20 Best Free Open Source Browser Software For Windows

Here is a list of best free open source browser software for Windows. These open source web browsers are same as standard web browsers (listed here) through which you can browse the internet. Although, the main difference is that these browsers are open source and allow you to download, view, and edit their source code without any restriction.

Through all of these open source browsers, you can easily browse the internet, open specific websites, watch online videos, listen to online music, and read articles. All standard features like bookmarks, search bar, multi-tab interface, preferences, etc., are also provided by these software. Other handy features like Read Mode (to reduce distractions), Offline Mode (to view saved pages when offline), Sync (to sync data between multiple devices), and more are also present in some software.

To further enhance the features of these browsers, you can add supported extensions and add-ons to them. However, all browsers do not support extensions and hence, you cannot enhance their functionality. Apart from extensions, you can also find many useful privacy features in these browsers like Private Mode, Tracker Blocker, Ads Blocker, etc.

Overall, most of these software are quite stable, responsive, and fast and you can use them without much hassle. Go through the list to know more about the features of these open source web browsers.

My Favorite Free Open Source Browser Software For Windows:

Firefox is my favorite browser software because it is very stable and provides all essential browser features. It also offers many advanced and privacy features like sync, private mode, content blocking, etc. It is also one of the most actively developed web browsers when compared to other open source browsers.

You can also check out lists of some best free Portable Browser, Offline Browser, and Web Browser software for Windows.

Firefox

Firefox is a free open source browser software for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android. It is a beautifully designed web browser in which you can easily open multiple websites at once due to its multitab interface. It is also quite stable and works great in both high and low specification systems. Plus, all the essential web browser features like bookmarks, find in pages, history viewer, zoom pages, etc., are present in it. However, it also comes with a lot of advanced features which make it a much better open-source browser when compared to other software. Let’s take a look at some of the advanced and main features of this software.

Highlights of Firefox:

• Sync: By using a Firefox account, you can easily sync your multiple devices which run this browser with each other. This feature lets you sync browsing history, bookmarks, tabs, passwords, and other preferences across all your devices.
• Content Blocking: It is an advanced feature that blocks all types of trackers which may track your browsing activities.
• Private Window: It is another important feature that automatically deletes all the browsing history and other online activities when you close the private window. This helps you prevent other users of your system from viewing or tracking your browsing activities.
• Work Offline: By enabling this feature, you can view all the cached webpages even when you are disconnected from the internet.
• Reader View: This feature provides a perfect article reading environment as it removes all distractions from the webpage except the main content.

These are some features which you can look forward to in this free open source web browser.

Additional Features:

• Extensions, Themes, and Add-on Support: You can find a lot of extensions, themes, and add-ons which you can easily add to this software to enhance the functionality and looks of this browser.
• Screenshots: This web browser also comes with an inbuilt screenshot feature that lets you quickly take a snapshot of a video or webpage.
• Mute Tab: This feature lets you mute individual tabs of this browser.

Final Thoughts:

It is one of the best free open source web browsers as it offers all the essential and advanced features inside a beautiful and user-friendly GUI. Plus, it is also very stable and is capable of holding many webpages without slowing down.

Chromium

Chromium is another free open-source browser software for Windows, Linux, MacOS, and ChromiumOS. This software is similar to the popular web browser Google Chrome. Basically, Google Chrome is based on this software. The overall design and functionality of this software are almost similar to Google Chrome. However, unlike Google Chrome, it is an open source web browser.

In this software, you can find all basic web browser features like multi-tab interface, bookmarks, history viewer, search bar, etc. Besides basic features, it also offers many important features which you expect from a browser like Incognito Mode, Sync, Extension Support, etc.

Main Features:

• Incognito Mode: This mode allows you to privately browse the web so that other users of your system cannot view your browsing activities.
• Extensions Support: This browser supports all the extensions of the Chrome Web Store. You can easily download and install an extension to this software to add more features to Chromium.
• Sync: Using it, you can synchronize browser data like bookmarks, history, saved passwords, tabs, and more between multiple devices with this browser. This browser uses the Google account to perform synchronization.

Additional Features:

• Task Manager: This feature is similar to the Windows Task Manager using which you can view all the running processes and how much resources they are taking. Plus, an option to end any process which is not responding properly is also available in it.
• Mute Site: Using this feature, you can easily mute video playing in a tab.
• Cast: It allows you to directly cast this browser with all its content over a screencast supported TV or screen.

