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Which browser is the fastest? An unbiased test.

howtocreate.co.uk — The Opera site claims that Opera is The Fastest Browser on Earth!. The Mozilla site claims that Firefox empowers you to browse faster (faster than what?). Mozilla itself is quoted as being an alternative to Microsoft IE and it's faster to boot. Apple's Safari pages claim that Safari loads pages more quickly than any other Mac web browser.

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  • cpbrown, on 10/12/2007, -13/+80It's not about speed, it's about brand loyalty!

    nah ... the results are actually quite suprising. go dillo!
    • dmoney06, on 10/12/2007, -69/+9Safari is in the top 3 for every test except the multiple images one. I'm satisfied.
    • dmoney06, on 10/12/2007, -22/+72Safari is in the top 3 for every test except the multiple images one, I'm satisfied.

      Way to pick up the rear Firefox.

      Since I will almost assuredly be dugg down for saying that, reserve your judgement until you have looked at the results. If you still want to digg me down after the fact.....

      (digg comment system wouldn't let me edit my original post)
    • thelastknowngod, on 10/12/2007, -25/+44opera is pretty high in everything unless its competing against something like lynx or dillo...

      a browser is a browser... it doesnt need all the bloat you get with firefox.
    • illt, on 10/12/2007, -12/+20do results scale linearly with more modern hardware?
      the testbed is really dated. i'd be curious to see what would happen with a beefier computer.
    • radu79, on 10/12/2007, -9/+65Surprising?
      Pretty much all the independent tests show Opera as a winner.
      I used to use FF for about 2 years, and Opera for a year and a half. Opera doesn't have the memory leaks FF has, it's more secure (there has been a vulnerability chart, where Opera had the fewest vulnerabilities), it's the fastest in most of the important stuff, it runs on pretty much any platform in the world, from PCs to cellphones..
    • oriondr, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Yes the results should scale up well barring some kind of weird glitches/incompatibilities; The algorithm really determines the speed of operations more than anything else.
    • illt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15well i was curious, installed opera 9.0.2 and ran the css test on my machine vs 1.5 firefox.
      on 3 refreshes after preload i averaged ~284ms and with opera 9.0.2 i averaged ~221ms.
      Granted, this is nowhere near a clean os install, and i have a few other things running, but it definately doesn't scale linearly.

      haven't tried opera much, but now that i have it installed i should take it for a few laps.
    • tomi, on 10/12/2007, -23/+32No, it's not about the speed, it's about the comfort. I'm perfectly comfortable using Firefox because of all the lovely extensions it provides me. With the technology in our age, who really cares how fast sometimes loads? You'll rarely notice if Opera does indeed load faster than Firefox if you're on a high-end computer.
    • mjm01010101, on 10/12/2007, -27/+17I just gave Opera a try, and then stopped.

      Here is what I need for me to switch over from Firefox:

      Block *all* ads quickly and successfully using my current txt based adblock file. The guides I find on Opera's site involve ini hacking, pasting, and I've been unable to block flash content selectively. One of the links on the FAQ page contains one of those download pages that typically has spyware/malware.

      I really liked the speed, and the features seem quite extensive built in, but ad blocking and controlling my viewing experience with little hassle is the most important facet. I even block images like Digg's logo and most headers to web pages because I could really care less about logos and corporate identity. Firefox + adblock + my filter list gives me 100% of what I need. I just wish it loaded my 6 startup tabs as quickly as opera. It seems to hang up all tabs loading on gmails javascript.
    • rickcarson, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5I like Safari. I don't consider it blazingly fast. The only site I go to that it has problems with... is Digg. For some reason pages load really slowly on digg.com. I've recently changed ISPs (and suffered a massive drop in speed, because BigPond sux dog bollox (but that is another story)).

      Even going from 1500 down to 256 (ADSL) I didn't notice much change in speed. Hence I conclude that it really is something on the pages themselves which causes Safari to take ages and ages to load. I'd blame Web 2.0 in general (CSS and scripting out the wazoo), but Gmail runs fine.
    • luvkit, on 10/12/2007, -13/+12I used Opera for about a year... but I had to switch back to firefox. I often found that pages wouldn't load properly, or wouldn't load at all, using Opera 9. It was irritating, because Opera is the best browser, its safe, secure, and has some toys (like extensions). But I just kept having to switch back to Firefox to look at Hotmail or half a dozen other pages.

