uMatrix
Hacker ApprovedRanked 12 of 70 browser extensions by recommenders
Lets you control which scripts, frames and third-party connections load on each site through a granular matrix. Caveat: it is no longer updated and breaks many sites by default.
Lets you control which scripts, frames and third-party connections load on each site through a granular matrix. Caveat: it is no longer updated and breaks many sites by default.
37 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 31
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 84%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 31 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fine-grained control over third-party requests
“it's the only tool I've ever found that lets me feel in control of what programs my browser is executing”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Is Mozilla trying hard to kill itself?” “I just find the UI at once both more granular and easier to grok than uB0's Advanced mode”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “Building a UMatrix Replacement” “fine grained adblockers such as uMatrix/uBlockOrigin”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “I spent a week without IPv4 (2023)” - Comment from 8 May 2026 in “A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking”
- Comment from 5 Sep 2026 in “Actively exploited sandbox RCE in all Chromium versions”
Clearer UI than alternatives
“I just find the UI at once both more granular and easier to grok than uB0's Advanced mode”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “Building a UMatrix Replacement” “but it still works and it's UI is better then the UI of NoScript”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Is Mozilla trying hard to kill itself?” “Firefox has uMatrix which is better than anything Brave uses”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo” - Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Adblock-rust Manager – Firefox extension to enable the Brave ad blocker”
Pairs well with uBlock Origin
“things like uBlock Origin + uMatrix + a bunch of other extensions that I know keep me safer”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: A native macOS client for Hacker News, built with SwiftUI” “Using ublock and umatrix both on firefox with full tracking protection enabled.”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts” “I think uMatrix is the better extension. I use it in tandem with uBO.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Is Mozilla trying hard to kill itself?” - Comment from 24 Nov 2025 in “The privacy nightmare of browser fingerprinting”
Still works reliably for many users
“It hasn't received updates in a good long while, but seems to work fine, for me anyway.”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking” “It mostly still just works. Sometimes even with everything enabled, a site won't work.”
Comment from 16 May 2026 in “Building a UMatrix Replacement” “I run uMatrix on every computer I have and it is awesome.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Is Mozilla trying hard to kill itself?” - Comment from 15 May 2026 in “Building a UMatrix Replacement”
- Comment from 16 May 2026 in “Building a UMatrix Replacement”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Breaks sites until whitelisted
“most sites work right away. Others require fiddling with the matrix of media, script, xhr, frames and the third parties serving them”
Comment from 11 Nov 2025 in “Firefox expands fingerprint protections” “no third-party connections at all by default, yes it breaks a lot of sites”
Comment from 16 May 2026 in “Building a UMatrix Replacement” “uMatrix is effective but breaks so many sites”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “We found a stable Firefox identifier linking all your private Tor identities” - Comment from 16 May 2026 in “Building a UMatrix Replacement”
Silently blocks things without notice
“I have had frequent enough issues with it silently blocking some things with no ui exposure of those blocks.”
Comment from 16 May 2026 in “Building a UMatrix Replacement” “you later find out uMatrix was still messing with some stuff, even if you whitelist all resources.”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “Building a UMatrix Replacement” “Some things silently fail.”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “Building a UMatrix Replacement” Unmaintained, may stop working
“I used to use umatrix, preferred it to ublock origin advanced mode. However, isn't umatrix unsupported?”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking” “It hasn't received updates in a good long while, but seems to work fine, for me anyway.”
Comment from 8 May 2026 in “A web page that shows you everything the browser told it without asking” “It probably won't work in new Chrome versions.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Is Mozilla trying hard to kill itself?”
Other browser extensions people recommend
The four most recommended other browser extensions, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SponsorBlock | 137 | 4 | 97% | 13 | — | Approved |
| Firefox Multi-Account Containers | 76 | 13 | 85% | 10 | 7.5 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| NoScript | 61 | 11 | 85% | 12 | 10 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| Claude in Chrome | 53 | 42 | 56% | 9 | — | — |
| uMatrixThis page | 31 | 6 | 84% | 11 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 53 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“most third party requests can be limited”
“uMatrix had it for a while and Gorhill regretted it”
“But the typical user was left behind.”
“uMatrix handles this by allowing you to add whitelists on a site by site basis.”
“uBlock/uMatrix functionality should be built into the core”
“No popups when using uBlock Origin and/or uMatrix”
“Some things silently fail.”
“you later find out uMatrix was still messing with some stuff, even if you whitelist all resources.”
“I just find the UI at once both more granular and easier to grok than uB0's Advanced mode”
“no third-party connections at all by default, yes it breaks a lot of sites”
“uMatrix is very hard on sites by default. When something is glitchy, I assume it's because uMatrix blocked random third-party code.”
“I have had frequent enough issues with it silently blocking some things with no ui exposure of those blocks.”
“it still works great. The best ever.”
“sometimes a random site wouldn't function properly”
“It mostly still just works. Sometimes even with everything enabled, a site won't work.”
“I have had no concerns or problems with it”
“you can still use Manifest V2 extensions, like uMatrix, uBlock Origin, or Violentmonkey, in Chrome by passing command line flags”
“I miss uMatrix, too. Thank you for working on this!”
“It hasn't received updates in a good long while, but seems to work fine, for me anyway.”
“I used to use umatrix, preferred it to ublock origin advanced mode. However, isn't umatrix unsupported?”
“while liking uMatrix's fine grained controls”
“I really liked the user interface of uMatrix.”
“uMatrix is effective but breaks so many sites”
“Load times on everything are at least 30% faster.”
“things like uBlock Origin + uMatrix + a bunch of other extensions that I know keep me safer”
“Using ublock and umatrix both on firefox with full tracking protection enabled.”
“Use something like uMatrix to selectively filter things.”
“fine grained adblockers such as uMatrix/uBlockOrigin”
“It probably won't work in new Chrome versions.”
“I think uMatrix is the better extension. I use it in tandem with uBO.”
“I run uMatrix on every computer I have and it is awesome.”
“I didn't notice anything strange but maybe some of those bugs were hidden”
“it's the only tool I've ever found that lets me feel in control of what programs my browser is executing”
“but it still works and it's UI is better then the UI of NoScript”
“Firefox has uMatrix which is better than anything Brave uses”
“install uBlock Origin/uMatrix and you get the same thing”
“I really miss umatrix for this purpose”
“block all third party content by default using uBlock Origin and/or uMatrix”
“most sites work right away. Others require fiddling with the matrix of media, script, xhr, frames and the third parties serving them”
“uMatrix doesn't load a large number of JS files.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.