Nowadays, there are numerous desktop browsers available, with some of the most popular ones being Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Safari (for macOS users), Opera, and more. Browsers have become integral to daily activities like web browsing, researching, streaming, and working. Your choice of a browser significantly influences your online experience. So, what browser do you rely on daily, and is it time to consider switching to another one?
To understand user preferences, let’s look at the desktop browser market share worldwide for 2024 (January to December), as reported by Statcounter Global Stats:
While it’s too extensive to cover every browser in one blog post, today I’ll focus on the top two contenders: Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Reviews of other browsers will follow in future posts.
Google Chrome: Leading the Pack
According to the data, Google Chrome remains the undisputed leader in the desktop browser market, with over 65% of users worldwide relying on it for their browsing needs. Chrome’s widespread popularity can be attributed to its speed, seamless integration with Google services, and extensive extension library.
Microsoft Edge: A Distant Second
Microsoft Edge holds the second position with a market share of just over 13%. Despite its position as runner-up, Edge is far behind Chrome, with a nearly 52% gap. This disparity highlights Chrome’s massive user base, brand loyalty, and dominance. However, Edge has been steadily growing, offering unique features and optimizations, especially for Windows users.
In the sections that follow, I will break down and compare Chrome and Edge in terms of interface, performance, features, security & privacy, extensions and cross-platform syncing. Is Chrome’s dominance still justified, or could Edge be the better alternative moving into 2025 and beyond?
1. Introduction
Both browsers are designed not only for speed and security but also to cater to users across multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, making them versatile and accessible to a wide audience.
Read on to discover the key features, strengths, and differences between Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge to help you choose the browser that best suits your needs.
Google Chrome
Developed by Google and launched in 2008, Chrome quickly became one of the most popular web browsers worldwide. Its success is attributed to its speed, simplicity, and seamless integration with Google’s extensive ecosystem of services. With tight integration into tools like Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Docs, Chrome offers a highly efficient experience for users embedded in the Google ecosystem.
- Large Extension Library
- Google Ecosystem Integration
- Better Cross-Platform Syncing
- Best Familiarity and Market Share
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge, developed by Microsoft, was initially launched in 2015 as part of Windows 10. Originally based on Microsoft’s proprietary engine, Edge underwent a major transformation in 2020, adopting the open-source Chromium engine—the same foundation that powers Google Chrome.
Edge integrates seamlessly with the Windows operating system, offering features like Cortana support, enhanced privacy tools, and synchronization across devices using a Microsoft account. Additionally, Edge stands out for its integration with Microsoft productivity tools such as Office 365 and OneDrive, making it a compelling choice for users deeply invested in the Microsoft ecosystem.
- Better Privacy and Security
- Rich built-in Features
- Performance Efficiency
- Microsoft Ecosystem Integration
- Bing AI and Sidebar Integration
2. User Interface & Customization
Actually the default user interfaces of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge share many similarities, emphasizing simplicity and intuitive design. Both browsers prioritize functionality with an uncluttered layout dominated by tabs and an address/search bar.
Both browsers feature a tab-based navigation system at the top, enabling users to open and manage multiple pages within a single window. Tabs can be easily rearranged by dragging them to new positions.
The address bar in both browsers integrates search functionality, allowing users to type URLs or search queries in the same space. This streamlined approach makes navigation faster and more efficient.
Commonly used features like the bookmarks bar (located below the address bar for quick access to favorite sites) and the three-dot menu (at the top-right corner for accessing history, downloads, browser settings, etc.) are easy to locate in both browsers.
Both browsers feature default new tab pages that include a central search bar, shortcuts to frequently visited websites, and options for customizable backgrounds. Google Chrome uses Google as its default search engine, while Microsoft Edge defaults to Bing. Of course, you can change the default search engine in the browser settings.
- Google Chrome:
Settings > Search Engine > Change Your Default Search Engine
- Microsoft Edge:
Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Scroll Services section > Address bar and search > Change Your Default Search Engine
Please note that:
Google Chrome defaults to Google Search for the address bar and new tab page. When you switch the default search engine (e.g., to Microsoft Bing), the new tab page design automatically updates to reflect the new engine.