      I realize that some companies have it out for Opera, and I even tried to mask Opera as IE, but it just didn't fix the problem. Any suggestions as what to do?
    • cds0528, on 10/12/2007, -17/+11I've always felt Opera is the best browser overall... I'm still using firefox though, and its the extensions. Opera can't touch the extensions firefox offers.
    • acoot, on 10/12/2007, -7/+31Nice :) at least we people 1% who use opera are actually using the best product. Now if only its price tag could be at par with the Mac I would still use Opera.

      BTW it free.

      Digg me down firefox :)
    • luckyjonny, on 10/12/2007, -15/+6Oh dear God. This site again. Opera fastest? Surprise!

      THE WEBMASTER WORKS FOR OPERA.
    • Xoligy, on 10/12/2007, -13/+4I've tried Opera, but its just too daunting to learn (so much stuff and configurations) and I'm perfectly happy with Firefox and its extensions (the best thing about it IMO).
    • OmegaNine, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6They are all lightning fast on today connections and hardware. I dont even think it matters anymore. If one is .1 seconds faster at pulling up google, are you really going to switch to it?
    • Muyoso, on 10/12/2007, -14/+7No, but if one has, memory leaks, is slower to load, bloats up with extensions, when is updated all extensions stop working, and takes configuring to work with programs such as mIRC and sometimes no matter how much configuring it simply does not work, then yes, you should switch from Firefox to something else. I was a giant Firefox fanboy for the longest time. People just get taken up in all of the fanfare it is given on sites like digg, which causes them to gloss over all of its giant flaws. After leaving Firefox due to its major flaws, I tried Opera for a bit, It was better, had a lot more useful features built in without the need for buggy extensions, however it now failed to load on some websites and had a hell of a time with flash and youtube. So now I am back to Internet Explorer most of the time and I couldnt be happier. Pages load fast, it has a small memory footprint, and EVERYTHING works, no matter what. That is why Internet Explorer is the BEST web browser.
    • skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -12/+4@ mjm01010101

      As of Opera 9, ad-blocking is built-in and quite intuitive to use. No more .ini file hacking.

      But really if you weren't a total n00b, you'd know that you can already block out most ads in a .txt file using the HOSTS file on your machine. Just redirect ad-sites' domain names to the local host address and voila. No more ads, regardless of which browser you use.
    • Grimboy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7@skyshock21: Please, for the love of god, don't say n00b.
    • raltschwager, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Hey!? Where is the Dreamcast Browser 2.0 or WebTV in all these tests???

      This must be Fox News style of fair and balanced.
  • atdigg, on 10/12/2007, -7/+29Opera also is a clear winner using history. In fact, on Linux it is faster than Mozilla and Firefox for all except starting time. On Mac and Windows, Opera is faster than Mozilla and Firefox for all tasks. -- that pretty much match my experience (with the exception that Opera starts faster on my Linux machine)
    • nizzy1115, on 10/12/2007, -29/+18I dunno how much i believe these tests. But at any rate, say they are 100% truthful, the fact that IE and Firefox are not that much slower than opera, but can do a hell of a lot more, is good for me. I will stick with Firefox for now.
    • siodine, on 10/12/2007, -23/+17@nizzy

      What the hell are you talking about? Opera can do a ***** load more than IE and Firefox, but a lot of people consider it bloated because of that. I think Firefox is more streamlined.
    • radu79, on 10/12/2007, -18/+7A lot more? Such as what? Extensions?
      I don't know about you, but I use a browser as a... umm.. browser. I need it to display webpages.
    • DesireCampbell, on 10/12/2007, -10/+25Nizzy, what "lots more"? Opera is one of the handful of browsers that FULLY comply with standards (something that neither IE nor Firefox do).
    • g3r4, on 10/12/2007, -13/+6Start up time? People close their browser? What ever for?
    • masamunecyrus, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18I don't know how many times this has been done, but it's no secret that Opera is by far the fastest, then comes IE, and then comes Firefox in a distant last.* Firefox has extensions, though, and that's why it's still the best browser.

