The verdict
The objective of this Roundup was to help you find an alternate web browser that consumes less resources than the one that ships with your distro, by default, without forcing you to change your browsing habits.
In terms of low resource usage, there’s no beating Dillo. The browser loads in a jiffy and renders pages just as quickly. However, that in itself isn’t enough for us to recommend it. In its quest to cut the fat, Dillo has trimmed off several vital organs that are essential for consuming most of the content on the web these days. Netsurf too isn’t of much use for pretty much the same reason. It does render more websites properly than Dillo, but its incomplete JavaScript support means that you’ll still be unable to view content on a majority of popular websites. So while Wikipedia, Slashdot and a few other news sites were readable, the browser couldn’t stream any content on sites such as YouTube, which makes it mostly useless for the everyday desktop user.
Slimjet, in contrast, has no such issues. It can display all sorts of content without any issues. Unlike Dillo and Netsurf, this browser loses out for a different reason. The fact that the browser adds features on top of an already weighty Chrome base, means that while lighter than mainstream browsers it’s heftier than the other options. If you can take the hit, Slimjet has lots of useful features that make it more functional than stock browsers and in our opinion is a better and more usable than Chrome itself.
It’s a close call between the top two and we’ll award this Roundup to the one that uses the resources more efficiently. The runner-up spot goes to Qupzilla which delivers the closest experience to mainstream browsers. However, it still takes up more than our winner, Midori which offers the best compromise. Midori has good features including conveniences like bookmarks and download management as well as a privacy mode and control over cookies and history. It renders websites flawlessly and ships with quite a few plugins to extend its default functions.
“Renders websites flawlessly and ships with quite a few plugins to extend its default functions.”