When comparing w3m vs elinks, the Slant community recommends elinks for most people. In the question“What are the best web browsers for UNIX-like systems?” elinks is ranked 23rd while w3m is ranked 25th. The most important reason people chose elinks is:
Elinks supports tabs and tabbed navigation.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Support for several elements not found in terminal browsers
Although w3m is primarily a text-based web browser which runs inside the terminal, it supports and renders several elements which other terminal-based browsers cannot like images, tables, tabs or frames.
Pro Available as emacs plugin
W3m can also be downloaded as an emacs plugins to be used as a fast web browser that runs inside emacs.
Pro Supports tabs
Elinks supports tabs and tabbed navigation.
Cons
Con Steep learning curve
Being a terminal web browser w3m has a certain learning curve because you need to learn the keystrokes and different commands.
Con Text-based only
Lynx is a text-based only web browser and it's the oldest browser still in use. Being text-only, it's not very useful anymore outside some niche use cases.