Brave vs. Chrome: Which Browser is Better?

I've used Brave for 6 months so far. Below is a comparison between Brave and Google Chrome in terms of speed, privacy, and security.

First—What is Brave?

  • Brave was founded by Brendan Eich, who invented JavaScript and cofounded Mozilla (which makes Firefox).
  • Instead of re-making a browser from the ground up, Brave used the same technology as Chrome (the chromium engine) while making small tweaks to increase speed, privacy, and security.

Speed

  • Unlike Chrome, Brave blocks ads and trackers by default.
  • As a concrete example—if you see an ad below, you're not using Brave.
  • Blocking ads is not only visually appealing, but also saves loading time (noticeably).
  • Below is a speed test between Brave, Chrome, and Firefox.
  • Brave's speed increase is especially noticeable on sites with heavy tracking (ex: news sites) and sites with content-blocking video ads (ex: YouTube).
  • Brave tracks the time it saves you, and displays it when you open the browser.

Advantage: Brave

Privacy

  • Brave blocks 3rd-party tracking by default.
    • On Chrome, mega-advertisers like Google and Facebook track you with 3rd-party cookies on nearly every website.
    • By blocking 3rd-party cookies, Brave limits the amount of data Facebook, Google, and other ad networks can collect about your browsing habits.
  • Brave stores all your browsing data locally on your computer, which means you can delete it at any time.
  • Brave supports Tor browsing, making it the first all-purpose browser to do so.

Advantage: Brave

Security

  • Brave automatically encrypts your website connection when possible (on Chrome, this only occurs with an extension like HTTPS Everywhere).
  • Brave now supports all Chrome extensions, including popular password managers like LastPass and 1Password.

Advantage: Brave

Drawbacks of Brave

  • Every once in a while, Brave blocks part of a website that you wanted to load.
  • When this happens, it's easiest to click the lion icon, and toggle the shield to down.
  • Since the latest Brave update, this is rarely necessary (maybe once per week).

Recommendation

  • Brave's speed alone is enough to make the switch worthwhile, and the added privacy and security benefits are icing on the cake.
  • Not surprisingly, Brave has skyrocketed to popularity, going from 1 million to 10.4 million users in the past 2 years alone.