Extensibility

Would you like some more functionality?

The vast repository of add-ons available for Firefox and Chrome/Chromium helps explain their popularity. Brave and Slimjet are both based on Chromium and support most of the extensions available for it. In fact, both the browsers directs you to the Chrome web store should you decide to look up extensions. After identifying an extension you wish to use, click the Add to Chrome button to install it.

Vivaldi aims to provide as much functionality as possible out of the box, which is why it doesn’t expend effort towards providing extensions. However, it too supports installing Chrome extensions.

Falkon offers an ad-blocker, mouse gestures, a PIM and a handful of other extensions out of the box. Even though users have long asked for additional extensions, such as HTTPS everywhere and other security and usability features, the project remains steadfastly silent on the issue, which is quite disappointing. Surprisingly, the project’s website doesn’t even link to the app store ( https://store.falkon.org), which is home to 14 extensions. You can use these to alter its appearance, such as moving the tab bar to the bottom of the screen, but they don’t provide meaningful feature additions.

Opera boasts of a vast repository of native add-ons, across categories such as Security, Music, Search, Productivity, Shopping and many more. Unlike most other browsers, Opera also features a sidebar on the left of the screen, which is home to various useful elements, including History and Downloads. There are several extensions that integrate with the sidebar for quick access. You can also optionally install the “Install Chrome Extensions” extension. You’ll then be able to install Chrome extensions on Opera.

VERDICT BRAVE

FALKON

OPERA 4/5 2.5/5 5/5

SLIMJET

VIVALDI 4/5 4/5

Some Chrome extensions behave erratically on derivative browsers.