some portions GPL/LGPL/MPL tri-license like Mozilla) Gecko
Galeon Marco Pesenti Gritti Free Yes GPL Gecko
Google Chrome Google Free Yes Google Chrome EULA WebKit
GNU IceCat GNU Free Yes GPL,MPL/LGPL tri-license Gecko
iCab Alexander Clauss Free,
$29 (Pro)		 No WebKit (Version 4+), iCab (Version 1-3)
Internet Explorer Microsoft,
Spyglass		 Free,
(requires a valid Windows license)[16]		 No Trident
Internet Explorer for Mac (Terminated) Microsoft Free No Tasman
K-Meleon Dorian, KKO, et al. Free Yes GPL Gecko
Konqueror KDE Free Yes GPL KHTML
Links Patocka, et al. Free Yes GPL built-in
Lynx Montulli, Grobe, Rezac, et al. Free Yes GPL built-in
Maxthon Maxthon International Limited Free No Trident, Gecko
Midori Christian Dywan, et al. Free Yes LGPL WebKit
Mosaic Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina, NCSA Free for non-commercial use No built-in
Mozilla Mozilla Foundation Free Yes MPL, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license Gecko
Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Foundation Free Yes MPL, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license, Mozilla EULA Gecko
Netscape (v.6-7) † Netscape Communications Corporation, AOL Free No  ???, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license Gecko
Netscape Browser (v.8) † Mercurial Communications for AOL Free No  ???, MPL, GPL/LGPL tri-license Gecko, Trident
Netscape Communicator (v.4) † Netscape Communications Free No Mosaic
Netscape Navigator (v.1-4) † Netscape Communications Free No Mosaic
Netscape Navigator 9 † Netscape Communications
(division of AOL)		 Free No  ???, MPL, GPL/LGPL tri-license Gecko
NetSurf The NetSurf Developers Free Yes GPL NetSurf built-in
OmniWeb The Omni Group Free No  ???, LGPL WebKit (Version 4.5+), OmniWeb (Version 1-4)
Opera Opera Software Free No Presto
Opera Mobile Opera Software $19.00 No Presto
Safari Apple Inc. Free No  ???, LGPL WebKit
SeaMonkey SeaMonkey Council Free Yes MPL, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license Gecko
Shiira Happy Macintosh Developing Team Free Yes BSD WebKit
Sleipnir Fenrir Inc. Free No Trident, Gecko
WorldWideWeb (Later renamed Nexus) Tim Berners-Lee Free Yes Public domain NeXTSTEP built-in
w3m Akinori Ito Free Yes MIT License ?
Browser Creator Cost (USD) open source Software license Current layout engine
  • ^  There are five different products which all carry the name Netscape: Netscape versions 1 to 4, properly called Netscape Navigator, was a browser based on the original Netscape engine. Netscape 4 also was available as an Internet suite, properly called Netscape Communicator. Netscape 6 and 7 was a new Internet suite based on the Gecko engine and the Mozilla Application Suite user interface. Netscape 8, properly called Netscape Browser, was a distinct browser based on Firefox that could use either the Gecko (Firefox) or Trident (Internet Explorer) engine. Netscape resumed use of the Navigator name from Netscape Navigator 9.0 beta 1. See Netscape for more info.

[edit] Release history

A brief overview of the release history.

Browser First public release First stable release Latest stable release version date Latest testing release version date
Date Version Date Version
Amaya November 14, 1996 0.9 November 14, 1996 0.9 11.2-pre4

 (2009-06-19; 15 days ago)
AOL Explorer June, 2005 1.0 July, 2005 1.1 1.5

 (2006-05-10; 3 years ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Avant August, 2004 ? August, 2004 ? 11.7 Build 35

 (2009-06-10; 24 days ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Camino February 13, 2002 0.1 February 14, 2006 1.0 1.6.8

 (2009-6-22; 12 days ago)

 2.0b3

 (2009-06-04; 30 days ago)
Dillo December, 1999 0.0.0 December, 1999 0.0.0 2.1.1

 (2009-07-03; 30 hours ago)

 none

 (n/a)
DocZilla May, 2003 1.0 July, 2005 2.7pre1 1.0

 (2003-05-31; 6 years ago)

 2.7pre1

 (2005-07-08; 3 years ago)
ELinks December, 2001 ? December, 2001 ? 0.11.6

 (2009-03-21; 3 months ago)

 0.12pre4

 (2009-05-31; 34 days ago)
Epiphany December 22, 2002 0.4 September 8, 2003 1.0 2.26.1

 (2009-03-15; 3 months ago)