Microsoft Edge uses Bing as its default search engine, and even if you switch to another search engine, the new tab page remains Bing-centric. Customizing this experience requires third-party extensions.
Pinning Tabs & Tab Grouping & Vertical Tab
Both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge support the pin tab feature, allowing users to keep tabs stay open and are saved in the current browsing session, even after restarting the browser.
Tab grouping allows you to organize multiple open tabs into labeled and color-coded groups for better management. This feature enhances efficiency by enabling you to quickly find and switch between tabs within a group, eliminating the need to scroll through a long list of open tabs.
Both browsers support tab grouping, making it easy to keep your tabs organized and even save them for future sessions. There is no significant difference in tab grouping functionality between the two browsers.
When opening a large number of tabs in a horizontal view, you may encounter issues like cramped tab spacing, making it difficult to identify or track specific tabs on a crowded tab bar.
Vertical tabs solve this problem by displaying tabs in a vertical list along the side of the browser. This layout increases visibility and makes it easier to view and manage multiple tabs at once.
Microsoft Edge supports vertical tabs, allowing users to switch from the traditional horizontal tab bar at the top to a vertical layout on the left side of the screen. With this feature, you can scroll through your tabs in an organized list, making navigation more seamless and efficient.
Google Chrome does not natively support a vertical tab design. However, Chrome provides a dropdown icon that displays a list of all open tabs, allowing you to quickly navigate through them. This dropdown also includes access to recently closed tabs, offering a convenient way to revisit tabs from previous sessions.
Browser Appearance Customization
Browser customization is an important factor for users who want to personalize their browsing experience to suit their needs or preferences. After comparing the customization options of both browsers, it’s clear that Microsoft Edge offers more advanced built-in customization features than Google Chrome. While Chrome focuses on a sleek and simple design, providing basic customization options, users seeking more advanced customization will need to rely on third-party extensions.
Both browsers offer essential customization options such as dark/light mode, color themes, background images on the new tab page, and toolbar customization. For most users, Chrome’s basic customization is sufficient.
However, Edge goes beyond the basics by offering more advanced customization options. In addition to the standard features, Edge allows users to further personalize their new tab page, including the ability to display widget content and a news feed powered by MSN.
In contrast, Google Chrome does not have a built-in news feed feature. To access news content, users must install news-related extensions or visit Google News externally.
Below I highlight the strengths and weaknesses of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge in terms of User Interface & Customization:
| Feature | Google Chrome | Microsoft Edge |
| Default User Interface Design | ✅ Sleek, simple, and minimalist | ✅ Clean, modern, and easy to navigate |
| Basic Customization Options (Dark/light mode, color themes, background, font customization) | ✅ Support | ✅ Support |
| Toolbar Customization | ❌ Limited | ✅ More extensive toolbar customization |
| Advanced Customization | ❌ Requires third-party extensions | ✅ Built-in advanced features (e.g., MSN news feed, widgets) |
| Vertical Tabs Design | ❌ Not support | ✅ Support |
Both browsers are user-friendly and adaptable, but your choice will depend on whether you prioritize an advanced, feature-rich interface (Edge) or a clean, streamlined design (Chrome).
3. Features and Usability
Features and usability of a browser are among the most important aspects that make it stand out from others. Let’s see the differences in their capabilities, tools, and features that make them competitive with each other.
Translate Integration
Both browsers provide built-in translation capabilities, with Chrome integrating Google Translate and Edge using Microsoft Translator. As of 2024, Google Translate supports approximately 133 languages, while Microsoft Translator offers around 176 languages.
The translator icon is easily accessible in both browsers. Chrome allows users to customize the toolbar by adding the translation feature at the top bar. Meanwhile, Edge automatically displays the translator icon in the top address bar and prompts users to translate the page when visiting content in a foreign language that doesn’t match their preferred language settings.