Final Thoughts:

It is another very capable open source browser software as it offers all the important features which you can expect from a good web browser.

Brave

Brave is yet another free open source browser software for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android. This browser is based on Chromium and supports all the Chrome Web Store extensions and themes. This software is specially designed to give you a safe browsing experience by blocking all ads and trackers. It not only blocks unwanted ads and trackers but also provides a much faster browsing experience than the Chrome browser. The total number of blocked ads and trackers are also shown by it on its interface. The interface of this software is quite minimal and simple that gives a nice browsing experience. All essential browser features like Bookmarks Support, History Viewer, Sync, Multi-Tab Interface, etc., are present in it.

Let’s checkout some of the highlights of this open source web browser software:

Main Features:

• Sync: This browser has a unique sync feature as this software does not use an account to sync multiple devices with Brave browser. Instead, this software generates a code that you need to enter in the other devices which you want to sync with your main device. By syncing multiple devices, you can access passwords, bookmarks, history, and more browsing content from any of the synced devices.
• Extensions: Using external extensions, you can add more features and new themes to this browser.
• Private Window: Using it, you can privately surf the internet. In this mode, all the history, cache, etc., get deleted immediately as soon as you exit the private window.

Additional Features:

• Distill Page: It is basically a read mode that hides all the distractions like website design, graphics, ads, etc., from the interface and only shows the main article that you want to read.
• Task Manager: Using it, you can view which extensions and tabs are taking how much system resources. Plus, it also lets you terminate any tab or extension that you want.
• Cast: It lets you cast the content of this browser to any wireless or screencast supported TV.

Final Thoughts:

It is a very good open source browser if you want to avoid all types of trackers and ads while browsing the world wide web.

Waterfox

Waterfox is yet another free open source browser software on this list. It is a cross platform browser which is available for Windows, Linux, Mac, and Android. It is a quite fast yet simple web browser that comes with a beautifully designed user interface. Using it, you can quickly import bookmarks from other browsers and start using it. Plus, it also creates shortcuts of your most visited websites on its interface. All the latest features like read mode, private browsing, add-ons support, sync, preference customization, etc., are present in it.

Main Features:

• Sync: It lets you synchronize bookmarks, recent tabs, history, etc., with other devices with this web browser. It uses the Firefox account to perform synchronization.
• Private Browsing: It allows you to privately browse the internet as it does not save browsing history and cache.
• Read Mode: It provides an ideal reading environment to let you read articles without seeing other distractions like websites interface, ads, graphics, etc.

Additional Features:

• Add-ons: In this software, you can install all the Firefox supported add-ons, extensions, and themes to add more features to this web browser.
• Customization: Through this feature, you can manually define the position of add-ons over the interface of this browser.

Final Thoughts:

It is a very capable and beautifully designed open source web browser that you can definitely try if you like Firefox add-ons and extensions.

Pale Moon

Pale Moon is another one of free open source browser software for Windows and Linux. This web browser is based on Goanna and primarily built to provide an efficient browsing experience. The interface of this software is quite similar to the Internet Explorer and looks quite old and cluttered. However, unlike its appearance, it is quite stable to use.

Main Features:

• Most Visited: It is a handy feature that tracks your browsing activities and creates a list of most visited websites which you can quickly access from Most Visited section.
• Sync: This feature allows you to sync multiple devices containing the Pale Moon browser with each other. To use this feature, you need a Pale Moon account.
• Private Window: This window does not save history, cache, etc., to provide you a private browsing environment.

Additional Features:

• Add-ons: This software supports add-ons and you can find a lot of add-ons for this software.
• Library: Using it, you can organize your bookmarks, import bookmarks, export bookmarks, view tags, and view downloads.

Limitation:

The outdated interface is a limitation of this software.

Final Thoughts:

It is another decent open source browser that offers all essential features that you can expect from a good web browser software.

Midori

Midori is the next free open source browser software for Windows, Linux, and Android. It is a lightweight software that you can also download in a portable package. It comes with a minimalistic designed interface on which you can manually add shortcuts of websites which you frequently visit. Besides this, it offers all standard browser features like bookmarks, full-screen mode, history viewer, etc.

