Brave Browser

Brave is a free, open-source browser built on Chromium, the same engine that powers Chrome, with one idea at the center: block the ads and trackers by default instead of asking you to install an extension. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, with companion apps for Android and iOS, and it is published by Brave Software, the company Brendan Eich co-founded in 2015 after leaving Mozilla.

The ad blocking, called Brave Shields, works at the network level, so pages load without banner ads, video pre-rolls, third-party trackers and fingerprinting scripts. Because the browser never downloads most of that junk in the first place, pages render noticeably faster and mobile data lasts longer. Shields also upgrades connections to HTTPS where possible and randomizes the fingerprint your device presents to sites.

Compatibility is the quiet advantage of the Chromium base. Nearly every Chrome Web Store extension installs and works, Chrome's developer tools are all there, and sites that struggle in more unusual browsers behave normally. Brave adds its own pieces on top: private windows that route traffic through the Tor network for stronger anonymity, and an optional sync system that links your devices through a sync chain instead of an email account and password.

Brave Rewards is the part people either love or disable. When turned on, it shows privacy-respecting ads as system notifications and pays you a share of the revenue in Basic Attention Tokens, which you can keep, cash out or auto-contribute to sites you visit. It is off by default. Brave Search, an independent index rather than a Google or Bing wrapper, is the default search engine in new installs, and you can switch providers in seconds. Optional paid extras, like Brave VPN, exist but are never required, and the browser itself costs nothing.

The downsides are real but manageable. Aggressive blocking occasionally breaks a site, and the fix is clicking the lion icon in the address bar and lowering Shields for that domain. The crypto-themed features add interface clutter until you turn them off, and Brave is a smaller company than Google or Mozilla, shipping on its own schedule with its own priorities.

If you want Chrome's compatibility without Google's data collection, Brave is the shortest path there, and the one that asks the fewest compromises in return.

A note on the numbers: 9.3M is a minimum, counted across the 1,000 most recent GitHub releases in all channels; it is not a historical total, does not include downloads from other channels, and does not represent unique users.