# Google Chrome 503 Hacker News commenters recommended Google Chrome and 1086 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (11 owners). **Verdict:** Recommended for its speed, sandboxed per-tab stability, web APIs like Web Serial and handy split view; critics cite weakened ad blockers, heavy RAM use and silent AI model downloads. ## Why people recommend it - Fast and snappy performance (4 comments): "am constantly reminded once every few months or weeks or so when I open up Chrome to check something and am confronted with how much snappier it is" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49604277)) "we are almost all using a Chrome derived browser instead of Firefox, old IE, old Opera, because of performance and quality." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47599504)) "Google did a great job communicating Chrome's improvements over speed (both with startup and prefetch) and reliability" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46049548)) - Per-tab process stability and security (4 comments): "Chrome's stability innovation was to run different tabs in different processes, and the security innovation was then to sandbox those processes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49127291)) "It was the first to do a separate process per tab, which had security and stability benefits. But it also used like 2x the RAM from the start." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48066407)) "Pinning certificates in a browser was a brilliant idea for Chrome because web browsers are not made for technical users." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50165249)) - Supports APIs other browsers lack (3 comments): "I'm recommending they use Google Chrome , specifically because it supports the APIs my company needs to use for our product (on Android at least)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46458600)) "A lot of devices are configurable through serial connections using the Web Serial APO thats only available in chromium browsers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515323)) "Chrome came along and accelerated web platform development since their products relied on a thriving web ecosystem." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50079574)) - Handy split view and picture-in-picture (4 comments): "The split view is incredibly handy when you're looking at a web application and an observability tool for that web application at the same time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47512513)) "they are grouped under one single tab, so for me at least is more easy to alt-tab to other app and return to the split view" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48020600)) "at Google Meet it renders a nice separate window with mute/unmute controls as you switch to another tab and screen share" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48019498)) ## What people warn about - Weakened ad blockers via MV3 (3 comments): "Restricting webRequestBlocking (but it's not going away, just needs a policy extension) and synchronous executeScript did in practice make adblockers unreliable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48557132)) "They've kneecapped ad-blockers, when ad networks are perhaps one of the biggest causes of malware installs/page hijacking/other unwanted behaviour." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48603093)) "Chrome not only immediately decided to remove them with very short notice, but literally refused to even engage with people pointing out issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45876142)) - Silent large AI model downloads (3 comments): "The reality is that the move is great, it's a very cool and nice stuff, just that it takes bandwidth and space without letting the user know." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48807472)) "The more severe problem is that Google installs model weight files on a per-user basis, meaning Chrome occupies 4 more GB of space for every OS user on your device." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48023019)) "A large jump in requirements without warning is bad, if I want to avoid it I now need to take immediate less considered actions or get stuck with the consequences." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48032282)) - Heavy RAM and resource use (2 comments): "It was the first to do a separate process per tab, which had security and stability benefits. But it also used like 2x the RAM from the start." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48066407)) "Insane that this is seen as "better software". I could do basically the same functionality in 2000 with 512mb. I assume this is because everything runs through chrome with dozens more layers of abstraction" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46418245)) - Market dominance through pushy distribution (3 comments): "Partly it was technical prowess. But google pushing it on their web pages and paying to put an "install chrome" checkbox into the installers of unrelated programs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45974338)) "they paid Adobe, Oracle, and legions of freeware antivirus providers lots of $$$ to put a checked-by-default box in their installers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46602412)) "Because it's 99% about distribution and Chrome was distributed by the world's most visited website and the pre installed default on over a billion devices." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49531236)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Zen Browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zen-browser.md): 141 recommend - [Vivaldi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vivaldi-browser.md): 134 recommend - [Microsoft Edge](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-edge.md): 102 recommend - [qutebrowser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qutebrowser.md): 11 recommend - [Perplexity Comet](https://hackerapproved.com/p/comet.md): 9 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Google Chrome", https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-chrome/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).