      *Note that my comparison only takes into account the "big three." I don't even pretend to remember what Safari, KDE, and <insert another browser name here>'s speed statistics are.
    • cmiz, on 10/12/2007, -11/+6just to set a few things straight...

      @slodine - i don't think opera is a bad browser, but do you really think opera's features come anywhere near the extensions in firefox? argue opera's strongpoints (speed).

      @desirecampbell - complying with acid2 and being fully compliant with standards aren't the same thing. specifically gunning for a single test doesn't really give you a full picture... just something to keep in mind.

      for people giving the argument about firefox being less secure because of the bug reports: comparing open and closed source software is like comparing apples and oranges. every single bug that is found in firefox probably has a bug report, whereas anything internally found in opera is probably kept hush. also, since firefox is open source, a lot of small non-threat bugs are reported in the hopes that they'll get fixed when somebody gets around to it. according to the bug argument, windows is actually more secure than most linux distro's. would anyone really like to argue that point?

      fyi: i split my time between camino and shiira. i'm not a fan of opera on OS X at all.
    • siodine, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11@cmiz

      wtf, how are you people so misinformed? Opera has plugins and widgets. But thats not even the point, from a standard install Opera has more features than IE or Firefox.
    • nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6The real question here is this: did anyone actually read the whole thing?

      "This article is now retired. It was a tough decision, and I know that many of you have come to depend on the information in this article, but I have faithfully maintained it for nearly two years now, and the time has come."

      http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html#updating

      Seeing as many of the browsers used were beta or rc, the machine used isn't average anymore, and performance was all over the place how's this for a conclusion... use the browser(s) you like using the most, or that does what you want best.
    • Cl1mh4224rd, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2"Nizzy, what "lots more"? Opera is one of the handful of browsers that FULLY comply with standards (something that neither IE nor Firefox do)."

      Umm... dude... Passing the ACID2 test is in absolutely no way "full compliance with standards". Opera's compliance is slightly above Firefox's, yes, but it certainly isn't "full".
    • skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10"I think Firefox is more streamlined."

      If by "streamlined" you mean has a larger installer file to download, takes up more hard drive space for the install, and hogs up WAY WAY more memory than Opera or IE, then yeah, I'd say Firefox is definitely more "streamlined".
  • bioskope, on 10/12/2007, -21/+4zomg another 'neutral' test
  • sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -20/+9All in all Safari kicks ass. Firefox is a fat pig.
    • vgcf, on 10/12/2007, -16/+10Yes, a fat memory hog
    • Unsanity, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11I was pleasantly suprised by Safari. I use it because I love how it does RSS, but I always thought it was a lot worse than Opera or Firefox, clearly I was wrong.
  • EricCiccone, on 10/12/2007, -4/+29I have been using Firefox for over a year now and am quite content with it, however after looking at these results I am pondering whether I should convert to Opera or not.

    This question still remains, does Opera have the same (or better) security and features?
    • bigfkncee, on 10/12/2007, -28/+13Extensions my friend...opera has no extensions
    • TheG2, on 10/12/2007, -11/+25Opera has great security and features, I'd highly recommend you check out the latest version.

      And in response to the extensions part...Opera has all the stuff you could need for the most part built-in, a huge amount of extensions for Firefox are just ports of Opera features already built in...did I mention that makes Opera more stable too?
    • georgemoore13, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24Give it a try. I used Firefox for 8 months then gave Opera a try. I didn't like it after 2 days and went back to Firefox. Then later on a gave Opera another try. I really liked some things about it. It was more stable and the experience was really enjoyable. I now use both off and on. I would definitely give it a shot, but when trying Opera, give it a fair chance, use it for a week or two. Learn how to use all its features, like block content, the wand, built in mail client, etc.

      They are both great browsers, you can't go wrong with either one.
    • tapo, on 10/12/2007, -19/+16Considering the only difference is by a few milliseconds, and the fact that you're losing the extension capability of Firefox, I wouldn't bother to switch to Opera.