In terms of translation speed (within one seconds) and accuracy, both services perform similarly for major languages. Below are whole page translation examples in both browsers when I visited a Spanish daily newspaper website and converted the pages to English.
Full Page Translation on Google Chrome:
Full Page Translation on Microsoft Edge:
Instead of translating an entire page, you can translate specific phrases by highlighting the content and right-clicking to translate.
In Google Chrome, the translation appears in a pop-up window, allowing you to view the original and translated text side by side.
In contrast, Microsoft Edge directly replaces the highlighted phrase with the translated content within the article itself, creating a more seamless reading experience.
From a visual perspective, Microsoft Edge offers a more user-friendly approach when navigating multilingual pages compared to Chrome.”
| Feature | Google Chrome | Microsoft Edge |
| Ease of Use | ✅ Translate button available on the toolbar | ✅ Automatically shows translate button on the address bar and prompts to translate pages |
| Supported Languages | Over 130 | ✅ Over 170 |
| Accuracy | ✅ Highly accurate for common languages | Comparable accuracy for major languages; weaker for rare languages |
| Phrase Translation | Displays a popup with the translated phrase | ✅ Replaces highlighted text directly within the content |
Reading Features
Reading content online occupies a significant portion of browsing time, making it essential to focus on features that enhance readability. A good reading mode eliminates ads, navigation bars, sidebars, and other unnecessary elements, providing a clean and distraction-free space to focus on the content.
To enable Chrome’s reading mode, go to the appearance settings and toggle on the “Reading Mode” tool. This will add the reading mode option to your toolbar for easy access.
For example, when browsing Forbes.com, activating Chrome’s reading mode opens a side-by-side reading view that focuses solely on the written content. It removes ads, navigation bars, and webpage layouts, offering a cleaner reading experience.
In this mode, you can customize font type and size, theme, line spacing and word spacing to tailor the reading experience to your preferences for better readability.
In Microsoft Edge, the Immersive Reader is accessible by clicking the three-dot icon at the left end of the address bar.
Unlike Chrome’s side-by-side view, Edge’s immersive reader transforms the entire webpage into a simplified reading layout while keeping relevant images embedded within the content. Edge offers more advanced customization and usability features compared to Chrome.
Edge allows users to translate the entire page into other languages effortlessly and includes a Read Aloud function to narrate the content for enhanced accessibility and multitasking.
Example: Translate the entire page from English into French language.
Note: Not all languages are supported in Immersive Reader. For a complete list of supported languages and products, please refer to Languages and Products Supported by Immersive Reader – Microsoft Support.
| Feature | Google Chrome (Reading Mode) | Microsoft Edge (Immersive Reader) |
| Content Display Layout | Side-by-side reading view | ✅ Full-page simplified layout |
| Image Elements | ❌ Excludes images | ✅ Retains images within the content |
| Text Customization | Basic | ✅ Advanced |
| Translation | ❌ Not available | ✅ Translate full pages into other language |
| Text-to-Speech | ❌ Not available | ✅ Built-in Read Aloud with adjustable speed and voice selection. |
Both Chrome and Edge provide valuable reading features, but Edge Immersive Reader stands out with its advanced customization, translation options, and read-aloud functionality.
PDF Viewing and Editing
When comparing PDF viewing and editing, Edge clearly outshines Chrome. While both browsers support basic viewing functionalities, Edge goes a step further by including built-in editing features such as pen drawing for signatures, adding text to fill forms, and highlighting tools for reading content—features that Chrome lacks.
Chrome requires extensions to enable PDF editing capabilities. This reliance on third-party tools can slow down the browser and make opening files less efficient. Chrome’s PDF viewer is straightforward but limited in functionality.
Edge’s built-in PDF viewer efficiently handles large files, maintaining smooth performance even with big or complex documents. For users who frequently open and edit PDFs, Edge is the better choice, offering a seamless and productive experience.
| Feature | Google Chrome | Microsoft Edge |
| PDF Editing | ❌ Requires extensions for editing features | ✅ Built-in PDF editing tools |
| File Handling Efficiency | ❌ Slower with large or complex files | ✅ Faster and more efficient with large files |
4. Performance
For me, performance is the most important aspect that indicates how good a browser is. Nobody wants a slow, resource-heavy browser that negatively impacts productivity and efficiency. In this section, I will compare the performance of both browsers in terms of webpage loading speed, resource usage, and battery efficiency.
