Firefox is one of the best open-source browsers available on Linux distributions right now, but Mozilla has definitely made some questionable choices in the recent updates of this open-source browser. But because it is open source, the community has forked the original project and made a ‘better’, more hardened version of the browser named Librewolf. In this article, we will compare both browsers and take a look at the differences and similarities between the browsers.
Firefox vs LibreWolf
| Feature | Firefox | LibreWolf |
|---|---|---|
| Source Code | Open Source | Open Source |
| Privacy level (out of the box) | Intermediate | Strict |
| Maintainers | Mozilla | Community maintained |
| Default Search Engine | DuckDuckGo | |
| Cross-Platform | Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, etc. | Mostly Desktop-based OS such as Windows, Mac, and Linux |
| Telemetry | Enabled by default | Disabled out of the box |
| Password and Bookmarks Sync | Enabled when signed in with Firefox account on all devices | Disabled |
Removed Unnecessary Features
- Firefox gives you a feature named ‘Pocket’ in which you can save your articles, but this feature inherently requires you to have a Firefox account. Librewolf removes this feature altogether and thus becomes more lightweight.
- Librewolf also removes the featured news articles which are present by default on the homepage of Firefox (and essentially serve the purpose of ads more than anything).
Better Privacy
- Firefox by default has a lot of default privacy settings disabled. You can enable them though, but it requires a lot of time and effort, whereas LibreWolf ships those settings as default.
- LibreWolf also comes with the extension ‘uBlock Origin’ installed by default. This extension blocks unnecessary ads and pop-ups on all websites.
Private Search Engine
- LibreWolf ships with the DuckDuckGo search engine as the default. And it is considered one of the most private search engines which don’t collect your data whereas, Firefox ships with the widely used Google search engine which is not so privacy-friendly.
No Cookies
- LibreWolf immediately clears your history and cookies when you close the browser. This, however, can be a hassle for some users as this can cause you to log out of every website when you close the browser. So your use case matters a lot in choosing between the two browsers.
Summary
It definitely depends on your use case and which browser will suit you. If you just want to browse the web and watch videos, then you can use the LibreWolf browser. But if you have to do some office-related work or anything that requires you to log in to various websites daily, then you should use the Firefox browser. You should, however, spend some time hardening your Firefox browser by changing the settings mentioned here.