Worst Popular Browsers for Tracking & Data Protection

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exec
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29 Dec 2025, 7:50 pm

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If you ever wondered how your daily driver browsers like Chrome, Edge, and others hold up when it comes to your privacy, a new report by iGaming software provider Digitain sheds light on it, and the findings will shock you. ChatGPT Atlas, which OpenAI recently launched to take on the likes of Perplexity’s Comet AI browser and others, is reportedly the latest private browser tested.

Digitain says that it analyzed 13 popular browsers using dozens of technical privacy and security checks. The findings suggest that newer AI-powered browsers may trade convenience for weaker user protection. Per the report, ChatGPT Atlas failed every state partitioning test.

In simple words, this means that websites can track users across browsing sessions without any issues. The browser scored just 1 out of 100 for anti-fingerprinting protection and 0 for tracker blocking, resulting in a near-maximum Privacy Risk Score of 99.

Surprisingly, Google Chrome ranked as the second-worst browser for privacy, grabbing a risk score of 76. While Chrome performed moderately in preventing browser identification, it scored zero for blocking trackers. Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, and Opera followed closely, all showing limited blocking measures against data collection despite small improvements in certain areas.

On the other hand, Brave and Mullvad reportedly offered the best privacy protections. Both successfully blocked trackers and minimized fingerprinting across tests. You can check the list of browsers with the highest privacy risks:

Speaking of the findings, Digitain’s digital marketing lead, Paruyr Harutyunyan, warned that AI features don’t automatically translate to safer browsing. AI systems, as you may know, depend on large data sets, which can increase data exposure if protections are weak.

All that said, AI browsers may feel futuristic, but when it comes to privacy, traditional privacy-first tools still are on top. For users concerned about tracking, the smartest upgrade might not involve AI at all.

https://windowsreport.com/chrome-among- ... rotection/

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exec
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04 Jan 2026, 6:44 pm

In this article they mention Mullvad as being a good alternative, but beware it sucks. Avoid it ... it is so slow. I still endorse LibreWolf (I'm using it right now to type this and music will play if you reset the referer to its default) as being one of the best for no telemetry and Firefox with arkenfox and betterfox is my close 2nd.

EDIT:

Sorry for the multiple edits but my mind is mush today and I'm struggling pretty badly to concentrate.

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Kitty4670
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08 Jan 2026, 12:50 am

Microsoft Edge is not really good cuz of tracking, if you use InPrivate for Edge is that better? I use this browser. Can it be good if I have Webroot SecureVPN? Is Brave browser really better or DuckDuckGo? What about Safari? I never sure what is better, cuz internet can lie.

uncommondenominator
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08 Jan 2026, 12:56 am

I use Brave.

All of my friends who work in tech, IT, cybersecurity etc use it as well.

Arabian_Ivy
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08 Jan 2026, 1:03 am

^
Same. I use Brave also on my smartphone. Not for privacy reasons but for its built-in ad-blocker. Youtube is slow but I’m not in a hurry.

exec
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08 Jan 2026, 6:07 am

Kitty4670 wrote:

You can set Edge to its highest and also spoof you personal IP in Edge. In the address bar type: Chrome://flags to further make it a private as can be for Chromium.

Also under settings: ->Three (3) dots in the far right corner ->Settings ->Privacy, Search, an services -> Tracking protection.

I use Edge and its fine and fast but less private compare to FF or LW [https://librewolf.net/]. Regrettable I've not yet tried duckduckgo browser - maybe this weekend I'll fire it up and give it a go. Sorry I don't trust Brave at al because its a bitcoin Harvester . Edge, FF, and LW should cooperate with your vpn. Good luck and most importantly have fun.

Pleas let me know if you anymore assistance.

