Last November 2020 I wrote an article about the reasons why Edge Chromium is better than Google Chrome, and honestly at that time I really liked Microsoft's new browser, besides being fast, it was preinstalled with Windows 10 Pro that I was using, the features that were presented were very useful for us.
Yep, at least until a few months back, until finally Microsoft started to launch a lot of useless features in this browser.
Now as we know, besides Microsoft Edge Chromium, Google Chrome is often used as a comparison in this war between browsers, and after several years of development, I think Google Chrome actually looks simpler, and more stable than Microsoft Edge Chromium, why? let's talk guys.
Google Chrome at a glance
Chrome was released in 2008. Before it became the most popular in the world, Internet Explorer (IE) controlled a market share of up to 95%. IE is the predecessor to Edge as Microsoft's default browser on Windows.
Google Chrome overtook Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox in just a few years. Currently, Chrome has a market share of 61.96%, while Microsoft's default browser, Edge, is currently only 4.49% across all platforms.
Chrome was originally created to run on Windows and was later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android. Most of Google Chrome's source code is based on Chromium, a free open source software project from Google.
Microsoft Edge at a glance
Microsoft released Edge in 2015 along with Windows 10 and Xbox One. Edge replaced Internet Explorer as the default browser, and in 2022, IE will be discontinued completely.
Edge was originally an HTML-based browser, but in 2020 Microsoft released a new version of Edge based on Chromium, the same Google open source software used by Chrome. Microsoft Edge is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
Microsoft Edge only has a market share of 11.62%, being Chrome's closest competitor which controls 65.45% of the desktop market share. While the gap between the two is quite large, Microsoft's switch to Chromium makes Edge much more competitive with Chrome and may offer hope of closing the gap between the two.
About Google Chrome vs Microsoft Edge
1. To The Point
Google does add some services, especially to Google Chrome, such as default extensions, and several services that indirectly send telemetry to the Google company itself, but if we compare it with Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome is actually more To The Point, where Google Chrome is intended. more as a browser only, and does not carry the frills PDF Viewer, Shopping features, Immersive Reader, Collections and others.
For Internet users who just want to surf the internet, I think Google Chrome is better than Microsoft Edge Chromium.
2. Few Useless Features
Once again I say that Microsoft has added a lot of features in Microsoft Edge, whether users will use it or not, Microsoft is adding them all, for example, as will be present in the future, namely Skype Meet Now integration in Microsoft Edge Chromium and features that have been present such as Shopping features in Microsoft Edge have even become spam fields, will they be used by all users? I do not think so.
The features that are predicted to be the advantages of Microsoft Edge Chromium are actually a double-edged sword, because after all, not everyone uses Microsoft services such as Skype or Microsoft Teams, besides that not everyone also cares about features such as Microsoft Rewards, Bing, and others.
Meanwhile, Google Chrome provides what users want, a browser that is simple, fast and integrated with all the Google services that are basically the most widely used today.
3. Current Resource Usage
In the past, Microsoft Edge Chromium had advantages in terms of Resource Management, because there were a number of Google services that were removed and replaced with services from Microsoft, besides the Sleeping tabs feature itself was very useful.
But the days kept changing and time passed, these two tech giants continued to compete to develop their respective chromium based browsers, until finally the difference in performance and resource usage between the two is now not much different.
In addition, although Microsoft Edge has advantages in terms of lower resource users, unfortunately with the many integrations added by Microsoft, it actually adds to the resource burden for the browser itself.
Edge vs Chrome comparison
Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome have a lot in common. As competitors, Microsoft and Google usually do not allow long-term gaps between the two products. You can use it to browse privately, surf the internet seamlessly, and clearing the cache in both is easy.
However, there are still some differences between the two. Let's look at the features one by one.
1. User interface
If you're used to Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge's user interface will feel quite familiar (and vice versa). For example, you can open multiple tabs in each window, and you can bookmark favorite pages. The differences are minor and mostly depend on personal taste.
