Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are the most popular and most used web browsers on Linux Desktop. Google Chrome offers Google synchronization, which many people depend on. And Firefox, in other hand, is the default web browser of countless Linux distributions that promises better security and privacy. The two are a pair every Linux user might always have on their Linux desktop.
However, sometimes we need to casually have fun and or need to open a website in a small and fast web browser that works with modern websites. Here are the top 5 most lightweight Linux web browser you have to take a look:
1. Midori
Midori was originally a part of Xfce desktop component. It is small, looks good and works with modern website like YouTube.
You can install the latest version through Snap or Flatpak:
snap install midori
flatpak install flathub org.midori_browser.Midori
If you're using Ubuntu 20.04, Midori is available in the official repository you can install easily:
sudo apt install midori
2. Otter Browser
Otter Browser is a small browser, originally forked from Opera 12x but built on modern Qt technology. It is really small but works well with modern websites.
You can download and compile otter browser source code from its official website. However, if you don't want to waste your time to compile, there is a PPA you can grab the deb installer from this page.
For Ubuntu 20.04+, choose the focal version, and install the package using sudo dpkg -i *.deb
Palemoon is a lightweight web browser, based on Mozilla Firefox before Quantum engine. It is intended to be a friendly web browser that works with modern website and compatible with previous Firefox addons.
You can grab the deb or add the palemoon repository from this page.
4. Seamonkey
Seamonkey is an internet suite mainly consists of web browser, mail client and composer. It was originally a fork of Mozilla Application Suite that later becomes Mozilla Firefox.
You can download the binary packages, extract and simply click the seamonkey binary inside the extracted folder. You can download the latest Seamonkey from its official website.
Based on my opinion, Qutebrowser is a very intuitive web browser, focused on keyboard. The interface is presented in shell like appearance and you have to use keyboard to navigate the menus. Despite being small and really fast, Qutebrowser works with modern website like YouTube.
You can install Qutebrowser directly from Ubuntu official repository:
sudo apt install qutebrowser
Conclusion
There are a lot of web browsers with their own niche. Some offer full featured, complex package, some promise security, and some say they're really fast.
But fast is not enough today. Modern websites are built on modern technologies, we need web browsers that not only fast, but also compatible with latest, modern website technologies.
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