      Not that I have anything against Opera mind you, it's a fine browser. There's just no compelling reason. Use what you like.
    • WiZZLa, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19Regarding Security -> http://secunia.com/product/4227/?task=advisories for FireFox 1.X (36 total, 8% of the bugs remained unpatched). 2.X has 0 advisories so far -> http://secunia.com/product/12434/?task=advisories

      Opera 8.X (15 in total) -> http://secunia.com/product/4932/?task=advisories all patched, same with Opera 9.X (only 2 so far) -> http://secunia.com/product/10615/?task=advisories

      Opera has Widgets and some FireFox extensions are stock in the Opera browser -> http://files.myopera.com/Rijk/blog/extensions.html


      Regardless, try them both (maybe even IE7) and stick with whichever one you enjoy more.
    • Ssullivan, on 10/12/2007, -25/+11I'll keep using Firefox, opera is proprietary.
    • DD32, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11@Ssullivan

      Just because somethings not open source, Doesnt make it any worse..
      Just because something is open source, doesnt necesarily make it better either.

      It adhears to the set standards as well, so who cares what goes on under the hood?

      Unless your one of the very very few who actually modify the source code, i cant see it mattering at all..



      Personally i use Opera as my main browser. Firefox as a 2nd test location for webdev. and IE eventually..
      I find it fast, and its the best browser IMO. I used to use firefox as it seemed the best to me at that time too.

      D
    • Hydraulix, on 10/12/2007, -4/+42I don't use a web browser.
    • Thmstec, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7If you aren't addicted to certain extensions that aren't in Opera, THEN GET OPERA. Its awesome, I love all of its features. The mouse gestures can speed up your web browsing like nothing else, and the placement of everything feels very natural. And if you haven't noticed, its fast.
    • Jugalator, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"This question still remains, does Opera have the same (or better) security and features?"

      Opera is generally very quick at fixing security holes and currently have few, if any, known holes open. Last I checked it had fewer open holes than Firefox according to Secunia. So as for security, I'd say yes, and as for features, that depends on how many extensions you used in Firefox. In its stock configuration it's a very big yes though.
    • Alisic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Firefox basically doesn't have any features. If you want any you better get loads and loads of extensions. And don't be surprised if each one takes up some amount of RAM for itself. Enjoy the experience.
  • TheG2, on 10/12/2007, -11/+51Once again, Opera is proved to be fastest.

    Honestly, Opera is great, sure it has problems rendering some CSS and JS properly, but 9.02 has fixed most of it. And most extensions that FF users swear by, are included by default in Opera and only copied into FF after Opera has them.
    • zonk3r, on 10/12/2007, -7/+23damn straight. i just hope the truth doesn't get dugg down...
    • metallikop, on 10/12/2007, -11/+10Most extensions that users swear by? What users? Not this user. I don't think you can pigeonhole FF users based on what you personally use. I prefer Firefox because it allows you the freedom to pick and choose which extensions you want. Can Opera do Greasemonkey, Google Notebook, Google Browser Sync, Firebug, Foxytunes, del.icio.us, and a ton more. I'm not saying Opera is bad by any means, it's a great browser, I just don't think it's fair to mod this up when the OP states no sources nor offer any examples.
    • nekteo, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4@TheG2
      Your right about the Opera have those extension ff provide, but what if i don want some of the feature? can i just uninstall it (and save some disc space?)

      By the way,
      @metallikop, you're ROCKS!!
    • OaklandNative, on 10/12/2007, -14/+11I found Opera to be dramatically faster than Firefox on my old 350MHz desktop but only marginally faster on any newer computers. After using it for 2 weeks, I came to really appreciate Opera. However, there are 3 things keeping me from switching to Opera.

      1. They don't have enough tabbed browsing options. I can't stand that when you close a tab it focuses on the last tab you were on rather than the the next tab in the lineup. You cannot easily change this.

      2. No Ad-Block

      3. No No-Script

      4. My scroll wheel goes way too fast in Opera. Don't have the problem with any other applications. (Does anyone else have this issue?)