 2.27.2

 (n/a)
Flock October 24, 2005 0.4.9 November 2, 2007 1.0 2.5

 (2009-05-19; 46 days ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Galeon June, 2000 0.6 June, 2000 0.6 2.0.7

 (2008-09-27; 9 months ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Google Chrome September 2, 2008 0.2.149.27 December 11, 2008 1.0.154.36 2.0.172.33

 (2009-06-22; 12 days ago)

 3.0.190.0(Mac), 3.0.190.4(Windows), 3.0.190.2(Linux dev build)

 (2009-6-29; 5 days ago)
iCab February 17, 1999 Preview 1.0 February 17, 1999 Preview 1.0 4.6

 (2009-7-6; 41 hours ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Internet Explorer August, 1995 1.0 August, 1995 1.0 8.0

 (2009-03-19; 3 months ago) †

 none

 (n/a)
Internet Explorer for Mac January 23, 1996 2.0b April 23, 1996 2.0 5.2.3

 (2003-06-16; 6 years ago)

 none

 (n/a)
K-Meleon November 26, 2000 0.2 November 26, 2000 0.2 1.5.3

 (2009-05-08; 57 days ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Konqueror October, 2000 ? October, 2000 ? 4.2.4

 (2009-6-4; 30 days ago)

 4.2.85

 (2009-5-13; 52 days ago)
Links November 24, 1999 0.8 November 24, 1999 0.8 2.2

 (2008-07-11; 11 months ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Lynx July 8, 1993 2.0.10 July 8, 1993 2.0.10 2.8.6rel.5

 (2007-05-09; 2 years ago)

 2.8.7pre.5

 (2009-06-06; 28 days ago)
Maxthon July 11, 2002 0.1 (as MyIE2) September 8, 2005 1.0.0250 2.5.2.7058

 (2009-7-02; 2 days ago)

 3.0.0.112 alpha 3

 (2009-5-21; 44 days ago)
Midori April 19, 2009 0.1.6 October 19, 2008 0.1.0 0.1.7[17]

 (2009-5-29; 36 days ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Mosaic April 22, 1993 1.0 April 22, 1993 1.0 3.0

 (1997)

 none

 (n/a)
Mozilla December 7, 1998 "Preview" March 19, 1999 M3 1.7.13

 (2006-04-21; 3 years ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Mozilla Firefox September 23, 2002 0.1 November 9, 2004 1.0 3.5

 (2009-06-30; 4 days ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Netscape April 5, 2000 6 Preview Release 1 November 14, 2000 6.0 7.2

 (2004-08-17; 4 years ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Netscape Browser November 30, 2004 0.5.6+ May 19, 2005 8.0 8.1.3

 (2007-04-02; 2 years ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Netscape Communicator June, 1997 4.0 June, 1997 4.0 4.8

 (2002-08-22; 6 years ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Netscape Navigator October 13, 1994 0.9 October 13, 1994 0.9 4.08

 (1998-11-09; 10 years ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Netscape Navigator 9 June 5, 2007 9.0 Beta 1 October 15, 2007 9.0 9.0.0.6

 (2008-02-20; 16 months ago)

 none

 (n/a)
NetSurf June, 2002 0.00 May 19, 2007 1.0 2.1

 (2009-05-23; 42 days ago)

 Public Autobuilder

 (n/a)
OmniWeb 1994 0.5 March 17, 1995 1.0 5.9.2

 (2009-03-31; 3 months ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Opera September, 1996 2.1b1 December, 1996 2.1 9.64

 (2009-03-02; 4 months ago)

 10.00 Beta:[18]
Build 1622 (Windows)
Build 6540 (Mac OS X)
Build 4464 (Linux, FreeBSD)

 (2009-07-03; 30 hours ago)
Safari January 7, 2003 0.8 June 23, 2003 1.0 4.0.1

 (2009-6-17; 17 days ago)†
SeaMonkey September 15, 2005 1.0a January 30, 2006 1.0 1.1.17

 (2009-06-22; 12 days ago)

 2.0a3

 (2009-03-04; 3 months ago)
Shiira May 28, 2004 0.9 May 28, 2004 0.9 2.2

 (2007-07-16; 23 months ago)

 none

 (n/a)
Sleipnir June, 2005 2.00 alpha Oct, 2005 2.00 2.8.3

 (2008-11-10; 7 months ago)

 none

 (n/a)
WorldWideWeb December, 1990 ? February 26, 1991 ? 0.18

 (1994 ?)

