What's the web browser outlook for 2026?

2025-12-21

Amongst those that care about the quality and privacy of web browsers, Mozilla's Firefox has long served as the source for an ecosystem of other downstream browsers. But with each year it seems that the long-term reliability of this source has grown less certain. From dependency on Google for funding to muddied messaging from Mozilla's management on user privacy and data collection to a perception of general poor management, there is growing concern amongst the user community. As 2025 closes out the new Mozilla CEO has recently announced that AI is central to the future of Firefox which will "grow into an AI browser." YIKES.

Many in the Firefox user community have no interest in having AI integrated into the browser. And while it's true that there are downstream forks like LibreWolf (my current favorite) and Mullvad that do not leave the AI features intact, I'm concerned that this is a band-aid approach. The dependency on a source that is increasingly going in the wrong direction seems like a long-term fail. What's the solution? Is there a solution?

Currently all browsers are built on 3 sources:

Google's Chromium/Blink engine dominates
Apple's Safari/Webkit engine is secondary
Mozilla's Firefox is the smallest but is the default on most GNU/Linux distributions
Servo and Ladybird are two new rendering engines in development

The problem with Chromium is Google as a source. Currently the two most popular non-Google Chromium-based browsers are Brave and Vivaldi. Of these two, Brave is, by far, the most private. Vivaldi is one of the worst choices a user can make in terms of privacy. Learn more about these and all the other browsers at Privacy Tests.

In terms of privacy Brave is one of the best of all browsers but there are ethical issues in terms of the company and other products offered including AI and crypto integration. I'll leave it to the reader to explore those. Brave is available on all desktop and mobile platforms.

Next is Apple's Safari/WebKit. For users of Apple's devices, Safari is the default option and the previous version, 18.6 is currently shown at Privacy Tests and it's not great. It's roughly on par with Chrome and Vivaldi. Though the results listed there don't tell the whole story because Google actively collects all kinds of data from Chrome users while Apple collects very little. Also, the newest versions of Safari for all Apple devices introduce signifant privacy improvements. Finally, adding the uBlock lite extension to Safari further improves its privacy protection. Safari 26 (I'm assuming it's name matches the jump in OS naming convention to the current year), combined with uBlock likely puts it on par with Brave in terms of privacy protections.

What about non-Apple devices? Does WebKit play a role on other platforms? The most notable, perhaps only example, is Kagi's Orion browser. The company just released the Mac version of the browser and the iOS/iPadOS versions have been available for awhile. A Linux version of Orion is currently in Alpha testing with a Windows version planned for release in 2026. Kagi's offering is going to be an interesting but mixed bag.

First, and most important, Kagi is offering something others do not: a paid service. The paid search subscription is currently the primary revenue stream for the company. And while Orion is being offered for free the company offers paid options that has a few added benefits. And it seems to me that this is an essential element to the future of the web browser.

We've all gotten used to the idea that the web browser should be "free". Apple users get Safari for free. Vivaldi is free. Brave is free. Chrome is free. But in all of these cases free is not free. These browsers are all the result of paid human labor and there are things going on behind the scenes to fund that work.

Kagi doesn't try to hide the cost but rather puts it up front. It's business model and plans are less like a web browsing company and more like Proton. While the focus thus far has been the search service and now the browser, it's also working on several others. But this is where it starts to get messy. Kagi also plans to do email though there are few details about that. There's nothing on the website but the CEO has mentioned it in podcast interviews. Unfortunately, like many others, Kagi is incorporating a variety of AI providers into several of its services. It's already in search and will be a part of the web browser and email as well.

Ugh. So, to summarize Kagi's offering: Orion will be a WebKit based, cross platform browser with a more transparent business model that relies an user funding, it is also going to be integrating AI. It seems that any technology company interested in growth is one that will also be focused on integrating AI LLM slop. So, no?

Going into 2026 the only single cross platform web browsers that I'm aware of that have real privacy protections and are free of AI slop are LibreWolf and Mullvad. And yes, these are excellent options but are based on a source under suspect management with suspect funding sources and which has now stated it intends to focus on building an AI browser.

The web browser is my most used app on any computer and I'd purchase one for $50 a year or maybe a $5/month sub. Preferably open source (GPL) but definitely no AI and it would need to be based on a source rendering/engine with a solid future. I thought that might be Orion but it seems it's not.

Addendum

In anticipation of the upcoming Linux version I've been testing Orion on the iPad and it's a decent browser but it seems obvious that the attention has been focused on the Mac version as the iPad version lacks support for the new menu system and still has odd quirks/bugs in day-to-day use.

Oddly, by comparison, there is the iOS Quiche browser being developed by one person that is in beta for the iPad. It has a stated goal of being privacy respecting with zero telemetry (like Orion) and it has built in ad/tracker blocking. The beta version of Quiche for the iPad feels more responsive and has none of the odd quirks I see on Orion. It lacks extension/plugin support but it's got quite a few custom options for the interface that Orion lacks. There are no plans for adding AI but this is a one person passion project with no plans for expansion to other platforms.

I'll stick with LibreWolf on Linux and will try Orion when it's released for Linux. But given the AI plans for Orion I don't expect I'll be a long-term user.

Le sigh.

I don't have comments but I love email or you can find me on Mastodon.

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