Which browser uses the least RAM 2024

browser-least-ram

Popular internet browsers are known to use a lot of RAM. However, this is the reason why most users are interested in knowing which browser is using the least memory. But using less memory doesn’t make it the best browser. In this article, we took a look at which popular browsers like Opera, Firefox, Edge, and Chrome, among others, use the least memory.

Until a few years ago, there were almost no web browser options other than Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox. But there are quite a few web browsers on the browser list these days, and they all have their good and bad points. Among these differences, how much resources they use and how fast they load web pages are especially important in terms of RAM usage.

Which Browser Uses the Least RAM?

In our 2023 test, all browsers were the latest versions at the time the video was taken, with no extensions or plug-ins installed and no user login. Also, the cache has been cleared so that browser caches are not disabled. The operating system used was Windows 11 64-bit and the screenshots were taken when all 6 websites were fully loaded and left to settle. Each open tab was then visited in turn and the maximum CPU usage was noted.

Within the scope of the test, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, Brave, Maxthon and Yandex browsers were evaluated. The computer on which the study was carried out has 64GB of RAM. Note that this is not a comprehensive test and is meant to show the resources each browser uses when visiting a number of public websites with multiple tabs open. The 6 selected websites are a selection of pages that the average person can visit during a browsing session. List of visited pages: Kartal 24, Amazon, Engadget, YouTube, Google News, Steam.

The best browsers in multi-tab were Yandex, Firefox and Edge, while the best browsers in less tabs were Edge, Yandex and Brave. The ranking below is based on average experience based on RAM usage.

1. Microsoft Edge

edge

We appreciated that Microsoft managed to provide a very fast experience by creating a browser integrated with Windows. The browser is coming with more features this year.

  • Did the RAM usage go above 1GB? -> No.
  • Max RAM usage for a blank tab: 168 Mb
  • Max RAM usage for 6 tabs: 757 Mb

2. Mozilla Firefox

firefox

Firefox is in a better place in terms of RAM usage than last year. He was last in our video last year. He’s in a better position this year.

  • Did the RAM usage go above 1GB? -> No.
  • Max RAM usage for a blank tab: 209 Mb
  • Max RAM usage for 6 tabs: 720 Mb

3. Brave

brave browser

Brave has become popular lately. The way it handles many tabs is like Vivaldi, but it is one of the best browsers to handle few tabs.

  • Did the RAM usage go above 1GB? -> No.
  • Max RAM usage for a blank tab: 203 Mb
  • Max RAM usage for 6 tabs: 750 Mb

4. Yandex

yandex browser

We included Yandex browser for the first time this year. Yandex’s browser has been really light this year. It performed very well in terms of RAM usage.

  • Did the RAM usage go above 1GB? -> No.
  • Max RAM usage for a blank tab: 175 Mb
  • Max RAM usage for 6 tabs: 714 Mb

5. Maxthon

maxthon

Maxthon is known to be a lightweight browser and although it hasn’t been very popular lately, it does a good job.

  • Did the RAM usage go above 1GB? -> No.
  • Max RAM usage for a blank tab: 254 Mb
  • Max RAM usage for 6 tabs: 893 Mb

6. Opera Browser

opera

Although Opera ranked 2nd on this list last year, this year it came close to Chrome. Opera has done a bad job this year in terms of memory usage. We hope to see a better Opera next year.

  • Did the RAM usage go above 1GB? -> No.
  • Max RAM usage for a blank tab: 268 Mb
  • Max RAM usage for 6 tabs: 907 Mb

7. Vivaldi

vivaldi

When Vivaldi was first released, it focused on keeping multiple tabs well organized. However, it cannot enter the top 3 on this list. Still, it’s one of those browsers that handles multi-tab well.

  • Did the RAM usage go above 1GB? -> No.
  • Max RAM usage for a blank tab: 287 Mb
  • Max RAM usage for 6 tabs: 746 Mb

8. Google Chrome

chrome

Chrome in this list, with the title of being a browser with a high usage in terms of RAM usage, failed in this year’s test as it did last year. We wish Chrome was lighter.

  • Did the RAM usage go above 1GB? -> Yes.
  • Max RAM usage for a blank tab: 475 Mb
  • Max RAM usage for 6 tabs: 1,175 Mb