2y ago

Firefox takes too long to open lately, what lightweight browser would you recommend for Linux?

Maybe I've installed too many plugins? I have close to 20.

Edit: It was just an issue on Arch Linux.

No, I am 40 plugins all active and they have not changed my browser load time almost at all.
Make sure there are no other issues. If you are on Arch Linux, there is a problem with xdg-desktop-portal-gnome that if installed will slowdown loading of many programs.

21 comments

There are a few Firefox forks:
LibreWolf
Waterfox
Arkenfox
And then there is Brave which I find smoother than Firefox, but that's just me.
- +1 for LibreWolf, great Firefox fork
- Yeah but by using brave you are contributing to the browser engine monopoly that chromium has created
  
  And I support Mozilla goal of creating something independent, but I also don't like their engine. Everything using Blink is not automatically a bad thing.
No, I am 40 plugins all active and they have not changed my browser load time almost at all.
Make sure there are no other issues. If you are on Arch Linux, there is a problem with xdg-desktop-portal-gnome that if installed will slowdown loading of many programs.
- That was it thanks.
- In my case, xdg-desktop-portal-gnome is required by xdg-desktop-portal, which in turn is required by flatpak. I wonder what effect will removing have on apps?
  
  It means Gnome is the only installed Portal protocol manager. Install one of these first, then remove the Gnome one https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/XDG_Desktop_Portal#List_of_backends_and_interfaces
As others have said, Librewolf and Waterfox are both forks of Firefox.
That said, i am using Firefox on Fedora from the repos with no issues. Do you use the snap version? Ubuntu ships it default and it is as trash as snaps are in general (it has exactly the problem you stated, taking too long to open). There are guides to install the .deb version (apt installs the snap version...) or you could use flatpak. Another thing to check is if you have a new addon / plugin running thats hogging resources.
- Another thing you can try is some kind of caching solution, like profile-sync-daemon that will out your profile in RAM.
If you're on ubuntu or any of it's derivatives, Firefox is installed via snap by default. Snaps are late to start because of reasons beyond my understanding.
Web is not lightweight. I think Gemini could be better, but it's far from popular. https://drewdevault.com/2020/03/18/Reckless-limitless-scope.html
I love LibreWolf. It's a Firefox-based privacy browser. You could give Brow.sh a try. A truly remarkable experience :)
I can't really leave Firefox but use some extensions to try to lighten the experience, like uBlock Origin configured for "hard mode," TabStash with eager discarding turned on, and LocalCDN.
As others have said, Librewolf is excellent
Try starting firefox in safe mode. If the load time is still too long then it is not the plugins.
I’ve used NetSurf a bit on low spec machines.
@InternetPirate lynx
If you're on ubuntu, try starting it from terminal instead. If it starts immediately, then it's a snap issue. Not sure if it's already been addressed tho

21 comments