2. Tab
By default, Chrome and Edge place tabs in a row at the top of the screen. However, you will get additional options in Edge. Microsoft Edge provides the option to switch to vertical tabs on the left side of the page.
The vertical tab feature is not available in Chrome by default. However, you can get the feature with the help of extensions in the Chrome Web Store, but none of them work as smoothly as Microsoft Edge's built-in vertical tabs.
Edge and Chrome also let you create tab groups. There's not much difference here, both browsers let you choose a color and name for each group and will automatically shuffle the tabs so that tabs in the same group are next to each other.
3. Bookmarks and Favorites
Chrome calls them Bookmarks, and Edge calls them Favorites, but the concept is the same. You can bookmark your favorite pages for easy access later. Both browsers let you pin some of these favorites to the top bar and put others in a drop-down list. You can organize your Bookmarks or Favorites into folders.
Microsoft Edge offers a feature called “Collections” that serves as another way to organize links into groups. You can add links, images, or copied pieces of text to collections. You can also add notes to collections.
Collections can be sent to Microsoft Docs, Excel, OneDrive, or Pinterest. Collections sync across your devices.
Google also has a similar feature called Collections. Google Collections is not specific to Chrome. You can access them and add them easily from Edge. Google Collections are shared by allowing other Google accounts to have access.
4. Theme and Dark Mode
If you don't like the default look of Edge or Chrome, you have plenty of custom themes to choose from. Chrome themes are available from the Chrome Web Store. There's no specific dark mode setting, but many of the available themes are dark.
If you use Edge, you can customize the browser's appearance from the Appearance settings page. Choose whether you want the overall appearance to be light, dark, or default, then choose a theme.
You can choose from 14 basic color themes in Settings. If you want other themes, you can get themes from the Microsoft Edge Store or Web Chrome Store.
5. Immersive Reader
Immersive Reader is a unique feature of Microsoft Edge that converts the pages you read into an ebook-like format with a simple, uncluttered layout. Chrome doesn't have a built-in Immersive reader. However, like features that are not found in most Chrome, you can add them via extensions.
6. Search engine
By default, Google Chrome uses Google as its search engine, and Microsoft Edge uses Bing. But you can easily change the default search engine on both browsers, so it's unlikely to be a factor in choosing your favorite browser.
7. Mobile Version
Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge both have Android and iOS versions. However, Edge is not very popular on mobile devices. Chrome's market share is 59.81%, while Edge isn't even in the top 5 market share browsers on Mobile. This translates to less than 0.53% of market share.
This proves that Microsoft's influence in making Edge the default Windows browser was huge in helping Edge gain market share.
8. Performance
Even though Chrome and Edge are both Chromium-based using the Blink engine, that doesn't mean they have the same performance.
Microsoft claimed that Edge was 112% faster than Chrome when it was first released. It's hard to determine how accurate these exact statistics are, but many users have done their own testing and come to the same conclusion: Edge is faster than Chrome.
For example, Avast tested multiple browsers and found that Edge ran faster than Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Vivaldi. Chrome itself is also often labeled by users as a browser that uses a lot of resources.
Tom's Guide ran this test and found that Chrome used more RAM across tests. For example, with 60 tabs open, Chrome uses 3.7 GB, while Edge uses only 2.9 GB.
9. Backup and Sync
Until now, Edge had limited sync capabilities. For example, there's no option to sync history across devices. However, Microsoft started rolling out this feature in 2021. Edge can now sync almost everything Chrome can, including:
- Bookmarks/favorites
- Extension
- History
- Arrangement
- Tab
- Passwords
- Address
- Payment method
With Edge, you have to manually enable cross-device sync in the settings. Chrome will sync your devices by default, but can be turned off if you want. Enabling sync is a great way to ensure your favorite settings and data are backed up in case unexpected problems occur.