 none

 (n/a)
w3m 1995 ? ? ? 0.5.2

 (May 31, 2007)

 none

 (n/a)
Browser Date Version Date Version Latest stable release version date Latest testing release version date
First public release First stable release

[edit] Operating system support

The operating systems the browsers have been compiled to run on without emulation; for the given browser/OS combination, there are seven possibilities:

  • No indicates that it does not exist or was never released.
  • Partial indicates that while the browser works, it lacks important functionality or is extremely unstable compared to versions for other OSs (that is to say it has roughly alpha or pre-alpha quality). It is still being developed however.
  • Beta indicates that while a version of the browser is fully functional and has been released, it is still in development (e.g. for stability).
  • Yes indicates that the browser has been officially released in a fully functional, stable version.
  • Dropped indicates that the latest stable version of the browser does not work on the operating system, although an older version is available that does. The number in parentheses is the last known stable version which was officially released for that OS.
  • Included indicates that the browser comes pre-packaged as part of or has been integrated into the operating system.

Please note that the list is not exhaustive, but rather reflects the most common OSs today (e.g. Netscape Navigator was also developed for OS/2 at a time when Mac OS X did not yet exist) but does not include the growing appliance segment (for example, the Opera web browser has gained a leading role for use in mobile phones, smartphones, the Nintendo DS and Wii, and Personal Digital Assistants, and is also used in Interactive televisions). Both the web browser and OS means most recent version, example: Windows Vista w/ Internet Explorer 8.

Browser Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Other Unices
Amaya Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
AOL Explorer Yes No No No No
Avant Yes No No No No
Camino No Yes No No No
Dillo Partial Yes Yes† Yes Yes
DocZilla Yes No Yes No No
ELinks Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Epiphany No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Flock Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Galeon No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Google Chrome Yes Alpha Alpha No No
iCab No Yes No No No
Internet Explorer Yes No No No Dropped (5.0)†
K-Meleon Yes No No No No
Konqueror Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes
Links Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes
Lynx Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Maxthon Yes Partial Partial No No
Mozilla Firefox Yes Yes Yes† Yes Yes
NetSurf No No Yes Yes Yes
OmniWeb No Yes No No No
Opera Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Safari Yes Included No No No
SeaMonkey Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Shiira No Yes No No No
Sleipnir Yes No No No No
WorldWideWeb (NEXTSTEP only) No No No No No
w3m Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Browser Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Other Unices

[edit] Browser features

Information about what common browser features are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons).

Browser Bookmark managing Download managing Password managing † Form managing Spell checking Search engine toolbar Per-site security configuration Privacy mode Auto-updater
Amaya No No Yes No Yes No ? ? ?
AOL Explorer Yes No No Yes No Yes ? ? ?
Avant Yes No Yes Yes No † Yes ? ? ?
Camino Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Dillo Partial No No No No Partial ? ? No
DocZilla Yes Yes Partial No No No Partial No No
ELinks Yes Yes Yes ? No No ? ? ?
Epiphany Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Flock Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial † ? Yes
Galeon Yes Yes Yes No No Yes ? ? Yes
Google Chrome Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes
iCab Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? ? ?
Internet Explorer Yes No Yes Yes No † Yes Partial † Yes † Yes
Internet Explorer for Mac Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
K-Meleon Yes No Yes Yes No Yes ? ? ?
Konqueror Yes Yes † Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
Links Yes Yes No No No No ? ? ?
Lynx Yes No No No No † No ? ? ?
Maxthon Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
Mosaic Yes No No No No No ? ? ?
Mozilla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Mozilla Firefox Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Netscape Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No ?
Netscape Browser Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? No Yes
Netscape Navigator Yes No No No No No ? No ?
Netscape Navigator 9 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes
NetSurf Yes Yes No No No No No No No
OmniWeb Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial † ? Yes
Opera Yes Yes Yes Yes † Yes Yes Yes No Notification only †
Safari Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SeaMonkey Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial † ? Yes
Shiira Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
Sleipnir Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Notification only
WorldWideWeb Yes No No No Yes No ? ? ?
w3m Yes No No No No No ? ? ?
Browser Bookmark managing Download managing Password managing † Form managing Spell checking Search engine toolbar Per-site security configuration Privacy mode Auto-updater
  • ^  Spell checking can be added by installing an add-on like ieSpell.
  • ^  Lynx is able to edit text with an external editor, which can provide spell checking.
  • ^  Internet Explorer can handle per-site settings for cookies. Furthermore you can specify "trusted" and "untrusted" sites and assign pre-set rights to both categories.
  • ^  Internet Explorer 8 supports InPrivate Browsing.
  • ^  Mozilla based browsers like Firefox, SeaMonkey and Flock can handle per-site settings for cookies, pop-ups, add-on installs and images. For more settings, an add-on is needed — for example, NoScript.
  • ^  OmniWeb supports per-domain settings of options including support for disabling scripting, ad-blocking, java and cookies. These settings only work on top level domains.[19]
  • ^  For the download manager kdenetwork needs to be installed.
  • ^  On Linux and Windows, Spell checking requires GNU Aspell to be installed.
  • ^  Opera can auto-complete forms with your personal information and website usernames.
  • ^  Automatic updates are available in Opera 10.00 alpha (4102).
  • ^  In many integrated password saving tools there are often leaks that make them unsafe.[20]
  • ^  Firefox 3.5 adds the Privacy mode. Older versions of Firefox can use the Stealther extension.