      The opera widgets are all pretty useless too by the way.
    • DD32, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13@nekteo
      The inbuilt features of opera do not slow them down like happens when you load FF with more extensions.
      You can disable the feature if you dont want it, But it'll still use the same diskspace as before.. I think Operas base install is smaller than FFs anyway.(But i havnt checked in awhile)

      @OaklandNative
      2: no Ad-Block
      Opera 9 has "Content Blocking" Any browser would be crazy to block all ads by default.. you can manually block what you want.
      3: no no-script
      In opera you can disable javascript globally.
      It also has "Site Preferences" in opera9, So you can turn JS on for a specific site, or turn off for that site, and dable with many many other options.

      4: scroll wheel...
      Check out opera:config i believe theres an option in there somewhere to override windows setting.

      D
    • OaklandNative, on 10/12/2007, -7/+10I understand that Opera has content blocking. However, with content blocking, I have to manually tell Opera each time I don't wanna see adds. Firefox just blocks em all. With Opera, if I content block an ad space on one webpage, two days later, there is a different ad in the same space on that same webpage.

      No-script is infinitely better than your Opera method because it's super simple (my wife can handle it) and with one click I know all the javascript sources being used on each site.

      Even if Opera had those options, I could never use it because the tab focusing drives me bat ***** crazy. When I'm digging, i like to open a bunch of tabs of ***** i wanna read. Then i wanna read the stories. With Opera, when I read one story and close the tab the focus goes back to the digg homepage rather than the next story that was opened. While this focus method might be appropriate for some, it's certainly not appropriate for a digger.
    • burke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Opera supports almost all GreaseMonkey syntax, BTW.
  • JohnCrichton, on 10/12/2007, -23/+5No digg, I don't see iceweasel listed in there.
    • jefffm, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2this is a troll if i've ever seen one
  • MalDON, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2Well, if they were not tested on outdated hardware... On my computer, takes under a second for any browser to load. Doesn't matter to me though, Firefox is always open with my meebo. :D
  • jalenack, on 10/12/2007, -6/+29Where's Alefox?
  • cthellis, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4Opera kicks ass in this regard, and I still use it when I know I'll only be browsing sites I trust and hitting more comprehensive websites. Firefox won me over only after I got into the extensive, built-in enhancements to do WHATTHEFCUKEVER I want!

    Which is good. ^_^
  • stlcadet11, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1WTF is Blazer and why would anyone ever use it based off of this?
    • Flanker, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Actually I'm going to go check it out because I want to know what could possibly be that slow.
    • damentz, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1What are you talking about, Blazer was the code name for IE, thats why it sucks so much. got it?
    • carapi, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1damentz...must suck for your miserable life seeing that IE came in faster than Firefox.
    • BugMeNot2, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8At first I was like, "What is this Blazer and why does it suck so damn much?"

      But then I Googled it...
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blazer_(Web_Browser)
  • prophet05, on 10/12/2007, -11/+5This is old.
    • TheG2, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2It's one version behind on Opera...how does that make this old?

      9.01 used in article, 9.02 was only released last month...
  • jn1167, on 10/12/2007, -9/+7Opera is way faster on my comp that firefox is. Its not even close. But I just cant seem to stop using firefox. lol.
  • SuperMank, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14Meh, I always knew Opera was faster, but extendibility wise, and personally, usability wise, Firefox shines.
  • pabster, on 10/12/2007, -13/+3Opera FTW!
    • carapi, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4Honestly..for your own good....grow up. Or go to MySpace. That is the site for kiddies still susing acronyms WELL after it became annoying to do so.
  • hereisandy, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1I always thought Opera felt faster then the rest (via window xp)
  • tehbishop, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Opera would be my choice (had paid for versions 3 up to 8, and then 9 is free ... but I found AI Roboform, and Opera doesn't use it, therefore Opera is but a 2nd place browser. Interoperability of great plugins & tools is a must, and Opera lacks here compared to the others ...
    • TheG2, on 10/12/2007, -6/+69.02 has the wand form feature...auto fills in forms...
    • georgemoore13, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3I think he knows, older versions had it as well.
  • Mugsleymug, on 10/12/2007, -11/+8IE7 is way faster on Vista RC2 than anything else.
    • pabster, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3Yes, but that is because the code is part of the OS itself.