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Last edited by exec on 08 Jan 2026, 6:38 am, edited 2 times in total.

exec
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08 Jan 2026, 6:10 am

Arabian_Ivy wrote:

^
Same. I use Brave also on my smartphone. Not for privacy reasons but for its built-in ad-blocker. Youtube is slow but I’m not in a hurry.

https://librewolf.net/ has a built in integrated tracking blocker in it and its firefox based. Again, for Edge ... under settings: ->Three (3) dots in the far right corner ->Settings ->Privacy, Search, an services -> Tracking protection. Pleas give it shot. Try the portable version before you install it. Enjoy

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Last edited by exec on 08 Jan 2026, 9:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

Arabian_Ivy
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08 Jan 2026, 7:53 am

exec wrote:

Arabian_Ivy wrote:

^
Same. I use Brave also on my smartphone. Not for privacy reasons but for its built-in ad-blocker. Youtube is slow but I’m not in a hurry.

https://librewolf.net/ has a built in integrated tracking blocker in it and its firefox based. U
under settings: ->Three (3) dots in the far right corner ->Settings ->Privacy, Search, an services -> Tracking protection. Pleas give it shot. Try the portable version before you install it. Enjoy

Just switched to LibreWolf. I’ll give it a week of testing.

The Dark Reader extension looks different on WP. I had to turn on a theme filter that makes everything a bit darker than I’m used to, but I’ll get used to it.

exec
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08 Jan 2026, 9:36 am

Arabian_Ivy wrote:

exec wrote:

Arabian_Ivy wrote:

^
Same. I use Brave also on my smartphone. Not for privacy reasons but for its built-in ad-blocker. Youtube is slow but I’m not in a hurry.

That is awesome and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do - best of luck to you.

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exec
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11 Jan 2026, 4:06 pm

How to remove AI from Firefox based browsers.

user_pref("browser.ml.enable", false); // general switch for machine learning features in Firefox (https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/commen ... f/nki10g9/), though it might not completely disable all features (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.c ... 971973#c11)
user_pref("browser.ml.chat.enabled", false); // AI Chatbot (https://docs.openwebui.com/tutorials/in ... t-settings)
user_pref("browser.ml.chat.sidebar", false);
user_pref("browser.ml.chat.menu", false); // remove "Ask a chatbot" from tab context menu
user_pref("browser.ml.chat.page", false); // remove option from page context menu
user_pref("extensions.ml.enabled", false); // might only be relevant for app developers
user_pref("browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.ml.pageAssist.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.ml.smartAssist.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled", false); // "Use AI to suggest tabs and a name for tab groups" in settings
user_pref("browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnabled", false);
user_pref("pdfjs.enableAltTextModelDownload", false); // "This prevents downloading the AI model unless the user opts in (by enabling the toggle to "Create alt text automatically" from "Image alt text settings" when viewing a PDF)"

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/commen ... e_browser/

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exec
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11 Jan 2026, 4:12 pm

However if you are using V140 ESR there isn't AI in it.

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exec
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12 Jan 2026, 8:46 pm

Arabian_Ivy wrote:

exec wrote:

Arabian_Ivy wrote:

^
Same. I use Brave also on my smartphone. Not for privacy reasons but for its built-in ad-blocker. Youtube is slow but I’m not in a hurry.

So how do you like LibreWolf thus far?

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Tim_Tex
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12 Jan 2026, 8:50 pm

Does Brave have built-in VPN?

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uncommondenominator
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13 Jan 2026, 3:42 pm

Tim_Tex wrote:

Does Brave have built-in VPN?

As far as I know, yes, it does.

Arabian_Ivy
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13 Jan 2026, 6:05 pm

exec wrote:

So how do you like LibreWolf thus far?

It’s great but I went back to Brave.
I forgot that YT was slow because I was singed in without subscription, but I could just open a new private window, and I was expecting to get used to the Dark Reader being different but I didn’t like the change.

exec
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13 Jan 2026, 9:09 pm

One day I'll give brave a try and its good to know its includes a VPN even though I normally don't use one.

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