[edit] Accessibility features

Information about what common accessibility features are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons). Browsers that haven't any ECMAScript support don't need any Pop-up blocking abilities, so that fields are marked as N/A.

Browser Tabbed browsing Pop-up blocking † Incremental finding Ad filtering Page zooming † Full-text history search
Amaya Yes N/A No No Yes No
AOL Explorer Yes Yes No No Yes No
Avant Yes Yes No Yes Yes No
Camino Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Dillo Yes N/A No No No No
DocZilla Yes Partial Yes No Partial Partial
ELinks Yes N/A Yes N/A N/A No
Epiphany Yes Yes Yes No † No No
Flock Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Galeon Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Google Chrome Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
iCab Yes Yes No Yes Yes No
Internet Explorer Yes † Yes † Yes † † Partial Yes Yes † [21]
Internet Explorer for Mac No No No No No No
K-Meleon Yes Yes Yes No † Partial No
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Links No Yes No Yes No No
Lynx No N/A No N/A N/A No
Maxthon Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Mosaic No N/A No No No No
Mozilla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Mozilla Firefox Yes Yes Yes No † Yes No [1]
Netscape Yes Yes Yes No † No No
Netscape Browser Yes Yes Yes No † No No
Netscape Navigator No No No No No No
Netscape Navigator 9 Yes Yes Yes No † No No
NetSurf Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
OmniWeb Yes Yes No Yes Yes No
Opera Yes Yes Yes Yes † Yes Yes
Safari Yes Yes † Yes No † Yes † Yes (only Mac) †
SeaMonkey Yes Yes Yes No † No [2] No
Shiira Yes Yes No No Yes No
Sleipnir Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
WorldWideWeb No N/A No No No No
w3m Yes[dubious – discuss] Yes Yes No No No
Browser Tabbed browsing Pop-up blocking † Incremental finding Ad filtering Page zooming † Full-text history search
  • ^  A more complete list of Pop-Up blockers and addons / programs are in the following article List of pop-up blocking software.
  • ^  Page zooming is different from text resizing, as it resizes not only characters, but also multimedia objects and web page layout
  • ^  Epiphany supports AdBlock as an official extension, in the epiphany-extensions package.
  • ^  Opera 9 introduced a content blocker for webpages. [3]. Earlier releases support wildcard protocol/domain/path and filetype blocking using a filter.ini [4] file. More advanced Ad filtering for Opera can also be done with external software [5].
  • ^  Ad filter support can be added by installing the extension Adblock Plus.
  • ^  Does not allow selective blocking of pop-ups. Safari can only block all pop-ups, or none.
  • ^  Ad filter support can be added by installing extensions [6]
  • ^  IE6 had no tabbed browsing support.
  • ^  IE6 included pop-up blocking with Windows XP Service Pack 2 [7]
  • ^  Page zooming supported in the iPhone version of Safari. Screen zooming is built in to Mac OS X.
  • ^  For IE7, several extensions are available through the Windows Marketplace [8][dead link], including "Inline Search for Internet Explorer"[9][dead link]. This function is included in IE8 [10].
  • ^  IE8 supports incremental find.
  • ^  Full-text history search is available through Spotlight, a feature of the Mac OS X operating system.
  • ^  Full-text history search is available through a Windows Search iFilter [21]

[edit] Accessibility features (cont.)

Information about what common accessibility features are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons).

