When comparing Ungoogled Chromium vs GNU IceCat, the Slant community recommends Ungoogled Chromium for most people. In the question“What are the most secure desktop web browsers?” Ungoogled Chromium is ranked 1st while GNU IceCat is ranked 11th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro No telemetry
Pro Free software
100% Open Source and Libre.
Pro Amazing UI
Very clean and slick UI.
Pro All the benefits of Firefox, but with 100% free software
Pro LibreJS
LibreJS blocks proprietary JavaScript code, ensuring your user freedom.
Pro Protects your freedom, certified free by the FSF
Pro Extra security and privacy features
Pro Made by idealists
It is part of the GNU Project.
Pro No spyware
Pro Https-Everywhere by default
Pro SpyBlock
Blocks privacy trackers.
Cons
Con Few independent devs fighting the good fight
Although their work is to be fully commended, it can not be ignored that the devs of ungoogled Chromium are doing a massive task, and TBH waste their time while doing it. They're up against mega corp Google, reversing all the questionable stuff Google puts in Chrome to make them money. So David and Goliath, or a few devs in their spare time against "CyberDyne" if you will. So continuity might be an issue with ungoogled Chromium. Will it be up-to-date? Will it survive to see another day? Will the devs loose interest? The answer will most likely depend on your (previous) experience and scepticism.
Con Sometimes outdated
Con Still contains telementery
Default home page is telementery, and most websites are enabled by google.
Con Some websites think it is Chrome 80
As of today, many sites, like login.iready.com , might mislabel the browser as chrome.
Con Uses blink V8 turbo
It a old blink fork that is made up by nicwow.
Con Chrome clone
Ungoogled Chromium is a clone of Chrome, and since clone browsers are behind in updates giving a huge security risk, browsers like Tuga browser and Ungoogled Chromium should be avoided.
Con Uses a fake browser engine
Con Looks proprietary
Ungoogled Chromium is not that open source, but it might be closed source for windows 8.1 and below.
Con Difficult to install
Con Mostly just a customized Chromium build
Not much new here as many of chromiums features can be enabled or turned off with build flags.
Con Dependent on Google
Does not free you from big corpo.
Con Too much bloat
The browser comes with 15 addons installed by default, most of which are useless or ruin one's browsing experience.
Con Mainly just an old Firefox
It is mainly a renamend older version of Firefox that comes preinstalled with some extensions.
Con Not up to date
Latest binary is still version 60.7 ESR and was last updated over a year ago
Con Requires too much unnecessary configuration to use
You have to manually delete all the bloated addons from your files (only for them to show up again when the browser is updated) and manually install some addons and themes that the browser labels as "corrupt".
Con Very slow boot time
It takes 10+ seconds for the browser to load up
Con Can't install some Firefox themes/addons
"Installation aborted because the addon appears to be corrupt".
Con Includes LibreJS by default with no way to remove it
Con Very slow boot time
It takes 10+ seconds for the browser to load up
Con Dependent on Mozilla
Since IceCat is based off Firefox, it's dependent on all of Mozilla's decisions.
Con Made by idealists
It is part of the GNU Project.