this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2025
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For people who are choosing between Librewolf and Brave

What Librewolf can do (but Brave can’t):

  • Be run in a portable form
  • Duplicate / manage user profiles easily
  • Use a self‑hosted sync server
  • Install most browser plugins on mobile (e.g. Iceraven)
  • Use containers to separate cookies
  • Store browser history permanently

What Brave can do (but Librewolf can’t):

  • Provide a better mobile user experience, including:
    • smoother animations
    • quick switching between tabs (tab icon feature)
  • Translate web pages on mobile devices
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[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 28 points 2 months ago (1 children)

don't use brave for anything; brave is a pro crypto ad infested slop owned by a homophobic bigot

[–] happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Well at least it is open source, I guess the best alternative for people who want a chromium based browser with sync feature

[–] BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Not necessarily. With the awful things about Brave, if I need a chromium based browser I’ll absolutely go non-OSS and use Vivaldi. It’s a million miles better, and it’s not worth supporting Brave just to say you’re still using an open source browser.

[–] theshatterstone54@feddit.uk 3 points 2 months ago

As a Vivaldi user, I found that no other browser works as well for me, as Vivaldi does. I can't imagine life without browser workspaces, sync, vertical tabs on the desktop, and a mobile tab bar at the bottom.

The closest alternative is either Floorp or Zen, with mobile Firefox and Sync, but I found Vivaldi is just smoother and a better and more well-integrated user experience for me.

[–] happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I might be wrong, but search results gives "Vivaldi is not entirely open source"

[–] BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It’s not open source. I was saying, if you must use chrome based browsers, suck it up and use non-OSS, because Brave is just awful in so many ways.

[–] happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

sorry, non open source is not acceptable in my view

[–] BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world 27 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Brave is being forced to use Googles version of Manifest 3 meaning ad blockers and anti trackers are crippled in favour of advertisers and Googles ad business. Brave will be including 4 manifest 2 extensions in its backend but that's it. They're stuck because Google decided to screw over the entire Chrome based ecosystem.

Mozilla is implementing Manifest 3 differently so the original techniques for adblocking and privacy still work.

So the only choice is Librewolf. Sacrificing privacy and security for smoother animations and Web translation of pages is not worth it.

[–] happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

could you elaborate on the consequences of removing manifest 2? Does it mean Ublock Origin will be unavailable in Brave in the future?

[–] artiman@piefed.social 18 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

TLDR: use librewolf and ironfox on mobile I do not trust a for-profit company with something as important as my fucking browser https://redlib.tiekoetter.com/r/browsers/comments/1j1pq7b/list_of_brave_browser_controversies/

[–] Rikj000@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

IronFox is closer to LibreWolf on mobile then IceRaven.

Both IronFox and IceRaven have extension support :)

[–] VoxAliorum@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Does LibreWolf come with an adblocker as good as brave and can I play YouTube videos while not having my screen on without paying for YT premium?

[–] Sou_Puro_Osso@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 2 months ago

i think you can just install ublock origin, it's the best adblocker i know

[–] sprybear@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Do browsers need to do so much? Many features seem like bloat, not must-haves for the average user.

[–] happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

This 2 are the best in Open Source browsers at this time, you don't have to use all the features but they are there. this post is just for those who are interested in comparing this 2 specific browser to find out which one is most suitable, personally I prefer librewolf.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 2 months ago

Brave also offers a few additional, very valuable things:

  • the only app that reflects fingerprinting protection in PrivacyBadger, in my experience
  • works on most webpages
  • selective use of first-party cookies, per site.
[–] Jean_le_Flambeur@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Any oppinions regarding librewolf vs ironfox?

[–] happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

You might want to take a look at https://lemmy.world/post/31706013

[–] artiman@piefed.social 1 points 2 months ago

ironfox is for mobile librewolf has no mobile version