Browser Access keys Tabbing navigation Spatial navigation Caret navigation Mouse gesture Text-to-speech Voice control
Amaya Yes Yes ? Yes No No No
AOL Explorer Yes Yes No No No No No
Avant Yes Yes No No Yes No No
Camino Yes Yes No Yes No † No † No
Dillo Yes No No No No No No
DocZilla ? Yes No No No No No
ELinks Yes Yes No Yes No No No
Epiphany Yes Yes No Yes No † No No
Flock Yes Yes No Yes No † No No
Galeon ? Yes ? Disabled Yes No No
Google Chrome Yes Yes Yes No No ? ?
iCab Yes No No No No No † No
Internet Explorer Yes Yes No Yes † No † Partial † Yes †
Internet Explorer for Mac Yes Yes No No No No No
K-Meleon Yes Yes No Disabled Yes No No
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes No † No † No
Links No No No Yes No No No
Lynx ? No No ? No No No
Maxthon Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Mosaic No No No No No No No
Mozilla Yes Yes Yes Yes No † No † Yes
Mozilla Firefox Yes Yes No † Yes No † No † Yes
Netscape Yes Yes No Yes No No No
Netscape Browser Yes Yes No Yes No No No
Netscape Navigator ? ? No No No No No
Netscape Navigator 9 Yes Yes No Yes No No No
NetSurf No Yes No No No No No
OmniWeb Yes Yes No No No † Yes Yes
Opera Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Safari Yes Yes Yes No No † No † No
SeaMonkey Yes Yes No Yes No No No
Shiira ? Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
Sleipnir Yes Yes No No Yes No No
WorldWideWeb ? ? ? ? ? No No
w3m ? Yes Yes Yes No No No
Browser Access keys Tabbing navigation Spatial navigation Caret navigation Mouse gesture Text-to-speech Voice control
  • ^  On Mac OS X systems mouse gesture support can be added by installing extensions like CocoaGestures (works with Cocoa applications)
  • ^  On Mac OS X systems Text-to speech is available system-wide and is available from menu in web browsers.
  • ^  Epiphany supports mouse gestures as an official extension, in the epiphany-extensions package.
  • ^  Mouse gesture support is available system-wide in KDE
  • ^  Text-to speech support depends on the kttsd application in the kdeaccessibility package
  • ^  Mouse gesture support can be added by installing Easy Go Back add-on [11] or similar applications.
  • ^  Doug Turner, the Minimo lead developer, has introduced spatial navigation to some special Firefox builds [12]. It may build as a default part of Firefox [13].
  • ^  Mouse gesture support can be added by installing extensions like All-in-One Gestures (Firefox-only) [14] and Mouse Gestures [15].
  • ^  Firefox works with a number of screen readers such as JAWS [16][dead link] and Microsoft SAPI 5 TTS [17][dead link] through extensions.
  • ^  Internet Explorer 8 supports caret browsing.
  • ^  Internet Explorer does not have built-in Text to speech/read aloud functions, however it can work with third-party screen readers.
  • ^  Internet Explorer can be controlled by applications which use the operating system Speech API. A built-in application called Windows Speech Recognition ships with Windows Vista and later client versions.

[edit] Acid Scores

The Acid tests are standard tests to rate the performance of a browser. Upon each test's release, they are designed so that no existing browser can pass without further development. In order for a browser to pass any Acid test, the latest public release of the browser (not an alpha, beta, release candidate, or other version under development or testing procedures) must meet the requirements shown below. In addition, the browser should be tested upon completion of installation, with no add-ons installed (some browsers make this easy by providing a "safe mode" option) and all the factory settings (no options have been changed from their defaults).

Acid1:

  • Final rendering looks exactly like the rendering provided by the Acid tests website.
  • Text can be highlighted and radio buttons can be selected.

Acid2:

  • Final rendering looks exactly like the rendering provided by the Acid tests website.
  • Smiley's nose turns blue when hovered over.

Acid3:

  • Final score of 100/100.
  • No error messages on final rendering.
  • Render-in-progress loads smoothly (no pausing).
  • Final rendering looks exactly like the rendering provided by the Acid tests website.
Browser Acid1 Acid2 Acid3
Amaya ? No No
AOL Explorer ? No ?
Avant ? No No
Camino Yes No ?
Dillo ? No ?
DocZilla ? No ?
ELinks ? No ?
Epiphany Yes Yes 71/100
Flock Yes Yes 71/100
Galeon ? ? ?
Google Chrome Yes Yes 100/100
iCab ? Yes Yes
Internet Explorer Yes Yes 20/100
Internet Explorer for Mac ? No ?
K-Meleon ? No ?
Konqueror Yes Yes 87/100
Links ? No No
Lynx ? No No
Maxthon Yes Yes 20/100
Mosaic ? No No
Mozilla Yes No ?
Mozilla Firefox Yes Yes 93/100
Netscape ? No ?
Netscape Browser Yes No ?
Netscape Navigator ? No ?
Netscape Navigator 9 Yes No 52/100
NetSurf ? No ?
OmniWeb ? Yes ?
Opera Yes Yes 85/100
Safari Yes Yes Yes†
SeaMonkey Yes No 53/100
Shiira ? Yes 74/100
Sleipnir ? ? ?
WorldWideWeb No No No
w3m No No No
Browser Acid1 Acid2 Acid3
  • ^  Mobile Safari reaches 97/100.

