Waterfox to integrate Brave adblock engine, with search ads enabled by default

Waterfox is set to integrate Brave’s open-source adblocking engine directly into the browser, replacing reliance on extension-based blockers, as announced in a blog post marking the project’s 15 year anniversary. In the post, creator Alex Kontos also looked back at Waterfox’s origins as a 64 bit Firefox build he started in 2011 at age 16, its growth into a browser with around 1 million monthly active users, and the tougher financial climate independent browsers now face after Bing ended third party search agreements.

The new built in blocker will use Brave’s adblock library and run in Waterfox’s main browser process rather than as an extension. Kontos says this should make adblocking faster, more tightly integrated, and less dependent on extension APIs or constant upstream updates. He also said Brave’s library was chosen partly because its MPL 2.0 license is a better fit for Waterfox, while deeper integration with a blocker like uBlock Origin would be more complicated because of its GPLv3 license.

Waterfox will still make one exception by default by allowing text ads on its default search partner page, currently Startpage, as a way to support the browser financially. The team clarified that this is Waterfox’s own revenue decision and not something inherited from Brave’s adblocking technology. Users who want stricter blocking will be able to disable all ads with a single setting, while people who already use third party blockers can keep using them as usual.