In my mother’s school library, I opened the gateway to the internet, a browser, for the very first time. Back then, it was Netscape Navigator, which later lost the browser war to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. It’s only thanks to its successor, Mozilla Firefox, that we had more than one browser to choose from afterward.
But Internet Explorer was never a good browser, and so Firefox gained more and more market share, at least in Germany and Europe. Other browsers also emerged, some based on Internet Explorer or Firefox, but some completely independent, like the Opera browser. And then came Google Chrome. A browser that was technically far superior to the two top dogs. Faster, more modern, with directly integrated Google services, and expandable with many plugins. Thus, it quickly conquered the market, partly through aggressive marketing by Google, and is now the most used browser.
The internet became more complex, and accordingly, the demands on the core of browsers—the conversion of data into a rendered webpage—have become increasingly complex. So complex, in fact, that first Opera and now even Microsoft have switched to Google’s Blink rendering engine. Since it’s open-source, it can be used freely. This made the third browser generation possible. Microsoft buried Internet Explorer and replaced it with the Edge browser, Brave focuses on privacy and Web 3.0, and with Vivaldi, we got a highly customizable browser. But all of these examples are built on Google’s Chromium project, which has further strengthened Google’s influence on the development of the internet. The only remaining counterweights are Mozilla Firefox with its Gecko engine and the Apple-exclusive Safari with its WebKit engine, which was the foundation for Blink. However, both browsers have low market shares; Firefox is kept alive by Google, and Safari by its integration into iOS on iPhones.
At the beginning of the year, I noticed that something was stirring in the browser market again. On one hand, AIs are offering new possibilities; on the other, Google has pushed through some controversial changes in Chromium. Enough of the long introduction—which browsers want to conquer our hard drives?
The Fourth Browser Generation
The web needs new approaches
Arc Browser
The most well-known newcomer is probably the Arc Browser. A browser that focuses entirely on AI and aims to push classic browsing into the background. The design is minimalist, the operation is fast with keyboard shortcuts, and both browsing and resource consumption are supported by AI functions. Under the hood, it runs on Chromium, which means the browser can also use Google Chrome extensions.
Personally, I find the approach exciting, but ultimately not as revolutionary as advertised. The AI features are nice, but are now also available in other browsers or can be added via extensions. Only the user interface concept is new, refreshing, and consistent. However, Arc couldn’t win me over in the long run.
The browser is available on macOS and Windows for desktop systems and, disguised as a search engine app, on iOS and Android (Beta).
Zen Browser
Surprisingly, a new browser based on Firefox. The interface is heavily modified and customizable. Privacy and minimalism are the motto, which is why no unnecessary features are included. They can be installed as needed via Firefox extensions or the Zen Store.
I really like the sleek design, especially the thin vertical tab bar, and the easy way to use profiles and workspaces. A thin tab bar on the left, the address bar hidden when not in use—that’s exactly the layout I’ve always wanted. Full focus on what the browser is actually for: displaying web pages. On Linux, Zen is currently my main browser, but unfortunately, it lacks the licenses to play DRM-protected content.
The Zen Browser can be used on macOS, Windows, and Linux. There are currently no mobile versions, but Firefox for smartphones can be used via Firefox Sync.
Orion Browser
The last one in the group, at least for me, is the Orion Browser. Developed by Kagi, the company behind my current search engine, the browser fully relies on Safari’s WebKit engine. In doing so, the browser takes privacy much further than Apple does. Nevertheless, the browser is highly customizable and almost as minimalist as the Zen Browser. Workspaces here are windows, but otherwise, the differences in concepts are quite small.
A special highlight is definitely the consistent privacy protection; even Kagi receives no data from the browser. Another highlight is the ability to use extensions from both Firefox and Chrome. However, you can tell the browser is still in development. The other browsers have a head start here, especially in terms of stability. But the open development process and its rather high speed are exciting.
The elephant in the room, however, is availability. Since the browser is based on WebKit, it is currently only available for macOS and iOS/iPadOS. No version for Windows, none for Linux, none for Android. At least for the foreseeable future, the team is too small to support multiple operating systems. So, synchronization is also only available within the Apple ecosystem. Orion solves this without a provider account via iCloud. Other platforms are being considered and are actually desired, but there isn’t enough staff to bring the browser to more platforms.
Conclusion
More diversity and new ideas
I’m someone who tries out pretty much every new browser, but in the end, I always return to the red panda. That return seems to be a thing of the past, thanks to the Zen Browser. Apart from the lack of DRM support, it’s the better Firefox. Chrome and its derivatives have never been able to convince me. Arc from The Browser Company has interesting approaches, but it won’t get me to switch to Chromium. On one hand, I’m not an AI fan; on the other, the AI features in the Arc Browser aren’t really useful to me.
In the end, however, my favorite is the Orion Browser. It’s my new default browser on my iPhone and my work MacBook. Fast, clean, expandable, plus maximum privacy—so much so that the manufacturer, Kagi, doesn’t even know how many users the browser has. The vertical tab bar allows for nested tabs, there are workspaces, and otherwise, the browser stays pleasantly in the background. It is what it’s supposed to be: The gateway to the internet. Nothing more, nothing less.