      IE7 also exposes you to a plethora of known and unknown security holes.

      Opera's security is beyond reproach. Pretty easy choice IMHO.
    • carapi, on 10/12/2007, -13/+1pabster...well, if you are a ***** idiot who doesn't know how to take VERY BASIC security steps, then you are right. But for peopel who aren't ***** idiots, IE 7 is secure.
  • Uute, on 10/12/2007, -27/+2Firefox. Plus one. Period.

    I'm talking about the 3 mainstream browsers.

    IE = the past - worthless. Useability = 0
    Opera = Maclike - very nice but slow = Useability (mayb) 7to8
    Firefox 2 = Fast.
    • Flanker, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16Uute. Minus One. Period.

      Welcome to the world of RTFA. Opera 9.01 on Windows beats FF on every single one of the graphs.
  • bergur1, on 10/12/2007, -15/+2was fasterfox being used in FF?

    Also for windows he did say that IE and FF were close speed wise, but Opera beats them both. Though FF makes up for it with all its great features (skins, addons).

    Opera still has good "standard" support and has widgets
    • epu2, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5he says clearly, no extensions were installed
  • cmorrell, on 10/12/2007, -9/+14I'm going to join the crowd and say, "extensions." Opera may load pages a little faster, but things like Firebug, IE Tab, and the Web Developer extensions cut minutes off my everyday tasks, not milliseconds.
  • TechZone, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3As a Firefox user, I am generally sterotyped as anti-Microsoft. Hower much that may be true, the following is non-biased:

    You know that you are in trouble, as a company/brand, when an older version of your product (Internet Explorer 5.0) scores higher than (a) later version(s) (Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0)
  • Uute, on 10/12/2007, -15/+0All of you saying that Opera is the best, U prolly have dualcores and dont notice the difference...

    Have you seen Borat - The Movie? :)
    • Beerduck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@Uute:
      Did you even read the article? The tests are quite clear.
  • Psylabs, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5Interesting article Dugg.
    Unfortunately Opera doesnt seem to be that fast on my machine, maybe im just to comfortable with Firefox.
  • dmason, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Opera is great. I used it for years. It's clean, quick... it introduced me to tabbed browsing and mouse gestures. The only reason I don't still use it is that I can mod the hell out of Firefox. An ad-blocking userContent.css file and playing with about:config works well for me - not to mention the countless plug-ins.

    It doesn't matter between Opera and Firefox - if you pick one of them you're going to get a great browser.

  • rockorager, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6After reading this a few days ago I decided to try Opera (switching from Firefox) and found that my most valued extensions in Firefox are Customize Google...but I am going to give Opera a try until after I get a chance to really test drive it...so far pleased though
  • jls8705, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1Here's why I (and many others) use Firefox:

    The look.

    Just look at the iPod. Same idea.
    • nekteo, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1We are not, (well, at least I am) using FF or iPod because of it look. It's because of it functionality and stability...
  • Uute, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1I love you all, for being honest.
  • oxigen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Wow! I'm surprised Opera did always seem a bit faster.
  • talledega500, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2total b s
  • rhesuspieces00, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Shiira?
  • talledega500, on 10/12/2007, -15/+2how fast is opera when its not rendering anything due to incompatibility issues? Opera is slow its a pig and it deserves to DIE. Thanks opera whore!
    • zforrester, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11dude... i've never used opera, but to come out and say it's slow after this article so clearly demonstrates that it is not, well, that's just ignorant
  • SteppenWolfe, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4hell, i have 3 browsers on my system(IE7,Opera,Firefox)but i mostly use Opera and Firefox depending on my mood, eh they are both are pretty good.
  • Uute, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1OK. My Opera is slow cuz of the simaquarium widget :). Please have some peace :P
  • Maddpaky, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2this is why i use blazer 4.0....

    lol... i never even heard of it!
  • SSCrow, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1I think the test is kind of silly.

    The better apps are about function, For instance I browse the web and Digg by middle clicking to open tabs. I read then close the tabs. Its quick for opening up multiple pages. And thats why I use it. IE7 does not have that feature, thats why I don't use it.