10. Cross Device Accessibility
Google Chrome runs on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, and Chrome OS (the operating system on Chromebooks). Microsoft Edge runs on all the same platforms except Chrome OS.
If you want to install Edge on your Chromebook, you can do so using the Linux version of the browser.
11. Security and Privacy
Browsers are one of the most common malware targets. Of all PC exploitation attacks, 29.13% of them attacked browsers. It's important to choose a browser with strong security features.
Apart from preventing cyber attacks, another important thing that a browser must have is that it must allow users to manage their privacy and how their data is used.
Neither Chrome nor Edge are the most secure browsers compared to other browsers. If privacy is your priority, browsers like Tor, Brave, and Firefox are better choices. But Edge and Chrome do have some useful security features.
Edge's privacy settings are easier to understand and manage. You can choose one of three levels of tracking prevention and see a list of blocked tracking. Chrome only allows you to send “do not track” requests to websites. Both browsers allow you to manage cookies from the sites you visit.
In terms of security against malware and phishing, Windows Defender SmartScreen is Microsoft Edge's mainstay in protecting users. Chrome also has a built-in anti-malware feature. This works well, and any browser should be relatively safe from exploits if kept up to date.
Chrome is known to be very fast in updating to fix vulnerabilities to malware. Edge also updates regularly, but not as fast as Chrome. Google collects more user data than Microsoft does and has been caught in legal action for allegedly collecting data from users browsing in incognito mode.
12. Extension
The Chrome Web Store provides more than 150,000 extensions that can be used to improve your surfing experience in cyberspace. Microsoft Edge offers a smaller number of extensions. However, that doesn't necessarily make Edge much worse than Chrome.
Currently Edge is Chromium based, you can use Google Chrome extensions by opening the Chrome Web Store in Edge. Then click allow extensions from Other Stores at the top. Now you can install extensions in Edge like in Chrome.
13. Other features
Both browsers actually have many other features that have not been discussed in this article, especially if you include additional functionality from extensions. But there are some other cool things you might not know that you can do with the browser.
14. Coupon finder
Maybe this feature is not very useful for us. However, here I am just showing that this feature exists. Microsoft Edge has a coupon search feature that helps save on your shopping.
This feature will notify you if there is a coupon code available for the product on that page. There is a blue marker in the address bar if the product page has a coupon.
15. Casting
You can cast your Chrome browser to your TV using a ChromeCast device. Chrome only supports ChromeCast as a transmission medium to TV. Edge has more casting options. You can cast media to any device that supports Miracast or DLNA and you can also cast to Chromecast.
16. Task manager
Chrome and Edge both have built-in task managers that let you monitor resource usage from tabs and extensions.
Is Edge Faster than Chrome?
Both Edge and Chrome are chromium-based browsers. However, Microsoft has tweaked it to make it faster than Chrome. It is said that Microsoft's dev team has removed all unwanted code and trackers to make it faster than Chrome.
Which Browser is Better: Chrome or Edge?
In the past, people would judge Chrome to be better and this is natural because there are many Chrome features that Edge doesn't have. However, since Edge switched to Chromium, that opinion is not entirely true. Microsoft is gradually adding Chrome's best features to Edge.
Now, the two have become so similar and somewhat evenly matched. Now, in some areas, Edge has the edge. If you prioritize speed or low resource consumption, you should choose Microsoft Edge over Chrome.
Now with these three points of comparison, we can already see that currently Microsoft Edge Chromium is not even better than Google Chrome, this is because once again Microsoft continues to add features that users don't even need, if Microsoft Edge Chromium brings features that only Users want, at least as before when the initial release, maybe the assessment and this article will change sides.
I myself have been using Google Chrome for almost six months now, and because I am using Windows 10 LTSC, luckily Microsoft Edge Chromium is not preinstalled and I can completely remove it from the system I use.
So do you have the same opinion as us? comment below guys.