4 ms·

I used to use Firefox and I'd love to use it again on both desktop and mobile, but it's just so slow, memory-hungry and crashy compared to Chrome. For example,

I used to use Firefox and I'd love to use it again on both desktop and mobile, but it's just so slow, memory-hungry and crashy compared to Chrome. For example, I work on a wasm project in my spare time and it loads in a few seconds in Chrome. It does so, too, in Firefox, but just the first time. Reloading the page causes Firefox to leak a ton of memory and compiling my wasm suddenly takes dozens of seconds before crashing. And this is just a random anecdote, of course, but it's one of many over the years.

ct0 5y ago
My experience is the opposite.
unionpivo 5y ago
I use both, but my experience is different. I use Firefox, for my trusted sites, mail, banking, various stores, documentation etc. I use chrome, fore throwaway lookups etc. Firefox runs for weeks at the time (I am on always on desktops (work and home)) (I restart firefox when new update hits.), but chrome gets laggy after few days. And i am the type of person that has 100s of tabs open, over few windows each. I do use primarily Linux though, if that makes any difference.
- royjacobs 5y ago
  That's odd. I'm running MacOS so perhaps the leak is in the OS layer somewhere. Oh well. Looks like I'll just have to give Firefox another chance _again_ at some point :)
- vidyesh 5y ago
  We have similar usage patterns for Firefox vs chrome, only difference being I use various chromium based browsers(not just chrome) in private mode for throwaway, lookups etc and FF has not more than 30 tabs open all the time. I can attest to the reliability of FF on Windows and Linux. And chrome with 10-12 tabs starts hoarding memory on Windows after keeping it open for a few days.
purephase 5y ago
As others mentioned, my experience is the opposite. I'm on Mac, and I forced myself to ditch Chrome due to privacy concerns and, honestly, I don't miss it at all. Occasionally, I have to fire it up to test something for work, or if a site doesn't support Firefox (it's 2022 devs, come on). And, each time it reminds me of why I prefer Firefox. It seems so bulky in comparison, and everything seems to slowdown with it open, where Firefox just happily stays open in the background, w/multiple windows and tabs and rarely causes any issues. Give it a shot again if it's been awhile, it's great.
- royjacobs 5y ago
  Well, as I said I gave it a try very recently and had to abandon it due to wasm related crashes. I'll see if I can restart using it for normal browsing though.
timtom39 5y ago
Adblock on mobile is a huge perf gain for me. Firefox is one of the few mobile browsers to support it without root on android.
cpeterso 5y ago
When you find a web page that has such a big performance problem in Firefox, you can use the Firefox Profiler to record a performance profile and file a Bugzilla bug report. A performance profile can make these bugs much easier to fix. https://profiler.firefox.com/ https://profiler.firefox.com/

ct0 5y ago

My experience is the opposite.

unionpivo 5y ago

I use both, but my experience is different. I use Firefox, for my trusted sites, mail, banking, various stores, documentation etc. I use chrome, fore throwaway lookups etc. Firefox runs for weeks at the time (I am on always on desktops (work and home)) (I restart firefox when new update hits.), but chrome gets laggy after few days. And i am the type of person that has 100s of tabs open, over few windows each. I do use primarily Linux though, if that makes any difference.

royjacobs 5y ago
That's odd. I'm running MacOS so perhaps the leak is in the OS layer somewhere. Oh well. Looks like I'll just have to give Firefox another chance _again_ at some point :)
vidyesh 5y ago
We have similar usage patterns for Firefox vs chrome, only difference being I use various chromium based browsers(not just chrome) in private mode for throwaway, lookups etc and FF has not more than 30 tabs open all the time. I can attest to the reliability of FF on Windows and Linux. And chrome with 10-12 tabs starts hoarding memory on Windows after keeping it open for a few days.

purephase 5y ago

As others mentioned, my experience is the opposite. I'm on Mac, and I forced myself to ditch Chrome due to privacy concerns and, honestly, I don't miss it at all. Occasionally, I have to fire it up to test something for work, or if a site doesn't support Firefox (it's 2022 devs, come on). And, each time it reminds me of why I prefer Firefox. It seems so bulky in comparison, and everything seems to slowdown with it open, where Firefox just happily stays open in the background, w/multiple windows and tabs and rarely causes any issues. Give it a shot again if it's been awhile, it's great.

royjacobs 5y ago
Well, as I said I gave it a try very recently and had to abandon it due to wasm related crashes. I'll see if I can restart using it for normal browsing though.

timtom39 5y ago

Adblock on mobile is a huge perf gain for me. Firefox is one of the few mobile browsers to support it without root on android.

cpeterso 5y ago

When you find a web page that has such a big performance problem in Firefox, you can use the Firefox Profiler to record a performance profile and file a Bugzilla bug report. A performance profile can make these bugs much easier to fix. https://profiler.firefox.com/ https://profiler.firefox.com/