Comparison of lightweight web browsers
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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.{{cite web |url=http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9243574/5_lesser_known_browsers_Free_lightweight_and_low_maintenance?pageNumber=1 |title=5 lesser-known browsers: Free, lightweight and low-maintenance |last=Arora |first=Himanshu |date=6 November 2013 |website=Computerworld |publisher=International Data Group |access-date=18 June 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://freecode.com/articles/lightweight-web-browsers |title=Lightweight Web Browsers |last=Klimkiewicz |first=Kamil |date=18 January 2003 |website=Freecode |publisher=Dice Holdings |access-date=18 June 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://geekiest.net/post/Memory-usage-of-the-browsers-Lightest-browser.aspx |title=Memory usage of the browsers – Lightest browser |last=Arimbra |first=Krishnan |date=16 July 2013 |website=Geekiest.Net |access-date=18 June 2014}}
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,{{cite web |url=http://surf.suckless.org/ |title=surf |access-date=30 August 2014}} whereas xombrero can be driven with vi-like keyboard commands.{{cite web |url=https://opensource.conformal.com/wiki/xombrero#Quick-Start_Tutorial |title=xombrero wiki § Quick-Start Tutorial |date=1 March 2012 |last=Peereboom |first=Marco |last2=Hill |first2=David |publisher=Conformal Systems |access-date=30 August 2014 |display-authors=etal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140928112233/https://opensource.conformal.com/wiki/xombrero#Quick-Start_Tutorial |archive-date=28 September 2014 |url-status=dead }}
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.{{cite web |url=http://w3m.sourceforge.net/ |title=w3m |last=Ito |first=Akinori |website=w3m.sourceforge.net |access-date=30 August 2014}}
Overview
class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" | |||||||
rowspan="2" | Browser
! rowspan="2" | Developers ! rowspan="2" | Status ! rowspan="2" | Engine ! rowspan="2" | Programming languages ! rowspan="2" | License ! colspan="2" | Latest release | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Version
! Date | |||||||
{{rh}} | Arora | Benjamin C. Meyer et al.{{cite web |url=http://arorabrowser.blogspot.com/2009/10/arora-0100.html |title=Arora 0.10.0! |last=Meyer |first=Benjamin |date=2 October 2009 |website=Arora Development |access-date=29 August 2014 |archive-date=11 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111232923/http://arorabrowser.blogspot.com/2009/10/arora-0100.html |url-status=dead }} | {{Terminated|Discontinued}} | QtWebKit{{cite web |url=https://qt-project.org/wiki/Applications_Using_QtWebKit |title=Applications Using QtWebKit |last1=Poulain |first1=Benjamin |date=10 May 2010 |website=Qt Wiki |publisher=Qt Project Hosting |access-date=21 June 2014 |display-authors=etal |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415155940/http://qt-project.org/wiki/Applications_Using_QtWebKit |archive-date=15 April 2013 |url-status=dead }} | C++ | GPL-2.0-or-later | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q1061800|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q1061800|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
m
| {{rh}} | Dillo | Jorge Arellano Cid et al. | {{Site active}} | Dillo | C, C++ | GPL-3.0-or-later | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q754064|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q754064|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | ELinks | Petr Baudiš, Jonas Fonseca, et al. | {{site active}} | Links | C, C++ | GPL-2.0-only | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q1151159|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q1151159|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | Eww | Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen | {{site active}} | GNU Emacs libraries | Emacs Lisp | GPL-3.0-or-later | ||
{{rh}} | Falkon (QupZilla) | David Rosca | {{Site active}} | QtWebKit / Qt WebEngine | C++ | GPL-3.0-or-later | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q404293|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q404293|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | hv3 | Dan Kennedy & team | {{Terminated|Discontinued}} | Tkhtml | Tcl | GPL | ||