[edit] Browsers under development

Browser Acid1 Acid2 Acid3
Midori 0.1.6 Yes Yes Yes †
Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Yes Yes 94/100
Opera 10 Yes Yes 100/100
Browser Acid1 Acid2 Acid3
  • ^  Midori passes Acid3 because it uses WebKit snapshots which pass Acid3.

[edit] Web technology support

Information about what web standards, and technologies the browsers support, except for JavaScript. External links lead to information about support in future versions of the browsers or extensions that provide such functionality.

Browser CSS2.1 † Frames Nav LINKs † XSLT XHTML 1.0 † XHTML 1.1 † MathML XForms Web Forms 2.0 VoiceXML/X+V CSS Presentation/projection mode†
Amaya Yes No ? No Yes Yes Yes No No No ?
AOL Explorer Partial Yes No Yes No No No † No No No ?
Avant Partial Yes ? Yes No No No No No No ?
Camino Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No ?
Dillo Partial Partial † No No No No No No No No ?
DocZilla Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No No ?
ELinks Partial Yes ? No No No No No No No ?
Epiphany Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No † No ?
Flock Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No
Galeon Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No ?
Google Chrome Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No No ?
iCab Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No ?
Internet Explorer Yes † [22] Yes No † Yes No No No † No † No † No ?
Internet Explorer for Mac Partial Yes ? Partial No Yes No No No No ?
K-Meleon Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes No No No No ?
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No ?
Links No Yes Yes No No No No No No No ?
Lynx No Partial Yes No No No No No No No ?
Maxthon Partial Yes ? Yes No No No No No No ?
Mosaic No No ? No No No No No No No No
Mozilla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No ?
Mozilla Firefox Yes Yes No † Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No † No No†
Netscape Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No ?
Netscape Browser Depends [23] Yes ? Yes Depends [23] Depends [23] Depends [23] No No No ?
Netscape Navigator No Yes No No No No No No No No ?
Netscape Navigator 9 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No ?
NetSurf Yes Yes No No No No No No No No ?
OmniWeb Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes No No No No ?
Opera Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes † No Yes Yes Yes†
Safari Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No†
SeaMonkey Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No ?
Shiira Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes No No No No ?
Sleipnir Partial Yes No † Yes No No No † No No † No ?
WorldWideWeb No No ? No No No No No No No ?
w3m ? Yes ? No Yes ? No ? No No ?
Browser CSS2.1 † Frames Nav LINKs † XSLT XHTML 1.0 † XHTML 1.1 † MathML XForms Web Forms 2.0 VoiceXML/X+V CSS Presentation/projection mode†
  • ^  CSS 2, a W3C recommendation since 1998, is the current stable version of CSS, nevertheless, CSS 2.1 corrects a few errors in CSS2 (the most important being a new definition of the height/width of absolutely positioned elements, more influence for HTML's "style" attribute and a new calculation of the 'clip' property), and adds a few highly requested features which have already been widely implemented. CSS 2.1 is derived from and is intended to replace CSS 2. Conformance criteria are detailed at at the W3C website. (CSS 3 is only in draft status at present.) For more detailed information please see comparison of layout engines (CSS).
  • ^  LINK as a navigational aid, as distinct from non-navigational uses of LINK.
  • ^  Not in standard install, but provided by extension.[18][19]
  • ^  XHTML is based on HTML but is an application of XML, which means that XHTML must be stricter than equivalent HTML code. XHTML is meant to be read by an XML parser but for backward compatibility reasons can also be parsed as HTML; this table only notes the browsers that are able to parse XHTML as XML. For more detailed information please see comparison of layout engines (XHTML).
  • ^  Dillo displays frames as links that the user can click on.
  • ^  Available with the MathPlayer plugin.
  • ^  Available with the FormsPlayer plugin and several other plugins.
  • ^  XForms is supported experimentally in nightly builds dated after January 28, 2005 [20]. Requires installation of an extension.
  • ^  It is possible to use CSS to partially style MathML in Opera (see here for more[dead link]). Since Opera 9.0 Technical Preview 2 (Opera 9TP2) it is also possible to use a user javascript method to support MathML (see here).
  • ^  Web Forms 2.0 can be emulated in IE using DHTML behaviours, available from SourceForge.
  • ^  Web Forms 2.0 functionality is currently being added to Gecko, there should be at least partial support for Gecko 1.9 (Firefox 3.0). See bug #344614.
  • ^  XHTML1.1 includes RUBY (see [21]) which is not supported. There exists add-on for adding RUBY support. [22]
  • ^  Presentation mode is the ability to read styles targeted to the CSS projection media type.
  • ^  S5 is a CSS/Javascript alternative for browsers that don't support a presentation mode.
  • ^  Opera switches to presentation mode on full screen. [23]
  • ^  Internet Explorer 8 has full CSS2.1 support.[22]

