LibreWolf
4 of 5 Stars
Customized Firefox, with an eye toward security and privacy. Follows the stable release channel so it's usually up to date. (Waterfox follows the extended-support releases.) Differences seem to mostly be in default settings (like clearing site data when you close the browser), pre-installed uBlock Origin, plus some security hardening: primarily disabling or altering features that can leak data usable to identify your browser, as well as removing "generative AI" features that Firefox has started building directly into the browser.
Upside: better privacy! From what I can tell, LibreWolf and Brave are comparable in terms of browsing privacy, but of course LibreWolf doesn't have Brave's crypto, ads and AI bloat.
Brave's crypto, ads and AI bloat
Downside: Sites that rely on, say, WebGL, or DRM'd video, or reading Canvas, may not work right (or at all). I've only had trouble so far with Panoramax (which needs WebGL) and uploading to Flickr (which might be a Flatpak thing since it also happens with Waterfox). I do find it annoying that anti-fingerprinting blocks auto-switching between light and dark mode. (It's also worth considering your threat model and the fact that small projects still depend on Mozilla for finding and fixing vulnerabilities, and not all the documentation has been updated to refer or link to LibreWolf.)
auto-switching between light and dark mode
Otherwise the experience is very much like using Firefox.
Note: LibreWolf guards against most everyday tracking, but can't hide what network you're using or hide your activity from that network. For more serious privacy you'll want something like Tor, or a VPN you can trust not to be tracking you itself. Check out EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense for recommendations.
I've mainly used LibreWolf on macOS and Fedora Linux, though I've made a point to try it on Windows as well.
Sync and Extensions
LibreWolf can sync settings and bookmarks through Firefox Sync. That seems like a weird choice for a privacy-focused fork, but the data is encrypted before uploading, so Mozilla shouldn't be able to read your sync data even if they wanted to. Though if you use other Firefox-based browsers and sync through the same account, you might end up with a weird mix of settings. I already use Floccus (which lets you bring your own storage) to sync bookmarks with other browsers (including Chromium ones), and it works just fine on here.
the data is encrypted before uploading
LibreWolf is compatible with all Firefox Add-ons, but they recommend just installing a password manager and nothing else. Extensions can increase your attack surface, and sites can look for specific add-ons and use the list of which ones they find to identify you.
As for password managers, they recommend KeePassXC-Browser or BitWarden. I use KeePassXC, but it takes a little effort to get it working with KeePassXC-Browser. I've been able to get natively-installed packages on Linux and macOS to talk to KeePass just by linking the user config files mentioned there. But Flatpak makes it more complicated, and I haven't managed to get it to work yet.
get it working with KeePassXC-Browser
Flatpak makes it more complicated
I haven't managed to get it to work yet
Availability and Updates
Windows has an installer with an optional auto-updater, and is also available through the Microsoft Store. Some of the older reviews mention trouble specific to the MS Store version, but it seems to work OK now.
There's a macOS disk image, but it doesn't auto-update. For now, they recommend Homebrew to handle updates, but since the app isn't notarized (yet), macOS will insist it's "damaged" and refuse to run it until you manually remove it from quarantine:
Homebrew used to offer a --no-quarantine option for installing, upgrading or reinstalling the cask, but it's been removed as of March 2026 as they phase out distributing unsigned casks.
For Linux they have a few repositories you can add for systems based on Fedora, Debian, Arch etc., plus a Flatpak. The Flatpak is simpler if you don't need native messaging, but if you do, it's easier to set up an extra repository than to get the Flatpak to talk to KeePassXC.
And it's available for all three platforms on both Intel and ARM!
There's no mobile version, though they recommend IronFox for Android.
— Kelson Vibber, 2025-03-06. Updated 2026-03-26.
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