{{rh}} | K-Meleon | Christophe Thibault et al. | {{Site active}} | Gecko / Goanna (fork) | C++ | GPL | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q734038|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q734038|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | Links | Mikuláš Patočka, Twibright Labs, et al. | {{Site active}} | Links | C | GPL-2.0-or-later | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q608910|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q608910|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | Lynx | Lou Montulli, Thomas Dickey, et al. | {{Site active}} | libwww derivative | C (ISO C) | GPL-2.0-only | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q207872|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q207872|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | NetSurf | John-Mark Bell, Michael Drake, et al.{{Cite web |url=https://www.netsurf-browser.org/about/team |title=The NetSurf Developers |website=netsurf-browser.org |access-date=26 August 2014}} | {{Site active}} | NetSurf | C (ANSI C) | GPL-2.0-only | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q1185648|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q1185648|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | Otter Browser | Michał Dutkiewicz{{cite web |url=http://otter-browser.org |title=Otter Browser |website=otter-browser.org |access-date=11 April 2017}} | {{Site active}} | QtWebKit / Qt WebEngine | C++ | GPL-3.0-or-later | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q24589743|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q24589743|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | QtWeb | LogicWare; LSoft Technologies{{cite web |url=http://qtweb.net/about.html |title=About QtWeb |website=QtWeb.NET |access-date=29 August 2014}} | {{Dropped|Unmaintained}} | QtWebKit | C++ | GPL-2.0-or-later | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q3926521|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q3926521|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | qutebrowser | Florian Bruhin et al. | {{Site active}} {{cite web|url=https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser|title=qutebrowser/qutebrowser|website=GitHub|access-date=23 May 2018}} | QtWebKit / Qt WebEngine{{cite web|url=https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Qutebrowser#Use_experimental_webengine_backend|title=qutebrowser - ArchWiki|website=wiki.archlinux.org|access-date=23 May 2018}} | Python3 | GPL-3.0-or-later | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q28405851|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q28405851|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | rekonq | Andrea Diamantini et al. | {{Terminated|Discontinued}} | QtWebKit | C++ | GPLv3 | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q284972|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q284972|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | surf | Christoph Lohmann et al. | {{Site active}} | WebKitGTK | C | MIT | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q18156733|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q18156733|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | uzbl | Dieter Plaetinck et al. | {{Terminated|Discontinued}} | WebKitGTK | C, Python | GPL-3.0-only | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q1185067|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q1185067|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | w3m | Akinori Ito et al. | {{Dropped|Unmaintained}} | w3m | C | MIT | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q306669|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q306669|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
{{rh}} | WebPositive | Andrea Anzani, Ryan Leavengood, et al. | {{Site active}} | HaikuWebkit | C++ | MIT | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q2562364|P348|P548=Q51930650}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q2562364|P348|P548=Q51930650|P577}} |
{{rh}} | xombrero | Marco Peerboom et al. | {{Terminated|Discontinued}} | WebKitGTK | C, JavaScript | ISC | {{wikidata|property|preferred|reference|edit|Q8044913|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q8044913|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}} |
Operating system support
;Notes
{{notelist-lr}}
Features
Test scores reflect the version of the browser engine in use. Generally, a lower score indicates an older version of the browser engine.
;Notes
{{notelist-lr}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
Further reading
- {{cite web |url=http://vavai.net/2010/01/7-lightweight-linux-browsers-you-may-want-to-consider-for-fast-browsing-experience/ |title=7 Lightweight Linux Browsers You may want to Consider for Fast Browsing Experience |last=Sugianto |first=Masim |date=18 January 2010 |website=Spirit of Change |access-date=18 June 2014 |ref=none |archive-date=15 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315150932/http://vavai.net/2010/01/7-lightweight-linux-browsers-you-may-want-to-consider-for-fast-browsing-experience/ |url-status=dead }}
- {{cite web |url=http://geekiest.net/post/3-Alternate-Browsers-Lightweight-browsers.aspx |title=3 Alternate Browsers – Lightweight browsers |last=Arimbra |first=Krishnan |date=17 July 2013 |website=Geekiest.Net |access-date=18 June 2014 |ref=none}}
- {{cite web |url=http://www.heyrick.co.uk/ricksworld/anime/roanaly.html |title=RISC OS browsers |last=Murray |first=Richard |date=2007 |website=Rick's World |access-date=26 August 2014 |ref=none}}
{{Lightweight web browsers}}
{{Embedded systems}}