[edit] Mobile Web technology support

Information about what web standards, and technologies the browsers support, except for JavaScript. External links lead to information about support in future versions of the browsers or extensions that provide such functionality.

Browser C-HTML HDML I-mode XHTML Mobile Profile WML
Amaya ? ? ? ? No
AOL Explorer ? ? ? ? No
Avant ? ? ? ? No
Camino ? ? ? ? No
Dillo ? ? ? ? No
DocZilla ? ? ? ? No
ELinks ? ? ? ? ?
Epiphany ? ? ? ? No
Flock Partial † No No Partial † No †
Galeon ? ? ? ? No
Google Chrome ? ? ? ? No
iCab ? ? ? ? No
Internet Explorer ? ? ? No † No †
Internet Explorer for Mac ? ? ? ? No
Internet Explorer Mobile ? ? ? Yes † Yes
K-Meleon Partial † No No Partial † No
Konqueror ? ? ? ? No
Links ? ? ? ? No
Lynx ? ? ? ? No
Maxthon ? ? ? ? No
Microsoft Mobile Explorer Yes † ? Yes † Yes † Yes †
Mosaic ? ? ? ? No
Mozilla Partial † No No Partial † No †
Mozilla Firefox Partial † No No Partial † No †
Netscape ? No No ? No
Netscape Browser ? No No ? No
Netscape Navigator ? No No ? No
Netscape Navigator 9 ? No No ? No
NetSurf ? ? ? ? No
OmniWeb ? ? ? ? No
Opera Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Safari ? ? ? ? No
SeaMonkey Partial † No No Partial † No †
Shiira ? ? ? ? No
Sleipnir ? ? ? ? No
WorldWideWeb ? ? ? ? ?
w3m ? ? ? ? No
Browser C-HTML HDML I-mode XHTML Mobile Profile WML
  • ^  Gecko-based browsers render C-HTML and XHTML Mobile Profile as an ordinary XHTML. In most cases this is quite enough to browse mobile Web.
  • ^  Gecko-based browsers don't support WML natively, this issue is being discussed at bug 35995. There is an extension called wmlbrowser [24], [25] which adds a partial WML support to Firefox, SeaMonkey, Mozilla Suite and Flock (without card navigation and WMLScript). In most cases this is quite enough to browse mobile Web.
  • ^  Internet Explorer Mobile 6 supports XHTML Mobile Profile.
  • ^  Microsoft Mobile Explorer was discontinued in 2002.[24]

[edit] Plugins and syndicated content support

Information about what web standards, and technologies the browsers support. External links lead to information about support in future versions of the browsers or extensions that provide such functionality. Java support is for built-in support by the browser without the plugin from SUN.

