When comparing Lynx vs Waterfox, the Slant community recommends Lynx for most people. In the question“What are the best web browsers for UNIX-like systems?” Lynx is ranked 14th while Waterfox is ranked 19th. The most important reason people chose Lynx is:
Being a text-only browser that runs inside the terminal makes Lynx very lightweight and minimal since it doesn't need much resources to run and too many things to render (pictures, videos etc...).
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Lightweight
Being a text-only browser that runs inside the terminal makes Lynx very lightweight and minimal since it doesn't need much resources to run and too many things to render (pictures, videos etc...).
Pro Useful for web developers
Since lynx does not load images or any graphical content (just like crawlers) one of these could be to test their website and see how search engine crawlers 'see' each page. Lynx can be used by web developers to test their websites for different reasons and applications.
Pro Get up-to-date web info for other apps like e.g. conky
Since lynx is a command line application, it might not be for every one. But for the curious it is a must-have tool. Have a conky? And you want some specific info in there that really matters to you? Well, let lynx to scrap it (anonymously) of the web for you. Stock quotes and exchange rates every couple of minutes in your conky? Sure you can! Just create your custom bash script to let lynx scrap it of the page of your choice and let it work with sed, grep and awk for example. What do you have to loose? ;)
Pro Useful in case of an UI failure
In case the UI, graphics driver or shell crashes you can still use lynx.
Pro Fast
Even faster than firefox.
Pro Offers excellent privacy
Does not phone home.
Pro Never ever freezes
Highly reliable.
Pro Works with Firefox addons
Firefox 56 add-ons compatibility, including unsigned XUL extensions and complete themes.
Pro Less bloated than Firefox
Pocket, telemetry, data collection, startup profiling is removed.
Pro Extremely customizable
It has almost every setting imaginable.
Pro Multiple add-on support
Pro Works with major streaming services
Includes widevine plugin and suitable user agent for viewing major streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Video.
Cons
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.
Con Lag, lag, lag, freeze, freeze, freeze
Need to do something about it.
Con Owned by an advertising company
The same company that bought Startpage/ Ixquick, System 1. This is a company that gathers information about what you look at and do, analyzes and profiles you, and then sells it off to third parties.
Con Goodish, but still bad
Removes crap from FF, but doesn't offer anything you can't already do in FF. Also, doesn't help they are owned by an ad tech, System1.