Waterfox
Utilize Waterfox for a high-speed, private browsing experience on 64-bit systems. Built on Firefox, it taps into Intel's C++ compiler for optimal performance, supports legacy extensions, allows full customization, and blocks ads by default, ensuring utmost control and security.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
Country of Origin
United Kingdom
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- Android Tablet
Features
Waterfox News & Activities
Recent News
- POX published news article about Mojeek
Mojeek is now available in the list of preselected search engines for the Waterfox browserMojeek, an independent and privacy-focused web search engine, has been officially added to the list...
- Danilo_Venom published news article about Waterfox
Waterfox regains Independence abandoning the advertising company System1In a recent blog post, the creator of Waterfox, Alex Kontos, announced that the popular web browser...
- IanDorfman published news article about Waterfox
Waterfox open source web browser sold to System1 ad company that also bought StartpageThe developer behind the open source, Mozilla Gecko-built web browser Waterfox has announced that t...
Recent activities
Maoholguin added Waterfox as alternative to Dia Browser- hundvd7 liked Waterfox
POX added Waterfox as alternative to Opera Neon
berkaygediz added Waterfox as alternative to Lemur Browser- kelsonv reviewed Waterfox
Kind of like Ungoogled Chromium in that it's Firefox minus the Mozilla telemetry and services, except Waterfox feels like a complete application instead of one with a bunch of gaps.
Using it is about the same as using Firefox. Less stuff breaks than in LibreWolf (which goes a lot further in its privacy protection). Waterfox tracks Firefox's ESR releases, so it can be slightly behind the main browser in terms of features, but they seem to track security...
- kelsonv replied to a comment / review on Waterfox
POX added Waterfox as alternative to Kumo Web Browser
What is Waterfox?
Waterfox information
Developed by
BrowserWorks Ltd. Licensing
Open Source and Free product.Written in
Rating
Average rating of 3.6Alternatives
59 alternatives listedNews
3 news article related to WaterfoxSupported Languages
AlternativeTo Category
Web BrowsersGitHub repository
- 4,420 Stars
- 363 Forks
- 713 Open Issues
- Updated Jun 3, 2025
Comments and Reviews
Best Firefox-fork out there, no telemetry & faster than Mozilla's browser.
Waterfox is now owned by System1, an ad / data collection company, so you can bet it has telemetry now. I would avoid it like the plague.
Waterfox cut ties with System1 a year ago.
What about the support for extensions? And if EFF is privacy concerned, why Firefox is not enough and we "need" Waterfox? 🦊-fan here, but no blind, want to learn from others about the gap.
I'd leave zero stars if I could.
Waterfox is owned by System1, an ad / data collection company, so I would avoid it like the plague. If you are looking for a hardened / more private version of Firefox, Librewolf is very good, though.
For the record, Waterfox is independent again now.
Kind of like Ungoogled Chromium in that it's Firefox minus the Mozilla telemetry and services, except Waterfox feels like a complete application instead of one with a bunch of gaps.
Using it is about the same as using Firefox. Less stuff breaks than in
LibreWolf (which goes a lot further in its privacy protection). Waterfox tracks Firefox's ESR releases, so it can be slightly behind the main browser in terms of features, but they seem to track security updates quickly.
I like the thumbnails for the tab sidebar. There's probably an extension to do that in mainstream Firefox, but I haven't looked yet. (Waterfox is compatible with Firefox Add-ons.) The one Firefox service it does use is Sync, which is end-to-end encrypted.
The Android version is solid, but for some reason it's missing in-browser translations.
Real installers with updaters for Windows and Mac (unlike LibreWolf), Flatpak and tarballs for Linux (but not ARM Linux yet). The Flatpak has the usual issues talking to
KeePassXC
It changes some of my settings after each restart. I like it otherwise, but its hard for me to trust.
It's still early days for me with Waterfox. I recently picked it up after someone reported to be that it is now independent of System1.
As it's based on Firefox ESR updates can be a little slow, but that's not an issue for me. I'm happy as long as I get a snappy and minimal web browser using the Gecko engine. So, yes. It's a breath of fresh air where the market is "flooded" with Chromium browsers.
It's not vastly different from Firefox, but I do like that it's got all the usual Mozilla telemetry disabled (more private), using DNS over Oblivious HTTP (even more private), improved performance, and a collab with Tree Style Tab for a Waterfox sidebar.
I have been using Waterfox for a couple of days and, so far, have not faced any stability issues. Plus, it works with Firefox Sync. Yay!
Using for years. Not always been up to date, but always very stable and friendly.
No telemetry? Empty start page, empty profile without sync, but it's still try periodically start connection to 34.117.65.55 and others servers. It's actually push.services.mozilla.com server. NonGNU compiler. No trust, sorry.
You could report that to their issue tracker, hopefully they will provide more insight as to what's exactly happening on your side.