So, lets come and read about Lightweight Browser. What is it, and what it really means. Lightweight Browser. The main aim of a lightweight browser is to give users standard web browsing experience, thus reducing their device load. Lightweight browsers typically have less space on a disk, fewer machine resources, and easy handling. Lite Browser isn't the first IE alternative for Windows devices, but it is unique for what it offers. It is Fully Featured Desktop-Like Browser In Your Pocket. It has come with more features with pre-bookmarked sites which are selected after a depth analysis about popularity of websites.
Lightweight browsers are commonly used today, thanks to their quickness, light use of resources, and advanced safety options. We went through 5 of the most popular lightweight browsers for Mac and tested them to see how they hold on.
When Do You Need A Lightweight Browser
Since Mac comes with a Safari, a lot of people don’t think about switching to another browser. That’s understandable. Safari has a lot of features under the hood, like tracking prevention and fingerprinting defense, that do a good job in making you secure. So then, why should you use a lightweight browser on your Mac?
One reason is that Safari, along with other popular browsers like Chrome and Firefox, uses quite a lot of resources. This can lead to your Mac performing frustratingly slow. Lightweight browsers circumvent this problem, while still providing a great degree of safety.
5 Best Lightweight Browsers For Mac
1. Maxthon Browser
Maxthon provides a fast and secure browsing experience. To protect your privacy, just select Maxthon’s private mode. The browser also supports synchronization between different OS platforms, for seamless and safe fire sharing. There’s also a cloud backup that uses advanced encryption, which will make sure that you never lose your data.
Maxthon Browser also lets you easily download videos from YouTube and Facebook. Just put your cursor over it and download sign will appear. Add to this a night mode, screen capture, and a smart reader mode, and it’s easy to see why Maxthon is one of the most popular lightweight browsers.
2. Vivaldi
Vivaldi has everything you might want from a Mac browser. It is quick, packed with features and customizable. It will even let you choose your theme and layout, so you will have a browser that fits you like a glove.
Vivaldi uses end-to-end encryption method while sending your data to keep your files safe. There’s also a private window that will give you ultimate anonymity by deleting all temporary files and cookies. Lastly, this browser has a great bookmarking system and a page capture feature that will surely be useful.
On the other hand, Vivaldi doesn’t come with an adblocker nor does it offer a webpage translation service. It is also made from the same engine as Chrome and shares similar vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
However, we are just nitpicking. MacUpdate thinks that Vivaldi is among the safest lightweight browsers for Mac, among with Brave, and we wholeheartedly agree.
3. Brave
Brave decided to distinguish itself by blocking all ads by default. The result is up to 6 times faster page loading, in comparison to Firefox and Chrome. Brave also makes the transition easy, thanks to the import function that will quickly take all of your previous settings and various bookmark. This way, you lose nothing.
Lite Browser For Mac Shortcut
Aside from adware, Brave also successfully blocks phishing and various malware. However, if you want to support somebody, the browser lets you do this by providing a unique ad network. As if that’s not enough, the browser has no user tracking, leaving your privacy completely intact.
Brave is based on Chrome’s engine, meaning that it is exposed to the same threats as Google’s popular engine. Additionally, there have been compatibility issues with some of the websites. But, when all is said and done, Brave still stands as a solid lightweight browser.
4. Seamonkey
We might call Seamonkey Firefox’s younger brother. After all, it’s based on the same code, just delivered in a lightweight browser format. Seamonkey comes with plenty of advanced features such as a newsgroup, IRC chat, and e-mail client, along with an HTML editor.
With its multitude of options, Seamonkey is perfectly built for the corporate environment, while the casual users might look somewhere else.
5. Sleipnir
Sleipnir’s goal is to keep things simple, yet deliver a powerful and quick performance. It comes with a TouchPaging feature that lets you move through the pages, open and close tabs, just by using your hand. The browser has improved a lot over the years by featuring ad-block and safe syncing via Fenrir Pass.
Opera Lite Browser
However, this lightweight browser has some limitations. A big one is the inability to get extensions, which is something all other browsers on the list do have. Also, websites will occasionally be displayed incorrectly. If you don’t mind these imperfections, Sleipnir will serve you just fine.
All in all, there are plenty of great lightweight browsers available for Mac that can easily become your default.