Andy Walker / Android Authority
I open Microsoft Edge, and everything just feels right. It’s not flashy or experimental. It’s stable, fast, and capable. It “just works.” I’ve jumped between browsers over the years, the way someone tests mattresses. I’m always seeking that one that feels just right. But no matter what I try, I keep returning to Edge.
Microsoft’s modern Chromium-based browser has earned my trust with thoughtful features, dependable performance, and a seamless cross-platform experience. It has all the extensions I can use on Chrome. It has a fantastic password manager, handles passkeys, and can be customized more than Chrome. Sure, it’s not perfect, but for me, it’s just right, and that’s what I’m looking for in a browser.
Have you ever seriously tried Microsoft Edge? 25 votes Yes it's my primary browser 40 % Now and again 36 % No, but I'll give it a shot 4 % Only to download another browser 20 %
All hail Google Chrome
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
I’m a tech enthusiast, especially for consumer and small business-facing software. I get easily distracted by the next shiny thing, like when Arc Browser dropped. I let myself get caught up in the buzz around Arc, and when I tried it out finally I was left a little disappointed. Sidebar tabs? Well, Edge has had those forever as an option. Spaces were not that interesting, because Edge has Workspaces. The peek feature is kinda neat, I guess, but overall, I just went back to using Edge and forgot about Arc.
I started with Netscape Navigator back in the day, then slowly migrated to Internet Explorer. Firefox was the first browser I was excited to use. The open-source alternative to Explorer fit what I wanted perfectly. It was fast, pretty, and easy to use. It didn’t stall out the way Internet Explorer did, because it wasn’t bloated and clunky. Then came Chrome.
I started with Netscape Navigator back in the day.
Like many others, I jumped on Chrome the day it was released in Canada. I had already been a Gmail user for four years. Chrome was exciting, simple, fast, reliable. It looked great, it had a massive extension library, and soon Google made it so I could access my entire online life through this one browser.
But Google became increasingly disjointed. It kept shutting down popular services, and the bloat crept into Chrome. The company grew more monopolistic. So I started shopping for a replacement.
My browser-hopping period
Megan Ellis / Android Authority
I tried Vivaldi for its extreme customization. It felt like the Linux of browsers. I found it overkill for my daily use, and too complicated. Opera was okay, but I just never fell in love with it. I even used the original Microsoft Edge, launched in 2015. It used Microsoft’s own proprietary rendering engine and the Chakra JavaScript engine. It was sluggish, and lacked extension support. It was like a prettier version of Internet Explorer, so I wasn’t surprised when Microsoft canned it.
Brave was maybe the best Chrome alternative of the bunch. Fast, reliable, and with superb privacy tools built in like an ad blocker and a VPN. The crypto stuff was sketchy, and the project’s leadership is questionable with its politics. But then Microsoft released a Chromium-based Edge in 2020.
What Edge gets right
My Bing on Microsoft Edge. Outlook Calendar side panel. The Collections feature. Edge's Workspaces tool.
Edge’s compatibility across platforms drew me in. I use a Windows desktop PC for most of my work, and a MacBook Pro for my on-the-go work. Edge syncs history, passwords, and tabs seamlessly between the two. More than that, however, was how well it manages memory. It’s as light as a feather on RAM usage compared to Chrome. It even uses less RAM than Safari on Mac.
The vertical tabs feature is great. I can keep things tidy by moving tabs to the vertical edge of the browser, instead of having dozens of tabs crowded into a shrinking horizontal bar. This is invaluable when researching an article or juggling multiple projects at once.
Collections is another standout feature. I use Collections to gather links, screenshots, and create Pinterest-like shopping lists of things I want to buy one day. It’s a built-in digital scrapbook, and it lives in a little sidebar I can access at any time, without having to leave whatever I’m working on. I recently interviewed some musicians for an article, and I used this Collections feature to keep everything organized in a way that was better than any of my note-taking apps.
I use Collections to gather links, screenshots, and create Pinterest-like shopping lists of things I want to buy one day.
Workspaces are another win for Edge, in my books. I can sort multiple tabs into a workspace, and it will keep them all even when I close Edge. To get back into them, I just choose the workspace I want and everything opens up just the way I left them. There’s so much more, as well, like a great Reader Mode, something Chrome still struggles with, a PDF viewer that lets me markup documents right in the web browser, and even a math solver.
Where Edge falls short
Bing's busy news feed on Microsoft Edge.
Nothing is perfect, and Edge is far from it. It leans too hard into Microsoft’s ecosystem. I understand the need for Microsoft to nag people to use Edge on Windows, but switching default browsers is a little too much for most people. Luckily for me, I chose to stick with Edge. Bing isn’t bad, but I like Ecosia myself, and the constant prompts to switch to Bing in Edge is enough to make me use Firefox now and again. At least that browser respects my choices as an adult.
The opening screen in Edge is a little chaotic until you wrest it under control. I don’t care for Bing’s news. It doesn’t seem to ever understand what I’m interested in. Google Discover knows I don’t care about the latest episode of Love Is Blind. Bing can’t seem to figure that out, even when I blatantly click “Don’t show me this” on the news story.
The Edge mobile browser feels a little too cramped. It’s like Microsoft tried to jam the desktop interface into the mobile app. It works great, and everything loads fast, but as a UX guy, I don’t like it. Of course I can customize it. But most consumers won’t, and they’ll see the ugly mobile interface and switch back to Chrome. It’s a serious oversight by Microsoft.
It works great, and everything loads fast, but as a UX guy, I don't like it.
In fact, despite all the features and improvements, Edge has a reputation problem stemming back to the Internet Explorer days. Many people associate Edge with the old Microsoft, before Satya Nadella transformed the company into the sleek and modern beast it is today. Many still see the company as the one run by sweaty Steve Balmer and Bill Gates awkwardly dancing on stage for the Windows 95 release. Edge, as a result, is the “thing you use to download Chrome.”
Why it sticks with me Edge just works, even despite these annoyances. It’s just a reliable tool for my life. Reading, surfing the web, working, you name it, Edge does the job and never fails. I’ve never had a crash or a slowdown. It’s like Chrome, but sleeker and with more productive tools built right in.
The UI is clean and functional, on desktop at least. The sidebar means I can quickly check something without leaving the page. I can even do a separate web search in the sidebar, without leaving the page in the main window. I often draft quick notes in that sidebar with the source open right in the main window.
At the end of the day, it’s a Microsoft tool, and its privacy isn’t any better or worse than Google’s tools. But I trust Microsoft more than Google, at least when it comes to its motivations for my data. I appreciate its enterprise-first, no-advertising approach to development. I still use Fastmail for most of my productivity, but Edge is the browser I keep coming back to.