Web Page Load Speed
To ensure the results are fair and accurate, I will use the same Wi-Fi connection and test with new web pages that I have not visited before. Before testing, I will clear the cache and cookies in both browsers to prevent cached results from affecting the outcomes.
To test loading speed, which refers to how long it takes for a page to fully load, I will observe the Page Load Time in both browsers as the key speed indicator. Below is an example of how I measure the loading time of a webpage
I will test multiple different web pages and calculate the average results to make a comprehensive comparison.
The websites I tested reflect the first-visit loading speeds, as the browser cache was cleared beforehand. After calculating the average results, Chrome achieved a loading time of 1.80 seconds, while Edge came in at 1.94 seconds. While Chrome is slightly faster on average, the difference of 0.14 seconds is minimal and unlikely to have a noticeable impact on user experience.
Resource Usage
Next, I will compare resource usage in both browsers. Resource usage is a crucial criterion because high usage can slow down your computer, especially if it has limited RAM or an older CPU. An efficient browser ensures smooth multitasking, conserves battery life, and, most importantly, provides a better user experience. For this comparison, I will focus on their RAM consumption and CPU utilization.
I opened the same set of 22 tabs in both browsers and monitored their memory usage (RAM) and total CPU percentage using Windows Task Manager. This test was conducted with my laptop unplugged to assess their efficiency in a battery-saving scenario.
Based on the readings, Edge demonstrated significantly lower CPU usage at 23.3%, compared to Chrome’s 45.2%. Similarly, Edge consumed less memory, using 3711.6 MB, while Chrome required 4130.2 MB.
Overall, Edge showcased superior resource efficiency, with lower CPU and RAM usage. Its efficiency mode and sleeping tabs feature help maximize savings, reduce resource consumption, and extend battery life, especially when the device is unplugged. These optimizations also contribute to smoother multitasking and better performance on systems with limited resources, such as low RAM or less powerful CPUs.
Battery Efficiency
Let’s continue by comparing the battery efficiency of Chrome and Edge to determine which browser consumes less power. Battery efficiency is crucial for users who rely on their devices for extended periods without access to charging. A power-efficient browser can help extend your working or browsing time.
To ensure a fair comparison, I used the same laptop to run identical task on both browsers, streaming videos and browsing multiple tabs, similar to the resource usage tests conducted earlier. Then I observed Windows battery usage to measure how much power each browser consumed over a fixed duration of one hour.
I accessed the Battery Usage section in Settings and reviewed the battery consumption over a fixed 30 minutes screen on duration.
Here are the battery usage details for both browsers during that period:
- Edge: 30% of battery usage
- Chrome: 66% of battery usage
Based on this test, Chrome consumed significantly more power (double) than Edge in just under 30 minutes of browsing. Edge’s lower battery usage indicates it is more power-efficient, making it a better choice for users who want to conserve battery life during extended browsing sessions.
| Feature | Google Chrome | Microsoft Edge |
| Webpage Load Speed | ✅ Not significant different | ✅ Not significant different |
| Resource Usage | ❌ Higher CPU and memory usage | ✅ More efficient in CPU and memory use |
| Battery Efficiency | ❌ Consumes significantly more power | ✅ More power-efficient |
5. Security and Privacy
When comparing security, Chrome offers Enhanced Protection in Safe Browsing, while Edge provides Microsoft Defender SmartScreen for blocking phishing, malware, and exploits. Both browsers deliver strong protection against threats.
For those prioritizing privacy and protection from tracking, Edge stands out with its advanced built-in tracking prevention, offering three levels: Basic, Balanced, and Strict. The Strict setting blocks most trackers, making Edge a more privacy-conscious option out of the box. However, Strict mode can sometimes be too aggressive, potentially disrupting certain website features.