Main Features:

• Private Browsing: By using it, you can privately browse the internet as this private browsing mode does not save any history, cache, etc.
• Clear Private Browser: This feature allows you to choose exactly which type of private data you want to delete such as web cache, website icon, saved logins and passwords, cookies, etc.
• Applications: This feature allows you to add external applications (extensions) to this software to add more functionality to it. However, there are very limited applications for this software.

Limitations:

This software has a minimalistic as well as a very outdated design that looks quite old and pale. Plus, in my opinion, there is no useful application (extensions) for this browser that you can really use to enhance the functionality of this software.

Final Thoughts:

It is simple and easy to use open source browser, but its outdated interface and lack of features do not appeal to me as some other open source web browsers on this list.

QtWeb

QtWeb is a portable open source browser software for Windows, MacOS, Linux, and Unix. This web browser is based on Apple’s webkit rendering engine and Nokia’s QT framework. In this browser, you get all the essential features related to Privacy, Bookmarks, and History. Plus, its responsive multi-tab interface is also helpful in browsing the internet with ease.

Main Features:

• Privacy: Using it, you can browse the internet in private mode. In addition to that, it also lets you disable javascript, cookies, images, pop-ups, etc.
• Bookmarks: It is a menu through which you can bookmark a web page, view previously bookmarked pages, and import bookmarks from other web browsers.
• History: This allows you to view your browsing history and also access the previously visited web pages.

Final Thoughts:

It is a simple and responsive open source browser that anyone can use without much hassle.

Light

Light is another free open source browser which runs on Windows and Linux. This software is based on Firefox, but it does not contain some of the Firefox features in order to provide you a better browsing experience. Some of the Firefox features which it skips are read mode, sync, content blocking, etc. Still, it provides a good browsing experience because it is quick and offers a very functional interface that anyone can use with ease.

Features to look forward to:

• On-Screen Shortcuts: This software automatically creates multiple shortcuts of websites which you frequently visit.
• Add-on Support: This software supports all the Firefox add-ons.
• Private Window: You can use it to privately browse the internet so that no one can track your browsing history.
• Bookmarks: This software lets you create new bookmarks, manage existing bookmarks, and also import bookmarks from other web browsers.
• Customize: Using it, you can manually set the position of each add-on over the interface of this open source web browser.

Final Thoughts:

It is a simple, fast, and clean open source browser that can be used by anyone who needs a simple and quick web browser.

Basilisk

Basilisk is the next free open source web browser software for Windows and Linux. This browser is based on a XUL-based platform and uses the Firefox styled interface. Overall, it is very similar to Firefox and Pale Moon browser and contains the same set of features.

Main Features:

• Sync: It is a simple sync feature that allows you to sync bookmarks, history, etc., across multiple devices using this browser. In order to sync data, this software uses Pale Moon account.
• Private Window: You can use it to privately browse the internet because this mode does not save your browsing history and cache.
• Add-ons: You can add various Firefox compatible add-ons to this browser to improve the functionality of Basilisk.
• Customize: This feature lets you manually define the positions of add-ons icons over the interface of this browser.

Final Thoughts:

It is another stable and fast open source browser that you can use without much hassle.

SeaMonkey

SeaMonkey is one more free open source browser software based on Firefox. This browser works on Windows, Linux, and MacOS platforms. It is a simple and responsive browser software containing all essential features to browse the internet e.g., page navigating, bookmarks, add-on support, etc. However, it lacks one important feature that you get in other Firefox-based software that is the private mode.

Main Features:

• Sync: Using it, you can easily synchronize browsing and other data (history, add-ons, preferences, etc.) between multiple devices using this browser. To use this sync feature, you need a SeaMonkey account.
• Bookmarks: This bookmarking feature not only lets you bookmark favorite web pages, but it also lets you import existing bookmarks from Firefox, Chrome, and other web browsers.
• Clear Private Data: It allows you to manually decide which type of data you want to delete like browsing history, cache, cookies, offline website data, etc.
• Password Manager: As its name implies, it is used to manage all the passwords and usernames of different websites which you visit.
• Switch Profile: It allows you to quickly jump between one user account to another user account of this browser.

Final Thoughts:

It is another standard Firefox based open source browser that anyone can use to browse the internet with ease.