Browser ActiveX † NPAPI † Java Gears RSS Atom other web feed
Amaya No ? ? No No No ?
AOL Explorer Yes No ? No Yes † Yes † ?
Avant Yes No ? ? Yes † Yes † ?
Camino No Yes ? ? Partial Partial ?
DocZilla No Yes ? No ? ? ?
Dillo No ? ? No No No ?
ELinks No ? ? ? No No ?
Epiphany No ? ? ? No † No † ?
Flock No Yes No Yes Yes Yes ?
Galeon No Yes ? Yes No No ?
Google Chrome No Yes Yes Yes No No ?
iCab No Yes ? ? Yes No ?
Internet Explorer Yes No † Yes Yes Yes † Yes † Yes †
Internet Explorer for Mac No Yes ? No No No No
K-Meleon No ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Konqueror No Yes Yes † No Yes † Yes † ?
Links No ? ? No No No ?
Lynx No ? ? No No No No
Maxthon Yes No ? ? Yes Yes ?
Mosaic No No ? No No No No
Mozilla No Yes No No No No ?
Mozilla Firefox No Yes No Yes Yes Yes ?
Netscape No Yes No No No No ?
Netscape Browser No Yes No No Yes Yes ?
Netscape Navigator No Yes No No No No ?
Netscape Navigator 9 No Yes No No Yes Yes ?
NetSurf No No No No No No No
OmniWeb No ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Opera No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No
Safari No Yes Yes† Partial† Yes Yes ?
SeaMonkey No Yes ? Yes No No ?
Shiira No ? ? ? Yes Yes ?
Sleipnir Yes ? ? Yes Yes † Yes † ?
WorldWideWeb No No ? No No No No
w3m No No ? No No No ?
Browser ActiveX † NPAPI † Java Gears RSS Atom other web feed
  • ^  Internet Explorer (and Shells) is the only browser to natively support the Component Object Model (popularly known as ActiveX). Most other browsers use the NPAPI plugin architecture. ActiveX is more powerful than NPAPI in terms of the control it affords over the browser, but it is specific to Windows whereas NPAPI is cross-platform. There is a third-party plugin that adds partial ActiveX support, that is available for certain older versions of Mozilla Suite, Mozilla Firefox and Netscape Navigator. The default settings in earlier versions of Internet Explorer allowed the automatic download, installation, and running of new ActiveX controls with minimal user intervention — this made it possible to use ActiveX on web pages to install viruses, spyware, etc. onto a user's computer.
  • ^  Internet Explorer 7 and later
  • ^  Konqueror needs an external Java interpreter (usually the 'java' executable of a JRE/JDK).
  • ^  RSS and ATOM feed autodetection in Konqueror depends on the aKregator package which is installed with kdepim.
  • ^  RSS and ATOM feed autodetection in Epiphany depends on the Newsfeed extension which is included with Epiphany-extensions.
  • ^  Safari has only on Mac OS X 10.4+ Gears support. At the moment Windows isn't supported
  • ^  Safari has only on Mac OS X Java support. At the moment Windows need a plugin.
  • ^ Internet Explorer did for a time support NPAPI plugins. Plugins that functioned in the Netscape browser also functioned in Internet Explorer. This was due to a small ActiveX control implemented within a "plugin.ocx" file that acted as a shim between the ActiveX based browser and the NPAPI plugin. The IE browser would load the control and use it to host plugins specified within the page. However, Microsoft made the claim that the NPAPI plugins (or the IE implementation of the API) were a security issue and dropped support for them in version 5.5 SP2.[25][26][27]
  • ^ Internet Explorer 8 supports syndicated content in hAtom / hSlice microformat by the name of a feature known as Web Slices.

[edit] JavaScript support

Information about what JavaScript technologies the browsers support. Note that although XPath is used by XSLT, it is only considered here if it can be accessed using JavaScript. External links lead to information about support in future versions of the browsers or extensions that provide such functionality.

Browser JavaScript ECMAScript 3 DOM 1 DOM 2 DOM 3 XPath DHTML XMLHttpRequest Rich editing
Amaya No † No † No † No No No No No No
AOL Explorer Yes Yes Partial No No No Yes Yes Yes
Avant Yes Yes Partial No No No Yes Yes Yes
Camino Yes Yes Yes Yes No † Yes Yes Yes Yes
Dillo No No No No No No No No No
DocZilla Yes No Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes No
ELinks Partial Partial No No No No No No No
Epiphany Yes Yes Yes Yes No † Yes Yes Yes Yes
Flock Yes Yes Yes Yes No † Yes Yes Yes Yes
Galeon Yes Yes Yes Yes No † Yes Yes Yes Yes
Google Chrome Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes
iCab Yes Yes Partial Partial No No Yes Yes No
Internet Explorer Yes Yes Partial No † No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Internet Explorer for Mac Yes Yes Partial No No No Yes No No
K-Meleon Yes Yes Yes Yes No † Yes Yes Yes Yes
Konqueror Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial No Yes Yes No
Links Partial No No No No No No No No
Lynx No No No No No No No No No
Maxthon Yes Yes Partial No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mosaic No No No No No No No No No
Mozilla Yes Yes Yes Yes No † Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mozilla Firefox Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial † Yes Yes Yes Yes
Netscape Yes Yes Yes Yes No † Yes Yes Yes Yes
Netscape Browser Yes Yes Depends [23] Depends [23] No † Depends [23] Yes Yes Yes
Netscape Navigator Yes Partial No No No No Yes No No
Netscape Navigator 9 Yes Yes Yes Yes No † Yes Yes Yes Yes
NetSurf No No No No No No No No No
OmniWeb Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
Opera Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes
Safari Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial † Yes † Yes Yes Yes
SeaMonkey Yes Yes Yes Yes No † Yes Yes Yes Yes
Shiira Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Sleipnir Yes Yes Partial No † No Yes Yes Yes Yes