If your priority is blocking phishing, malware, and exploits, both Chrome and Edge deliver strong protection. However, Edge holds a slight advantage with its system-level security through Windows Defender, which is available exclusively on Windows OS. For privacy, Edge leads with its advanced tracking prevention and reduced reliance on data collection, making it a more privacy-focused option compared to Chrome’s ad-driven model.
6. Extensions
Chrome only supports extensions from its own Chrome Web Store, whereas Edge, built on the Chromium engine, now fully supports both Edge-specific extensions and those from the Chrome Web Store.
When comparing the performance impact of extensions, Chrome tends to consume more resources as the number of extensions increases. Each extension can run background processes, leading to higher CPU and RAM usage. Therefore, the more extensions you install, the slower Chrome may become.
On the other hand, although Edge is also based on Chromium, it is generally optimized for better performance on Windows. With the same number of extensions, Edge typically uses less CPU and RAM compared to Chrome. This means that users with multiple extensions may experience a smoother browsing experience in Edge, particularly on devices with lower specs or when multitasking.
| Feature | Google Chrome | Microsoft Edge |
| Extension Support | ✅ Chrome Web Store | ✅ Chrome Web Store ✅ Edge Add-ons |
| Performance Impact | ❌ Higher resource consumption, leading to potential slowdowns | ✅ Better resource management, leading to more fluid performance. |
7. Cross-Platform Support and Syncing
Both Chrome and Edge supports a wide range of platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. This broad compatibility makes them popular choices for users who switch between devices frequently.
Chrome offers seamless syncing across devices, allowing users to sync bookmarks, passwords, browsing history, open tabs, and more. Syncing is tied to your Google account, making it easy to access your data on any device with Chrome installed. However, since Google is an advertising company, the syncing data may be used for targeted ads and other marketing purposes, which some privacy-conscious users may find concerning.
Edge’s syncing capabilities are similarly comprehensive, allowing users to sync passwords, favorites, history, and tabs across devices, tied to a Microsoft account. With Edge, the syncing process is tightly integrated with Microsoft’s ecosystem (e.g., Office apps, OneDrive), offering a more unified experience if you’re already embedded within the Microsoft ecosystem. Edge also offers a feature called “Collections,” which allows users to save and organize content across devices. Privacy-wise, Edge provides more transparency on how user data is handled and is considered more privacy-friendly than Chrome, as it collects less personal information for marketing purposes.
| Feature | Google Chrome | Microsoft Edge |
| Platform Availability | ✅ Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS | ✅ Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS |
| Cross-Platform Syncing | ✅ Syncing is available across all platforms | ✅ Syncing is available across all platforms |
| Syncing Service | Google Account | Microsoft Account |
| Syncing Options | Bookmarks, passwords, browsing history, open tabs, extensions, apps | Passwords, favorites, browsing history, open tabs, Collections |
8. Final Verdict: Which Browser Should You Choose in 2025?
When comparing browsers in terms of built-in features, performance, security, and privacy, Microsoft Edge outperforms Chrome in many areas. However, most people continue to use Chrome as their primary browser. The main reason is google ecosystem integration—many users are deeply embedded in Google’s ecosystem and are familiar with the Google brand.
Chrome seamlessly integrates with Google’s extensive suite of products and services, such as Google Calendar, Docs, Photos, and Gmail. This tight integration makes Chrome incredibly convenient for users who rely on these services daily, offering a level of familiarity and efficiency that is hard to match.
That said, I believe Microsoft Edge is a strong competitor to Chrome and is becoming an increasingly viable alternative. If you’re not heavily reliant on Google’s ecosystem and are looking for advanced features and enhanced privacy, you should definitely consider giving Microsoft Edge a try.
Edge now offers AI integration through Microsoft Copilot, which provides AI-powered assistance to help boost productivity and streamline your workflow. Combined with its robust tracking prevention, superior performance, and built-in tools, Microsoft Edge could very well be your best alternative browser in 2025.
