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Your browser leaks the things a VPN cannot hide: screen size, fonts, graphics card, timezone, and the dozens of other values that combine into a fingerprint. Most privacy browsers are judged on settings you could find if you looked. This page scores what they do with no configuration at all, because that is what almost everyone actually gets.
Brave66 The best default for most people, because it needs no configuration: ads and trackers are blocked on first launch, fingerprintable values are randomised per site and per session, private windows can route through Tor, and sync is end-to-end encrypted with no account.
Tor Browser69 The only browser that makes you look identical to everyone else rather than merely harder to track, and the only one that hides your address from the site and the site from your internet provider at the same time.
MB
Mullvad Browser70 Tor Browser's anti-fingerprinting without the Tor network, built by the Tor Project and funded by Mullvad for people already using a VPN.
Blocks ads by default, then sells its own. Still the best mainstream default.
66
Owner
Brave Software, Inc.
Jurisdiction
United States · Five Eyes
No-logs audit
None — browser extension audited by Independent third party, 2024
Price
—
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
The best default for most people, because it needs no configuration: ads and trackers are blocked on first launch, fingerprintable values are randomised per site and per session, private windows can route through Tor, and sync is end-to-end encrypted with no account. It also defaults to its own search index rather than taking a paid placement from Google.
Chromium underneath, it runs an opt-in advertising network of its own, and it ships crypto features many users neither want nor can remove.
Privacy & trust
52
Features
80
App quality
71
Support & refunds
55
Blocks ads and trackers out of the box with no configuration
Randomises fingerprintable values per site and per session
Private windows with Tor built in
Chromium underneath, so it inherits Google engine decisions
Runs its own advertising network, which sits oddly with the pitch
Ships with crypto features many users neither want nor can remove
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 71/100 from 647,570 ratingsFull reviewVisit Brave
The only browser where everyone looks identical, and the slowest one you will ever use.
69
Owner
The Tor Project, Inc.
Jurisdiction
United States · Five Eyes
No-logs audit
None — apps audited by Cure53, 2024
Price
—
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
The only browser that makes you look identical to everyone else rather than merely harder to track, and the only one that hides your address from the site and the site from your internet provider at the same time. If your threat model involves a government rather than an advertiser, nothing else here is a substitute.
Three relays cost real speed, many sites block Tor exits outright, and resizing the window quietly weakens the protection.
Privacy & trust
57
Features
84
App quality
69
Support & refunds
55
Standardises every fingerprintable value so users look alike, which no other browser attempts
Routes through three relays, hiding your address from the site and the site from your ISP
Non-profit, open source, audited
Slow, by design — three relays cost real latency
Many sites block Tor exit nodes outright
No sync, and resizing the window weakens the anti-fingerprinting
Tor Browser with the Tor network taken out, built for people already on a VPN.
70
Owner
Amagicom AB
Jurisdiction
Sweden · Fourteen Eyes
No-logs audit
None — apps audited by Cure53, 2024
Price
—
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
Tor Browser's anti-fingerprinting without the Tor network, built by the Tor Project and funded by Mullvad for people already using a VPN. It is the closest thing to a correct answer for the combination most privacy-minded readers actually run: a VPN plus a hardened browser.
Desktop only, no sync at all, and it only makes sense paired with a VPN.
Privacy & trust
60
Features
84
App quality
—
Support & refunds
55
Tor Browser anti-fingerprinting at ordinary browsing speed
Built by the Tor Project, funded by Mullvad, open source
uBlock Origin included and configured
Desktop only — no iOS or Android version exists
No sync, deliberately
Sites that dislike unusual fingerprints will still challenge you
The last independent engine, funded almost entirely by Google.
57
Owner
Mozilla Foundation
Jurisdiction
United States · Five Eyes
No-logs audit
None found
Price
—
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
The last significant engine not controlled by Google or Apple, which matters beyond your own browsing: if Gecko disappears, Chromium decides what the web is. Enhanced Tracking Protection is on by default, container tabs isolate sites properly, and resistFingerprinting gives you near-Tor defences if you accept the breakage.
The great majority of Mozilla's revenue comes from the Google search deal, telemetry is on by default, and the iOS version uses WebKit, so the engine argument does not apply there.
Privacy & trust
45
Features
62
App quality
65
Support & refunds
55
Gecko is the only significant engine not controlled by Google or Apple
Enhanced Tracking Protection on by default
resistFingerprinting exists for users who want Tor-grade defences
Most revenue comes from Google search placement
Telemetry is on by default and opt-out
Anti-fingerprinting is off by default and breaks sites when enabled
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 65/100 from 216,781 ratingsFull reviewVisit Firefox
5
DuckDuckGo Browser
The simplest private browser, from a company that pays Microsoft for its results.
58
Owner
Duck Duck Go, Inc.
Jurisdiction
United States · Five Eyes
No-logs audit
None — apps audited by Cure53, 2024
Price
—
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
The simplest thing to hand a non-technical person. Trackers and most ads are blocked with nothing to configure, one Fire button clears everything, email protection strips trackers from forwarded mail, and there is no telemetry by default.
