The Best Browser for Privacy According to Reddit

Wondering what privacy browsers are highly recommended by the Reddit community? Here are 10 amazing privacy browsers pulled right out of top-rated comments on communities like r/Privacy, r/TechSupport, and r/PrivacyGuides. Stick around for a list of primary sources at the end so you can read the community's comments yourself.

1 – Tor Browser

Tor Browser is one of the many ways to access the highly secure Onion network. Designed with a focus on anonymity and privacy, Tor routes internet traffic through multiple servers to conceal your location and protect your data.

While Tor Browser has gained a negative reputation due to being required to access the dark web, it is still one of the safest ways to browse and transfer data through the clear web. The browser is used every day by researchers, journalists, and law enforcement all over the world.

The main downside of using Tor is that the network leads to significantly lower browsing speeds. Thanks to that, while many Redditors recommended Tor Browser for handling sensitive data, few use it as a daily driver.

2 – Brave

Privacy-conscious Reddit users have a love/hate relationship with the Brave browser. Built from the ground up with privacy and speed in mind, Brave is a Chromium-based browser that blocks third-party ads and trackers by default. And it does all that while managing to not compromise user experience.

But if Brave does all that, why do people dislike it? Well, for one, while it is the best option out of the box, it is not the best option overall. As u/malehi put it: "Brave has better default privacy settings than Firefox. Firefox can be better "hardened" than Brave. That's pretty much it."

In other words, while Brave is safer by default, Firefox — and other Firefox-based browsers — offer a greater level of security. If you know what settings to change, that is.

This is not to say Brave is bad. While many Reddit users are looking to de-Google their lives — and thus prefer to avoid Chromium-based browsers — if you want to stay with Chromium, Brave is one of the best options.

"I made the jump from Firefox to Brave because of how fast it is and how Firefox is starting to buckle," said u/karaczaet. "I have zero issues with Brave."

3 – Apex Browser

One of the main issues with privacy browsers is that they break things. Cookies, browsing history, tracking requests, and fingerprints aren't just tools websites use to profit from user data. Many sites use this information to personalize the user experience, and some websites won't even load properly on strict privacy browsers like Brave, Tor, or LibreWolf.

Apex Browser avoids that issue with a clever solution. On top of blocking tracking, it lets you choose a virtual identity to work with fool websites. Do you want Facebook to think you're a 282-year-old from Argentina with an interest in cars and politics? Just change a few settings on Apex Browser, and that's exactly who every website is going to think you are.

Each identity comes with its own proxy, cookies, browsing history, and more. And users can choose an identity for each tab, making multi-accounting very easy.

With plenty of ready-to-use online identities and a wealth of options available, using Apex Browser is a good way to keep your data safe while still enjoying working with multiple accounts across various websites.a personalized web experience.

4 – Ungoogled Chromium

Do you wish you could just use vanilla Google Chrome, but with less tracking? This is the solution. Ungoogled Chromium is just Google Chrome but with all Google Web Services dependencies removed.

There are other privacy-based Chromium browsers out there. Brave is one of them. But those browsers all have their own spins on the engine, with unique features and customizations. Ungoogled Chromium has none of that. It's just the regular Chrome experience, but more private.

5 – Firefox

If you know what settings to change, Firefox may be the best mainstream privacy browser in the market today.

The catch is that to use Firefox as your privacy browser, you'll need to find a Firefox privacy guide you can follow along. You'll want to enable the browser's Enhanced Tracking Protection setting, change your Do Not Track settings, disable the browser's telemetry, and more. Addons like uBlock Origin and NoScript also come highly recommended by the Reddit community.

But if you'd like to skip all that work, you can use the next item on our list.

6 – LibreWolf

LibreWolf is Firefox with all the privacy settings enabled out of the box. In a sense, LibreWolf is to Firefox what Brave is to Chrome. But because the Firefox browser engine has more robust privacy settings, LibreWolf is usually better at keeping your data secure than Brave is.

There isn't much to say about LibreWolf besides the fact that it is Firefox but more private. You can even use Firefox extensions on LibreWolf, and the browser comes with uBlock Origin installed by default.

The downside of all this privacy is that LibreWolf will break some sites. There are pages that won't load or won't load properly due to everything that is being blocked by the browser.

LibreWolf also has a reputation for not being user-friendly. "Honestly with LibreWolf's weird settings, and how difficult it is to change these options, you can no longer recommend LibreWolf to a normal user," said u/Maximus-1. Other users have echoed this sentiment.

7 – Safari

With how much focus Apple places on privacy, it's no surprise that Safari makes this list. The browser does a good job of blocking trackers and giving users a wealth of privacy tools to choose from.

As was the case with Firefox, to get the most out of Safari as a privacy browser, it's a good idea to go through all the settings with a fine comb. And to check a few Safari privacy guides.

Of course, Apple itself has been caught hoarding user data in the past. But as u/SandboxedCapybara put it: "Apple already knows what you're doing on your machine, so switching browsers won't in any way eliminate that fact."

Since Apple can access your data on macOS no matter what browser you use, there is no harm in using Safari. With the right privacy extensions, the browser can theoretically rival Brave and even Firefox.