When comparing Qutebrowser vs Iridium Browser, the Slant community recommends Iridium Browser for most people. In the question“What are the best desktop web browsers?” Iridium Browser is ranked 13th while Qutebrowser is ranked 17th. The most important reason people chose Iridium Browser is:
* Disable "Use a web service to help resolve navigation errors" * Disable autocomplete through prediction service when typing in Omnibox * Always send "Do-Not-Track" header * Network/DNS prediction is disabled by default * Block third-party cookies by default * Link auditing (<a ping="...">) is disabled by default * Fetch plugins list from iridiumbrowser.de where it will be updated regularly * Site data (cookies, local storage, etc.) is only kept until exit, by default * Passwords are not stored by default * Input form autofill is disabled by default * For IPv6 probes, use a DNS root server instead of Google * The default search provider is Qwant * Load "about:blank" on new tabs instead of the currently set search engine and/or promotions. * Don't report Safe Browsing overrides. * Don't use autofill download service. * Disable cookies for safebrowsing background requests. * Disable the battery status API.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Vim-style keyboard shortcuts and commands for rapid navigation
With suggestions/auto-complete to reduce the learning curve.
Pro Fast and light on resource usage
Pro Highly customizable
And quite easy to configure. You can even write your own config.
Pro Great for Privacy
Makes no unexpected network requests by default, unlike most other browsers (Chrome, Chromium, Brave, Firefox, etc).
Pro Userscripts
Call custom scripts on web pages or links (hinting mode).
You can use this for downloading of videos (youtube-dl, adfree), saving web pages as pdf or adding news sources to your RSS reader (newsboat).
Pro Privacy enhancements over Chromium
- Disable "Use a web service to help resolve navigation errors"
- Disable autocomplete through prediction service when typing in Omnibox
- Always send "Do-Not-Track" header
- Network/DNS prediction is disabled by default
- Block third-party cookies by default
- Link auditing (<a ping="...">) is disabled by default
- Fetch plugins list from iridiumbrowser.de where it will be updated regularly
- Site data (cookies, local storage, etc.) is only kept until exit, by default
- Passwords are not stored by default
- Input form autofill is disabled by default
- For IPv6 probes, use a DNS root server instead of Google
- The default search provider is Qwant
- Load "about:blank" on new tabs instead of the currently set search engine and/or promotions.
- Don't report Safe Browsing overrides.
- Don't use autofill download service.
- Disable cookies for safebrowsing background requests.
- Disable the battery status API.
Pro Lots of extensions available
Due to access to the Chrome Web store.
Pro Extensions are updated manually
They won't update automatically in the background.
Pro BSD license
You are in control and you can do almost anything with the code.
Pro Simple installation
Provides installers and packages for the most operating systems and linux distributions.
Pro Security improvements over Chromium
- Increase RSA keysize to 2048 bits for self-signed certificates (used by WebRTC)
- Generate a new WebRTC identity for each connection instead of reusing identities for 30 days
- Generate a new ECDHE keypair for each WebRTC connection instead of reusing them for multiple connections
- Disable using system-provided plugins (i.e. Java, Flash, etc.)
Pro Fast
It is fast since all background services have been disabled or removed.
Pro Disabled features
- Disable background mode
- Disable EV certificates, so they are shown just like "normal" certificates
- Disable Google cloud printing
- Disable Google hot word detection
- Disable Google experiments status check
- Disable Google translation service
- Disable Google promotion fetching
- Disable Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) status check
- Disable Google Now
- Disable automatic update check
- Disable profile-import on first run
Pro Based on Chromium
Supports all the modern web features.
Cons
Con Software rendering only with Nouveau Drivers
Con Steep learning curve
If you're not a vim user, it will take some time to get used to the shortcuts.
Con Slow
As it is mainly written in Python, it's startup is slower than the competition.
Con Requires additional support and plugins for video playback
Con Slow updates
Since the whole Chromium Release need to be scanned, PC users may wait half a year while the Chrome base gets updated five or six iterations.
Con Buggy
Sometimes, removing extensions won't work. Some websites downright refuse to load, no matter the settings.
Con Extensions MUST be updated manually
Con Poor debian support
current versions miss support for debian-based distributions which is by far the most widely used group of linux distributions.
Con Definitive unique browsing-fingerprint
Con Google Safebrowsing enabled by default
Con Based on Chromium
Since iridium is based off chrome, it is depend on all of Google's decisions.