QupZilla

QupZilla is yet another free open source browser for Windows, Linux, and macOS. It is a sleek and responsive web browser that anyone can use without any hassle. In it, you get important Private Window and AdBlock features which help you privately browse the internet without distractions of ads.

On its interface, you can view all the frequently visited webpages which allow you to quickly jump to any previously visited website. Plus, according to your requirements, you can add more speed dials on its interface to accommodate site links of more frequently visited websites. Besides that, all standard browser features like multi-window interface, bookmarks, history manager, etc., are there in it.

Additional Feature:

Besides above mentioned features, you get one more useful feature in it which is:

• Cookies Manager: It allows you to view all the stored cookies of different websites. You can also manually add server paths of certain websites in a black or white list so that this browser can avoid or save cookies of specified websites.

Final Thoughts:

It is another very stable and beautifully designed open source browser that you can use as your default browser.

Tor

Tor is yet another free open source browser for Windows, Linux, MacOS, and Android. It is a very popular browser in the world of anonymous browsers. This browser blocks all types of trackers, provides protection against surveillance, and provides multilayered encryption to protect your information over the network. This software even lets you access those websites which are blocked by your home network. It is also quite simple and easy to use and you can operate it just like any other web browser.

Features:

• Add-ons: This software supports all types of extensions, themes, and add-ons which are supported by the Firefox browser as it is primarily based on it.
• Library: It allows you to add, edit, and delete history, bookmarks, and downloads.
• Customize: Using it, you can set the position of added extension icons so that you can quickly access important extensions.
• Save Pages: Using it, you can save webpages for offline viewing.

Final Thoughts:

It is a nice open source browser which is great for anonymously browsing the internet.

Iridium

Iridium is the next free open source browser software on this list. It can be used on a wide number of platforms including Windows, macOS, Debian, SUSE, Fedora, and RHEL.

It is based on the Chromium browser. Its interface and settings menu are also almost similar to the Chromium browser. Also, it is quite stable and simple to use. All the extensions and themes of the Chrome Web Store are also supported by it.

Main Features:

• Incognito Mode: This mode is used to browse the web privately without being worried about the browsing history as it does not save history and cache.
• Extension Support: In this browser, you can add a lot of extensions and themes to add new features and enhance browser look.

Additional Features:

• Task Manager: It is a very important feature through which you can quickly terminate unresponsive pages and extensions.
• Cast: It allows you to cast your browser to a wireless display or screencast supported TV.
• Mute Site: Using it, you can mute individual tabs of this browser.

Limitation:

I personally find it slightly slower than Chromium. Plus, the sync feature of this software is also not working.

Final Thoughts:

It is another simple and easy to use open source browser software that provides a decent browsing experience.

Crusta

Crusta is the next free open source browser for Windows and Linux. It is a simple open source web browser that provides a decent webpage browsing experience. Its interface is also fairly simple and easy to use. In it, you can find all standard features which you expect in a web browser such as bookmarks manager, history viewer, themes, private mode, on-screen website shortcuts, etc. However, it also offers some unique features. Let’s see what are those features:

Highlights:

• Split Mode: This mode splits the interface of this software into two halves and shows you two tab side by side.
• Presentation Mode: This mode opens up this browser in the full screen mode and hides all the menus and tabs.
• Permissions: Using it, you can manually define notification, geolocation, audio capture, and video capture permissions.

Final Thoughts:

It is a straightforward open source browser that offers all the standard features along with some unique features as mentioned above.

Min

Min is a free open source browser for Windows and macOS. As its name implies, it is a very minimalistic and plain looking browser. It is also quite lightweight and responsive browser to use.

Features:

• Content Blocking: This feature allows you to block third-party ads, trackers, scripts, and images.
• Reading List: This feature reformats the article and removes all unimportant elements from the webpage to provide you an ideal reading environment.
• Focus Mode: This mode hides all other tabs except the current one to provide a distraction-free environment.
• Dark Mode: It is a unique feature of this software that darkens all the webpages and settings.

Additional Feature:

• Tasks: It allows you to create a group of multiple tabs under a task so that you can switch between multiple different task groups.

Final Thoughts:

It is a clean, fast, and secure open source web browser that comes with a decent set of features.

Syhunt Sandcat

Syhunt Sandcat is another free open source browser which is based on Chromium. It also uses Lua programming language and supports Lua Based extensions. It is primarily built to test new web browser features and is quite useful for pen-testers and web developers. This software can also be used as a normal web browser as it offers all essential browsing features like address bar, search bar, multi-tab interface, bookmarks manager, history viewer, etc.

