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.[1][2][3]

The tables below compare 17 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,[4] whereas xombrero can be driven with vi-like keyboard commands.[5]

Four of the browsers compared—Lynx, w3m, Links, and ELinks—are designed for text mode, and can function in a terminal emulator. 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.[6]

Overview

Browser Developers Development status Engine Programming languages Software license Latest stable release
Arora Benjamin C. Meyer et al.[7] Discontinued QtWebKit[8] C++ GPL 0.11.0[9] (27 September 2010; 14 years ago (2010-09-27)) [±]
Dillo Jorge Arellano Cid et al. Active Dillo C, C++ GPLv3 3.0.5[10] (30 June 2015; 9 years ago (2015-06-30)) [±]
ELinks Petr Baudiš, Jonas Fonseca, et al. Active Links C, C++ GPLv2 0.11.7[11] (22 August 2009; 15 years ago (2009-08-22)) [±]
K-Meleon Christophe Thibault et al. Active Gecko C++ GPL 75.1 (September 19, 2015; 9 years ago (2015-09-19)[12]) [±]
Links Mikuláš Patočka, Twibright Labs, et al. Active Links C GPLv2+ 2.12[13] (20 September 2015; 9 years ago (2015-09-20)) [±]
Lynx Lou Montulli, Thomas Dickey, et al. Active libwww derivative C (ISO C) GPLv2 2.8.8[14] (9 March 2014; 11 years ago (2014-03-09)) [±]
Midori Christian Dywan et al. Active WebKitGTK+ Vala, C LGPL v2.1+ 0.5.11[15] (30 August 2015; 9 years ago (2015-08-30)) [±]
NetSurf John-Mark Bell, Michael Drake, et al.[16] Active NetSurf C (ANSI C) GPLv2 3.5[17] (14 April 2016; 8 years ago (2016-04-14)) [±]
Pale Moon M.C. Straver Active Goanna C, C++ MPL 27.0.1 (November 28, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-11-28)[18]) [±]
QtWeb LogicWare; LSoft Technologies[19] Unmaintained QtWebKit C++ GPL 3.8.5[20] (9 September 2013; 11 years ago (2013-09-09)) [±]
QupZilla David Rosca Active QtWebKit C++ GPLv3 2.0 (March 30, 2016; 9 years ago (2016-03-30)[21]) [±]
rekonq Andrea Diamantini et al. Active QtWebKit[8] C++ GPLv3 2.4.2[22][23] (12 January 2014; 11 years ago (2014-01-12)) [±]
surf Christoph Lohmann et al. Active WebKitGTK+ C MIT License 0.7 (19 December 2015; 9 years ago (2015-12-19)[24]) [±]
uzbl Dieter Plaetinck, et al. Active WebKitGTK+ C, Python GPLv3 0.9 (February 28, 2016; 9 years ago (2016-02-28)[25]) [±]
w3m Akinori Ito et al. Unmaintained w3m C MIT License 0.5.3[26] (15 January 2011; 14 years ago (2011-01-15)) [±]
WebPositive Andrea Anzani, Ryan Leavengood, et al. Active HaikuWebkit C++ MIT License 1.1-alpha[citation needed] (15 November 2013; 11 years ago (2013-11-15)) [±]
xombrero Marco Peerboom et al. Active WebKitGTK+ C, JavaScript ISC license 1.6.3[27] (11 July 2013; 11 years ago (2013-07-11)) [±]

Operating system support

Browser BSD Haiku Linux OpenIndiana OS X OS/2 QNX RISC OS Windows Android
Arora Yes Yes Yes Yes[28] Yes Yes No No Yes ?
Dillo Yes No Yes Yes[29] Yes No No Yes[29] Cygwin[29][30] ?
ELinks Yes[31] ? Yes[31] Yes[31] Yes[31] Yes[31] No[31] Dropped[31] ? ?
K-Meleon No No No No No No No No Yes ?
Links Unofficial No Yes ? Unofficial Yes No No Yes ?
Lynx Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[32][33] Yes ?
Midori Yes No Yes Unofficial[lower-roman 1] No No No No Yes ?
NetSurf Yes[34] Yes[lower-roman 2] Yes[34] Yes[34] Yes[34] No ? Yes[36] No ?
Pale Moon Unofficial[37] No Yes No Unofficial No No No Yes Yes
QtWeb Yes Unofficial[38] Yes Unofficial[lower-roman 3] Yes No No No Yes ?
QupZilla Yes[39] Yes[39] Yes[39] No Yes[39] Yes[39] No No Yes[39] ?
rekonq Yes No Yes Unofficial[lower-roman 3] No No No No Inactive[lower-roman 4] ?
surf Yes No Yes ? ? ? ? No No ?
w3m Unofficial Unofficial Unofficial Unofficial Unofficial Inactive No No Cygwin ?
WebPositive No Yes No No No No No No No ?
xombrero Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes ?
Notes

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Features

Test scores reflect the version of the browser engine in use. Generally, a lower score indicates an older version of the browser engine.

Image formats Advanced Test scores Plug-in APIs
Browser GIF, JPEG, PNG WebP JavaScript Frames Acid3 HTML5test Netscape Pepper
Arora Yes No Yes Yes 100/100[lower-roman 5] 359/550[41] No[lower-roman 6] No
Dillo Yes No No Partial N/A[lower-roman 7] N/A[lower-roman 7] No No
ELinks No No Partial[lower-roman 8] Partial N/A[lower-roman 7] N/A[lower-roman 7] No No
K-Meleon Yes No Yes Yes 100/100[lower-roman 5] 416/555[43] Partial[44] No
Links Yes[lower-roman 9] No Partial Partial N/A[lower-roman 7] N/A[lower-roman 7] No No
Lynx No No No Partial N/A[lower-roman 7] N/A[lower-roman 7] No No
Midori Yes Yes[lower-roman 10] Yes Yes 100/100 325/555[46] Yes Yes
NetSurf Yes[47] Yes Yes Yes N/A[lower-roman 7] N/A[lower-roman 7] No[48] No
Pale Moon Yes Yes Yes Yes 95/100 408/555[49] Yes No
QtWeb Yes No Yes Yes 100/100[lower-roman 5][lower-roman 11] 234/550[50] No[lower-roman 6] No
QupZilla Yes No Yes Yes 100/100[lower-roman 5] 385/550[51] Partial No
rekonq Yes No Yes Yes 100/100[lower-roman 5] 385/555[52] No[lower-roman 6] Partial[53]
surf Yes Yes[lower-roman 10] Yes Yes 100/100[lower-roman 5] 385/500[54] Yes ?
w3m Yes[55] No Partial Yes N/A[lower-roman 7] N/A[lower-roman 7] No No
WebPositive Yes No Yes Yes 96/100[lower-roman 5] 253/500[56] No No
xombrero Yes Yes[lower-roman 10] Yes Yes 100/100 385/500[57] Yes ?
Notes

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See also

References

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Further reading

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.


  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 39.3 39.4 39.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ https://html5test.com/s/553a452871cce107.html
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Midori_(web_browser)#HTML5_score
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.


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