Brave vs Chrome: Should You Switch to Crypto-Friendly Browser?

In today’s digital age, the choice of a web browser is more than just about surfing the web. It’s about security, efficiency, and, recently, cryptocurrency integration. Brave and Chrome stand out as two leading contenders, each offering unique features. But the question remains, should you switch to a more crypto-friendly option like Brave?

Brave vs Chrome: A feature comparison

Before we dive into the details, let’s compare the core features of Brave and Chrome from a general standpoint.

User interface and experience

User interface and overall experience are, in my opinion, the most important factors when deciding which browser to use. Glitchy behavior, random bugs, and a convoluted user interface will make even the best browser on paper painful to use.

It’s hard to give either browser an edge in this category. The design language is mostly the same between the two, apart from some buttons being reshuffled a bit. Brave does feel a bit more minimalistic in its approach, both thanks to its sharper lines and slightly smaller default font. Both browsers feel fast and responsive and require little time to set up.

Pro Tip: If you are switching from Chrome to Brave, you can quickly import all the settings, bookmarks, and extensions thanks to the built-in setup wizard. It takes just a couple of minutes.

Performance and speed

Overall, both browsers feel speedy and responsive. In fact, I’d say that Brave feels faster on most occasions. However, comparing the two browsers with Speedometer 2.0 – a popular benchmark tool that simulates users’ internet activity behavior – indicated that Chrome actually performs faster. I ran a couple of consecutive tests, with both browsers using the same extensions (or no extensions for a couple of tests) and all other settings as equal as possible. The results showed Chrome outperforming Brave by roughly 30% to as high as 90% (over 10 test runs).

However, when I switched to the updated Speedometer 2.1 the results were far more in line with what I actually felt using the two browsers. Five consecutive tests later, the tests showed virtually no difference between the two browsers, with Brave recording an average score of 228 and Chrome an average score of 229. Given that both browsers use the same underlying codebase (Chromium), these results shouldn’t really come as a surprise.

Comparing Brave and Chrome browser results from Speedometer (a higher value is better).

To be fair, the tests will vary significantly between different users, and you could get completely different results depending on the hardware and extensions you are using. Still, they do show that there is little difference between Chrome and Brave in terms of performance.

CPU and RAM usage were also pretty similar between the two browsers. In general, I’d get slightly lower RAM usage with Brave (within a couple of percentages) and the same CPU load under the same browser states.

Privacy and ad-free experience

Privacy and tracking-blocking tools are categories where the Brave browser shines. It blocks cross-site trackers, invasive ads, insecure HTTP connections, and has in-built malware and phishing protection. Granted, Chrome does block some of the trackers and protects against insecure connections and malware attacks, but not to the degree that Brave does. 

Sure, you can install extensions that upgrade Chrome’s capabilities so they are similar to Brave’s. However, that means you have to use different extensions, which increases the likelihood of your browser getting bogged down and getting unresponsive.

Brave also has a handy dashboard (accessible when opening a new tab by default) that shows you the exact number of trackers and ads that were blocked and how much bandwidth that saved you.

It’s worth noting that Brave also boats an integrated VPN (however, it does cost $9.99/month after the free trial expires) and an ultra-private Tor software, which hides your IP and makes it more difficult to trace your Internet activity.

Crypto and Web3 features

We’ve arrived at another feature set where Brave holds a significant advantage over Chrome. Brave’s unique selling point is the integration of Basic Attention Tokens (BAT), which rewards users for their attention while ensuring privacy and security.

In order to claim BAT rewards, you need to open and connect an Uphold account in the Brave browser, or use a Gemini account. Unfortunately, you cannot transfer your BAT rewards directly to your preferred digital wallet, like MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet. BAT rewards given to users account for 70% of the ad revenue that Brave receives from advertisers.

It’s worth noting that BAT is trading on cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance, KuCoin, and many others, which means that you can easily exchange BAT for real money, either by converting it to fiat or to other cryptocurrencies.

Chrome, on the other hand, has no first-party features comparable to Brave when it comes to crypto rewards. Still, you can use various crypto-focused extensions to use crypto services and expand your browser’s capabilities that way.

Extensions and customization

There’s a very significant overlap when comparing both browser’s customization options and extensions library. As we’ve mentioned before, Brave is built on the Chromium codebase, which means that virtually every extension designed for Chrome works on Brave as well.

Customization options are also pretty similar between the two browsers – they both allow you to change the default color scheme or theme, personalize your default starting page, and more. Brave does make things a little more customizable thanks to in-built widgets, which allow you to quickly check the time, follow the news, check your BAT rewards, and more. Chrome is no slouch in this department either, as it allows you to pin your most visited pages and explore the personalized Google News feed right from the browser’s homepage.

Should you switch from Chrome to Brave?

Deciding between Brave and Chrome hinges on individual preferences and needs. If privacy, cryptocurrency integration, and ad-free browsing are your priorities, Brave is an excellent choice. The company behind Brave doesn’t sell user information, unlike Chrome, which sells your browsing history to third parties. 

However, for users invested heavily in the Google ecosystem and seeking a seamless integration with Google services, Chrome remains a strong contender. If you want to learn more about Google and its rather unusual double-stock market listing, check the difference between GOOG and GOOGL stocks.