Features:

• Sandcat Console: It is an inbuilt console feature of this software that allows programmers to enter and execute commands.
• Live Headers Menu: Using it, you can view live header information of a website in order to troubleshoot, analyze, and tune a website.
• Import & Export Preferences: It is a useful feature using which you can import preferences from other browsers to this one and also export preferences of this software.
• Extensions: In this browser, you can add Lua based extensions to add more features to this browser.

Limitations:

This software is not consistent as it sometimes fails to load web pages and shows failed to resolve hostname error.

Final Thoughts:

This open source browser is ideal for programmers who want to test new features. However, for general browsing, it is not that good.

Stratus Browser

Stratus Browser is a free open source browser app for Windows 10. There is also a software version of this browser for macOS. It is a plain and simple web browser that provides the least amount of features that you can find in a browser. Its interface is also very simple that contains only a single search bar that can be used to perform a general search as well as the website search using the URL link. The speed of loading webpages is quite slow in this browser.

Features:

• PIP: PIP or Picture in Picture allows you to view online videos and browse the internet at the same time. This mode plays the online video under a small floating window that you can place anywhere on the screen and continue your usual web browsing activities.
• Full Screen: This feature allows you to take the entire screen for browsing the internet.

Limitations:

This browser takes some time to load webpages.

Final Thoughts:

In my opinion, this open source web browser can only be considered if you need a simple web browser with the PIP mode.

K-Meleon

K-Meleon is another free open source browser software for Windows. This browser uses the Gecko engine as the base which is also used by the Firefox browser. However, unlike Firefox, this software comes with a dated and very basic interface. Plus, I also find it quite slow when compared to Firefox.

Features:

• Block: This software provides a set of blocking features on its interface through which you can block Java Applets, Cookies, JavaScript, Popups, etc.
• Save Pages: It lets you save an entire web page or website that you can access later, even when you are offline.
• History: It shows you all your browsing history that you can also delete if you want.
• Bookmarks: Using it, you can bookmark web pages that you want to quickly access when needed.

Limitations:

• This software is quite slow and also was not able to process some graphics content of a website properly.
• Its interface is also quite dated and unintuitive.

Final Thoughts:

It a dated open source web browser which is quite not useful for today’s web browsing and video streaming needs.

NetSurf

NetSurf is the next free open source browser software for Windows, MacOS, Linux, Atari, AmigaOS, RISC OS, and BeOS. It is a small and easy to use web browser in which you can load one web page or website at a time as it does not offer a multi-tab interface. In it, you can perform simple web browsing, page zoom, view cookies, etc. According to me, it is not that good to browse the internet because it is very slow and does not support all the elements of a webpage.

Features:

• Navigate: Using it, you can quickly navigate to home and previous page. Plus, options to view local and global history are also present in it.
• Show Cookies: It shows you all the stored cookies of different websites in this software.
• View: Using it, you can zoom in or zoom out web pages and also enable the full-screen mode.

Limitations:

• It is one the slowest browser that takes a lot of time to process a page before showing it.
• It also does not show all the elements and graphics present on a website or webpage.
• Lack of multi-tab interface is another big limitation of this software.

Final Thoughts:

This open source web browser is not an ideal software to browse the internet as it takes a lot of time to process a webpage.

Dooble

Dooble is yet another free open source browser software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is also a portable software, hence you can use it directly from a portable storage device without actually installing it.

It is a simple and basic web browser through which you can browse the internet. However, I find it considerably slower than other browsers listed in this article.

Main Features:

• Private Window: It lets you privately browse the web as it does not save any browsing history.
• Save Page: It allows you to save any webpage for offline viewing.

Additional Features:

• Blocked Domains: This feature lets you add some websites in the blocked list in order to block certain websites from opening in this browser.
• Certificate Exceptions: If a website is causing the SSL/TLS error, then you can add it to the certificate exception list to avoid errors.
• Cookies: It is a cookie management feature that allows you to view and delete cookies of different websites from your browsers.

Limitations:

The unintuitive and dated interface of this software is the main limitation of this open source browser.

Final Thoughts:

It is a simple and basic open source web browser software that you can use if you need a portable open source browser software.