    I'm not saying that other apps like Opera don't have these abilities. Its just FireFox is very user friendly and its free without advertising.
    • DD32, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Opera doesnt have the ads either anymore.. Got rid of them awhile back.. Its probably what prevented people from switching to it before the firefox hype kicked in.. They realised it(I think..) and did what was best for them.
    • amadeusdemarzi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Opera has open link in new tab with middle click too, in fact I think its on by default as well ;)
    • MaSC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I don't recall the author saying anything about which is the best he was just testing speed and firefox lost, get over it.
  • ha1f, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1seamonkey's not even tested. this is bullsh*t.
  • Uute, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0Try: http://www.speedtest.net/
    • Uute, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Why so negative?? IMHO it's 1 of the "prettiest" speed tests around.
  • ahirreddy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4To say the least, Opera has the advantage in this setup. Opera is very optimized and performs much faster compared to other browsers on older hardware, as stated by the developers. Opera has a clear advantage in memory usage, and beats Firefox by a mile, but I doubt most people on digg use a p3 800 with 256 mb of ram. In order to accurately test this he would have to get a build of Firefox for the specific machine, ie Swiftfox, or build Firefox from source for this machine. (Or I guess get a better machine that does not give Opera an advantage over other browsers) I myself have run tests under Linux with opera, Firefox built from source, Firefox the Ubuntu build, Firefox from mozilla.org, and Swiftfox. The fastest was still opera, but Firefox from the source is a not so far 2nd. Swiftfox and Firefox from mozilla.org were within 3-5% of 2nd place. Ubuntu build of Firefox is easily the worst build of Firefox I have ever used.

    Just my 2 cents!
  • TheEndIsNear, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1I have thought of giving Opera a try. The biggest thing that keeps me using Firefox, is the extension that allow me to view pages without seeing all the ads cluttered everywhere. After using adblock, I can't stand seeing ads on web pages anymore. Does Opera have something that allows you to filter out ads?
    • DD32, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6The "Content Blocker" in Opera9 does that, Right click a page, and select 'Block Content' Then click the images to block them...

      For Things like google-ads, theres a way too, But i cant remember it off the top of my head.
  • Uute, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0With different browsers..
  • digitallysick, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2terminal is the best
  • prophet05, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I think people misunderstood me when I said this was old...it was posted on digg times before and seen in many other places i don't know why it just got noticed....

    http://digg.com/software/Browser_Speed_Comparisons_2

    http://digg.com/tech_news/Web_Browser_Speed_Tests

    and those are just two.
  • g3r4, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3As we are talking in milliseconds, speed doesn't matter all that much, but security and stability does. I really liked the built in features too, like bitTorrent support. It's still tabbed, delete private data button is still included, built in mail client, and as i look at it... it has its own widget site. But, what it comes down to is the bashing. I like my companies to not bash on others. Leave that to the users. (Firefox vs Internet Explorer, Apple vs Microsoft, all others vs microsoft related products...)
    • Uute, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0I'm one of the end users and thats why 1 of the reasons I'm diggin here(or not). Speed matters, or as metaphora you can drive a Lada(IE), Mercedes(Opera) or Ferrari(Firefox) :)
  • Uute, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0Wow, 11 undiggs and a guy who says Opera is "luvly"(read fast, accurate and BEST) gets 13 diggaz :) )

    I also like operas features.. Still on my crappy 2.8 P4 Firefox is fastest, don't be biasd
  • NitrousFlare, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Mozilla > oo

    oo=infinite sign...
  • ezine, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0they should have also used Maxthon Browser. Its light and fast !
    • vvargoal, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5It's also IE.
    • pabster, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4And full of security holes just like IE, which it is based on!
  • barius, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3First, this is really old news...

    Second, this had to be re-posted by an Opera fan. We get it, Opera is fast, so what? Firefox is better than IE and it can hold it's own against any other browser, plus it's Open Source.

    Wake me when they Open Source Opera and I'll shout praises from the roof-tops, until then stop whining like a bunch of Mac fanbois.
  • spacebar14, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1I would definitely switch to Opera full time if:

    1) More things supported it properly (Google!!)
    2) I could compose outgoing mail in HTML.
  • yodaj007, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1There is no such thing as an unbiased test.
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