I would like to ask the community for some advice about web browsers on Zorin OS.
At the moment, I am still using Microsoft Edge on Linux, mainly because I already have my bookmarks, passwords, history, and other browser data there. It works, but I am thinking about whether there is a better long-term browser choice for privacy, compatibility, and daily use on Zorin OS.
I know there are several options, for example:
Firefox
Brave
Vivaldi
Chromium
Google Chrome
Microsoft Edge
Many browsers are based on Chromium, while Firefox uses its own browser engine.
My question is:
What browser do you personally recommend for Zorin OS, especially for someone coming from Windows?
And what is the easiest way to move browser data such as:
bookmarks
saved passwords
history
extensions
settings
from Microsoft Edge to another browser without too much trouble?
I am especially interested in a simple and safe migration method for normal users, not a complicated technical process.
Any practical experience or recommendations would be appreciated.
Well, that depends a bit for what You look for. If You want a Browser without AI built in, Vivaldi is the Way to go. Vivaldi offers a .deb File. So, the Installation is easy. During the Installation, the Vivaldi Repo will be added to the System. So, You don't have to care about manually updating the System or manually adding the Repo to get that.
I use primary Firefox. I use that since Windows Times. Unfortunately what the Browser now is ... makes it only to an ''Okay''-Browser for me. But I prefer it still over others. Yes, there is now AI in it; but You can disable the Cr... ähm ... Stuff at least.
Brave. The Browser Experience is fine for me, but I don't like the whole AI, Crypto and Ad-Program Stuff what is included. Yes, You can disable all. But You have it still. But there will come Brave Origin which will be a lightened Version without this whole Stuff. I will see how this will be. Depending on the Experience, it could have the Potentional to be my new primary Browser.
LibreWolf would be an Alternative to Firefox. It is a hardened Firefox with some Adjustments for Privacy.
Google Chrome and Edge are no Options fpr me. When I want Privacy, it would be nonsense for me to use one of them. Chromium directly ... there is the Point: It doesnt have an official Source. there are some Third-Party Repos who offer it but no official one. There is a Flatpak but this isn't veryfied; so, it doesn't seem to be official, too.
Could Chromium be an Option for me? Well, it isn't Google free but it has less Google. Depending how You set it up, it could be okay as a 2nd Browser or BackUp Browser. An Alternative could be Ungoogled Chromium. But this is for me a bit too much stripped.
I have Vivaldi on two different ZorinOS computers and it works very well, I also use it on Windows, and synchronizes tabs, bookmarks, passwords etc. between my different computers.
I have never tested this but I believe that during the install process, it will ask you if you want to import anything from other browsers on the same computer and you should be able to import from Edge that way?
Enjoy!
I will recommend you to test Brave origin, I'm on it since 1 week and it's fast and clean.
For passwords I would suggest you to backup your passwords in Edge and put them to a real password manager, there are many free so you will find your...
On Edge you can easily export the passwords as a CSV file. You then import that CSV file to your new browser. Easy work.
Bookmarks on Edge can be exported as a HTML file, and that too will be imported to your new browser import upload.
I think the CSV file and HTML file can also be imported on Firefox or any other Gecko engine browser like Waterfox etc
Settings, history, extensions, you probably will lose and have to start over.
You should ALWAYS export your passwords and bookmarks to a safe location like a usb thumbdrive or external safe hard drive.
I backup those two CSV/HTML files everytime I change a password for a site. It's great to keep it safely stored in case your browser might crash and lose all information or your hard drive decides to pass away from natural causes.
thank you very much for all your replies and for the active discussion.
I did not expect so many different experiences and recommendations about browsers on Zorin OS, and I really appreciate the time everyone took to explain their own setup and reasons.
This is exactly why community experience is so valuable. It is not only about theory, but about how people actually use these browsers every day on Linux.
I will now take some time to look through the different options mentioned, compare them, and test what works best for my own workflow regarding privacy, security, compatibility, and easy migration from Edge.
Thank you again for your helpful input and insights.
Want any will do so pick your flavor they are all the same.
Don’t then use Firefox.
Me personally always used Firefox on Zorin I used flatpack version. Read somewhere it’s updated faster and lives in its own container but I’m a noob so what do I know
There are others not touched on and most browsers these days ask at first launch "Do you want to import settings?".
My main browser at present following the Privacy Faux Pa announcement from Mozilla I left for Zen which is a fork of Firefox.
However, there can be issues for Firefox users when it comes to Linux drivers proffered by Printer manufacturers.
I got a request to install a Windows 10 themed OS recently, and I asked them for details about printers in use. One of them was an Epson. I used Zen to download the driver (remember this mirrors the current version of Firefox) and it filled the screen with code from the driver when hitting 'Download'. I had to resort to Chromium.
I think Vivaldi is a good choice. But it took me ages to get rid of all the bloat and had to look up how to get rid of the embedded search engines to replace with mojeek. I only used it once to set up a savings account with our bank which is over a 100 miles away!
Eagerly awaiting ladybird browser which will not use any existing browser engines as it is being built from the ground up.
I did not have to "learn" what some browsers asked of me. Brave, Vivaldi, Zen.
If I could, I would have had MS Edge as my default browser, Opera perhaps too, but that's not going to happen, for I prefer to be as private and anonymous across websites as much as I can.
Many of the dubious Firefox decisions are void in Waterfox by default, and as of today it seems as private and secure as I can worry about. And very easy to use for us familiar to Firefox.
I started with Brave and later migrated to Vivaldi but kept using Brave as the search engine within Vivaldi. I still have Brave as back up. Easy to import bookmarks and so on and to synch across different devices. For passwords I used the avast password manager for many years in windows and found it could be embedded within both Brave and Vivaldi so I have never changed though I may in the future.
Even though people hate Chrome because of Google's privacy policy, I believe it's much clearer than Microsoft's. (From ad page, you can even see what they know about you and you can disable).
I used Brave 5 years ago but some ux issues and privacy problems made me scared:
Then I used Opera and Edge for some years and now I'm using Chrome. Opera had similar features to chrome but they stayed too outdated. On Linux, Opera is a joke because it cannot even open videos on most websites without copying chromium codecs by hand. Most helpful features of chrome wasn't even implemented on opera some months ago when I left. (translate, reverse image search, pdf annotation..)
Its built-in Reading Mode with text to speech (TTS) makes long articles easier to understand without 3rd party extensions.
Integrated Google Lens support allows quick visual searches, OCR, and translation directly from images or selected screen areas. (On opera it was impossible without extensions)
Chrome’s password manager / bookmark and full account sync are also more seamless across devices especially when you consider on android google chrome comes by default and google search directly uses it.
The browser additionally offers strong PDF handling with annotation tools (I think with chromium, they also brought this feature to brave) and OCR support for scanned PDF documents even when you're offline.
Translate feature is also another thing. On Opera it wasn't supported anymore. Brave has this feature as well but I had some problems with brave on zorin os. (Updating it, showing on dock, web apps..)
Another major advantage is extension compatibility: although many browsers are Chromium-based, some Chrome extensions either work better or only fully support Chrome due to reliance on Google services, proprietary APIs or even Chrome-specific implementation details, making Chrome the most compatible choice for me. I still use firefox/brave as secondary browser but UX is not appealing to me.
