Chrome dominates with 65% market share, but it's notorious for high memory usage. These six lightweight alternatives deliver speed without turning your PC into a sluggish mess.
Real-World Performance: What the Tests Show
For this comparison, I loaded up the same 15 tabs in each browser—a mix of web apps (Asana, Notion, Google Docs, etc.), Gmail, YouTube, news sites, and social media. Nothing crazy; just what most people have open during a typical workday. Then I let them sit for a few minutes to settle and measured the memory usage.
The results are split into two clear camps. You've got your full-featured browsers like Edge and Firefox that somehow pack in more features than Chrome while using 17-19% less memory. Then there are the specialized ones—Thorium, Brave, and Ungoogled Chromium that strip things down and save anywhere from 25% to 46% of your RAM.
Thorium came out on top at just 3,101 MB, while Chrome sat at 5,737 MB. That is a 2,636 MB gap that puts them at opposite ends of the spectrum. Surprisingly, Opera was the real outlier, using 6,141 MB, which is more than Chrome and any other browser I tested.
Microsoft Edge
Edge used 4,653 MB in my testing—19% less than Chrome. What makes this interesting is that Edge has more built-in features than Chrome, yet still manages to use less memory. Clearly, Microsoft did something right here.
The Sleeping Tabs feature actually works. After five minutes of inactivity, tabs go dormant and free up their memory. You can keep dozens of tabs open indefinitely – only the ones you're actively using consume resources. When you click on a dormant tab, it springs back in about a second, which doesn't really interrupt your workflow.
Edge comes with features that genuinely enhance the browsing experience. For instance, with Collections, you can easily save research sessions and revisit them later, while the integrated PDF editor allows for basic markup without the need to launch another program. Even the built-in shopping tools, like automatic coupon finders and price trackers, are handy to instantly save a few bucks when you are shopping online.
The Copilot sidebar is hit or miss. Sometimes it's helpful for quick summaries or questions. Other times, it feels like Microsoft is pushing AI into everything. At least it doesn't slow things down when you're not using it.
As someone who uses Edge daily on both PC and phone, it works particularly well if you're already in the Microsoft ecosystem. If not, it's still a solid browser that happens to use less memory than Chrome.
Download: Microsoft Edge (Free)
Firefox
Firefox used 4,755 MB—17% less than Chrome. Firefox and its fork, Zen Browser, are the only non-Chromium browsers in this group, using the Gecko engine instead. While the different engine doesn't automatically mean better memory usage (Edge proves Chromium can be efficient), Firefox's approach to tab management and process isolation is distinctly different from Chromium-based browsers.
Firefox's Multi-Account Containers add-on is worth mentioning for organization and privacy. You can install it from Mozilla's add-on store and isolate different parts of your browsing–work in one container, personal stuff in another, social media in a third. Each container keeps its cookies and data separate, so social media sites can't track you across other sites. This means fewer tracking scripts running across tabs.
The tracking protection that comes standard actually makes a difference. On news sites, especially, Firefox blocks so much junk that pages load noticeably faster. Firefox has improved its memory management over the past year - it can automatically unload background tabs when system RAM runs low, then restore them when needed.
Firefox also offers excellent developer tools and deeper customization than other browsers. The privacy features work without getting in your way, allowing anyone to use the browser.
Download: Firefox (Free)
Brave
Brave came in second at 3,329 MB, 42% less than Chrome. The reason is simple: it blocks ads and trackers before they load, preventing dozens of scripts and media files from ever consuming memory in the first place.
The browser includes some odd features. There's a built-in Tor mode that actually works for basic anonymous browsing. The cryptocurrency wallet and BAT (Basic Attention Tokens) rewards system feel like they're from 2021, when everyone was crypto-obsessed. Thankfully, if you ignore these features, they don't use any resources.
What matters is that Brave works with Chrome extensions while using relatively less memory. It's simple enough that non-technical users can switch without issues—just import bookmarks and passwords, and the transition is seamless. The memory savings are especially noticeable on older laptops that struggle when multiple social media sites are open.
Download: Brave (Free)
Thorium
Thorium dominated the test at 3,101 MB—46% less than Chrome. That's not a typo. It really uses half the memory while browsing the same sites.
The developers achieved this by recompiling Chromium with aggressive optimizations. They stripped out debugging code, enabled CPU-specific instructions, and tweaked memory allocation.
Everything feels snappier in Thorium. Click a link, and the page appears. Scroll through Twitter, and it doesn't stutter. Open a new tab, and it's instant. On older laptops with 4GB of RAM, Thorium can be the difference between usable and painful.
The only real drawback stems from the size of the development team. Thorium is primarily maintained by a single developer who has explicitly warned that updates can lag behind Chromium. For everyday browsing, this delay is probably a non-issue, but if you're handling sensitive tasks like online banking, you might want to stick with Edge or Firefox just to be safe.
Download: Thorium (Free)
Ungoogled Chromium
Ungoogled Chromium used 4,318 MB—25% less than Chrome. This browser is exactly what it sounds like: Chrome with all the Google stuff ripped out. No sync, no safe browsing, no automatic anything.
Every website looks identical to Chrome because it's using the same rendering engine. Web apps work perfectly. If you have a custom Chrome extension, that'll work here too. You just don't have Google's services running in the background.
For someone comfortable with technical setup who wants Chrome compatibility without Google watching, Ungoogled Chromium makes sense. For everyone else, the hassle probably isn't worth the 25% memory savings.
Download: Ungoogled Chromium (Free)
Zen Browser
Zen used 5,424 MB—only 5% better than Chrome. But Zen isn't really about memory savings. It's about aesthetics, customizations, and productivity.
Based on Firefox, Zen lets you modify almost everything. The sidebar can hold web panels. Tabs can be given priority. The interface can be completely reorganized. It's Firefox for people who think Firefox doesn't have enough options.
The browser disables telemetry out of the box, meaning it doesn't send data back to its developer's server, so you are covered on the privacy front. The community creates Zen Mods that change core behaviors without the overhead of extensions. It's updated frequently, sometimes multiple times per week.
On the flip side, you'll likely face issues while streaming DRM-protected content from streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, or Amazon Prime Video.
Download: Zen Browser (Free)
If you want something simple and efficient, Edge and Firefox are solid bets. Edge is ideal for Windows users—less memory usage than Chrome, features you'll actually use, and Microsoft integration if you want it. Firefox remains the top choice for privacy and non-Chrome loyalty, with steady updates and strong community support.
If ad-blocking is your top priority, Brave is your best choice, while Thorium is ideal for those squeezing every megabyte, Ungoogled Chromium for full control, and Zen for extreme customizers. However, while I like Opera, it didn't perform as well as I was expecting, which is unfortunate.
The point is, you don't have to keep using Chrome if memory usage is a concern. Most of these browsers are Chromium-based, so they'll feel familiar, support Chrome extensions, and run more efficiently on your system.
Source: https://www.makeuseof.com/lightweight-browsers-faster-than-chrome/
