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Best Secure Browsers To Protect Your Privacy and Stay Safe

A secure browser that protects your privacy is an essential tool for staying safe online and protecting your data from third parties. 

Unless properly configured, most browsers contain large amounts of private information that can potentially be exploited - or simply collected - by various third parties:
  • Browsing history: all the websites you visit
  • Login credentials: usernames and passwords
  • Cookies and trackers: these are placed on your browser by the sites you visit
  • Autofill information: names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.
And even with a locked and strengthened browser, there can still be exploits that reveal your data and your potential identity. We discuss these issues (and solutions) in our guides on browser fingerprints and WebRTC leaks.

Secure Browsers That Protect Your Privacy

In this section, we will examine the best browsers based on two main factors:ct your privacy
  • Security: How well does the browser protect you from hackers, vulnerabilities, and online exploits?
  • Privacy: How much data is the browser itself collecting about you and who is this data being shared with? How does the browser protect your privacy?
Conflicting opinions! As with Tor, opinions on browser privacy and security can be very divergent and controversial. 

This guide is not intended to sell everyone on a browser that beats everyone else. Rather, it is a summary of information about different web browsers that work well in terms of privacy and security. Choose the best browser for you based on your own needs and your threat model.

So here are the most secure and private browsers:

Tor Browser

The Tor Browser has been designed to provide secure access to the Tor anonymity network. The Tor browser is based on Firefox but with additional security features.

Key features include:

  • Uses HTTPS Everywhere and NoScript (all scripts disabled by default) plugins
  • Blocks other browser plugins such as Flash, RealPlayer, and QuickTime
  • Uses Disconnect.me as its default search engine
  • Always uses Private Browsing mode (tracking protection, no browsing history, passwords, search history, cookies or cached web content saved)

Pale Moon browser

Pale Moon is a lightweight and highly customizable open-source fork of Firefox. Unlike Waterfox, its code has completely separated from Firefox. 

It is compatible with many, but not all, classic Firefox add-ons. It is not compatible with the new Firefox WebExtensions add-ons, but it does have a growing library of add-ons that have been rebuilt specifically for Pale Moon. 

Much of Pale Moon has been updated with code from newer versions of Firefox, but its user interface remains the highly customizable XUL-based front end seen for the last time in Firefox 28. This includes support for a wide range of themes and custom skins. 

Pale Moon does not offer "special privacy features" as such, but it does not contain questionable and privacy-invasive software included in other traditional browsers. 

Some users say it is late with security updates, but it is very unfair. It can take up to a week before Mozilla allows Pale Moon developers to access its latest patches, but these are always implemented as soon as possible and are always up to date. 

Pale Moon is available for Windows and Linux.

Brave Browser

Brave is a fast, secure, and privacy-focused Chromium-based browser by default. It has a built-in ad blocker and browser fingerprint protection. The main developer behind Brave is Brandon Eich, who previously worked for Mozilla. For out-of-the-box privacy and security, Brave is a decent option. 

Like Iridium, Brave is based on Chromium open source but configured for confidentiality. It works well with its default privacy settings and additional functionality. Here is a brief overview:
  • Blocks ads and trackers by default
  • Protects against browser fingerprinting
  • Built-in script blocker
  • Automatically upgrades to HTTPS (HTTPS Everywhere)
Brave now has ads - Despite blocking ads in the browser, Brave officially launched its own ad program in April 2019. The ads will be verified by Brave and there is a revenue-sharing model for users or certain websites to getting a percentage of the revenue. Some have called this decision hypocritical for a browser to be "confidential" when deploying an advertising program - but that is not too surprising either. 

While Brave may have mixed views in the privacy community, it does offer basic, out-of-the-box privacy. This is especially useful for people who don't want to tinker with about: configuration settings. Download it and you're good to go.

Firefox

Firefox is an excellent, versatile browser for privacy and security. It offers strong privacy protection features, numerous customization options, excellent security, and regular updates with an active development team. The latest version of Firefox is fast and light with many options for customizing privacy.

Ready to use, Firefox is not the best for privacy, but it can be customized and enhanced, as explained in my guide to Firefox privacy changes. Make sure to disable telemetry in Firefox, which is a feature that will collect "technical and interaction data" as well as "install and run studies" in your browser.

Ready to use, Firefox is not the best for privacy, but it can be customized and enhanced, as explained in my guide to Firefox privacy changes. Make sure to disable telemetry in Firefox, which is a feature that will collect "technical and interaction data" as well as "install and run studies" in your browser.

In the privacy and security settings area, there are many useful customization options for different levels of privacy: standard, strict, or custom.

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