Only partly open source, commercially dependent on Microsoft for search, and it permitted some Microsoft trackers until researchers found it in 2022.
Privacy & trust
42
Features
60
App quality
76
Support & refunds
55
Blocks trackers and most ads with nothing to configure
A single Fire button clears everything
Email protection strips trackers from forwarded mail
Only partly open source
Depends commercially on Microsoft for search results
Permitted some Microsoft trackers until researchers found it in 2022
Lab test pending — scored on public dataiOS app score 76/100 from 2,389,998 ratingsVisit DuckDuckGo Browser
6
SF
Safari
Good tracking defences, from the company taking $20bn a year to keep Google as the default.
44
Owner
Apple Inc.
Jurisdiction
United States · Five Eyes
No-logs audit
None found
Price
—
Runs oniOSAndroidMacWindowsLinuxRouterBrowserTV
The right answer for someone who will not change browsers. Intelligent Tracking Prevention is on by default and genuinely effective, WebKit is an independent engine, and fingerprinting resistance is built in. On iOS every browser uses WebKit anyway, so the choice matters less there than people think.
Closed source, Apple platforms only, and Google pays an estimated $20bn a year to be its default search engine.
Privacy & trust
22
Features
60
App quality
—
Support & refunds
55
Intelligent Tracking Prevention is on by default and effective
WebKit is a genuinely independent engine
Fingerprinting resistance built in, without configuration
Closed source, so its claims cannot be inspected
Google is the paid default search engine
Apple platforms only
Lab test pending — scored on public dataVisit Safari
Majority-owned through Kunlun Tech following the 2016 sale to a Chinese consortium, closed source, with ad and tracker blocking off by default. The heavily advertised free VPN is a browser proxy that leaves every other app on the device exposed, which is the kind of claim this site exists to correct.
Not a bad browser and a genuinely good company — Norwegian, employee-owned, no telemetry. It is here only because its user interface is closed source and it has no anti-fingerprinting worth the name, so it cannot be ranked as a privacy browser on this page's criteria.
What we weighed for private browsers, and the exact weights
Defaults, not options
A setting three menus deep protects the people who find it. We score what happens on first launch, which is what nearly everyone experiences.
Anti-fingerprinting that works
Blocking cookies is table stakes. Resisting fingerprinting means standardising or randomising the values that identify your device, which only a few browsers attempt.
Who pays for it
Firefox is funded by Google. Brave runs its own ad network. Opera is majority-owned by a Chinese consortium. A browser sees everything you do, so its revenue model is not a footnote.
Whether the engine is independent
Chromium skins inherit Google's decisions about what the web is. Only Gecko and WebKit are meaningful alternatives, and one of them is Apple's.
Weights on this page: Privacy & trust 36% · Features 30% · App quality 20% · Support & refunds 10% · Price & renewal 4%. Formula.
Defaults are the whole argument
Almost every browser can be made private. Chrome with the right extensions and settings leaks less than Brave out of the box. That is not a useful fact, because approximately nobody does it and the people who would are not reading a buying guide.
So this page scores first launch. Does it block trackers before you touch anything? Does it block ads? Does it resist fingerprinting, or merely clear cookies? Is telemetry on? Is the default search engine there because it is good or because it paid?
That ordering produces a ranking that looks different from the usual one. Firefox, which most privacy writers put first on principle, sits fourth here, because on first launch it does not block ads, ships telemetry on, and keeps its best anti-fingerprinting switched off. Its engine independence is the reason it is still a pick — if Gecko goes, Google decides what the web is — but that is an argument about the web, not about your Tuesday.
Fingerprinting is the part a VPN cannot help with
A VPN changes your IP address. It changes nothing else. Your screen size, your fonts, your graphics card, your timezone, your language, the way your machine draws a hidden image: those travel with you through any tunnel, and together they are usually unique.
There are two working defences and they are opposites. Tor Browser and Mullvad Browser standardise everything so that every user looks identical — the crowd is the disguise. Brave randomises values per site and per session, so there is a fingerprint but it never matches itself. Both work. Blocking a value outright, which some extensions do, tends to make you more identifiable, because almost nobody blocks it.
The fingerprint test on this site shows what your current browser exposes and roughly how identifying the combination is.
Who pays for your browser
Mozilla gets the great majority of its revenue from Google, for making Google the default search engine. Apple receives an estimated $20bn a year for the same arrangement in Safari. Brave funds itself with its own advertising network. Opera is majority-owned by Kunlun Tech following the 2016 sale to a Chinese consortium. DuckDuckGo pays Microsoft for search results, an arrangement that in 2022 was found to include permitting some Microsoft trackers in its browser.
Tor Browser and Mullvad Browser are the two here funded by neither advertising nor a search deal — grants and donations in one case, a VPN company in the other. That is not a coincidence in how they rank.
What we have not tested
Everything here comes from documentation, ownership records, published audits and the App Store review analysis. Our own testing — measuring what each browser actually blocks on a fixed set of pages, and what fingerprint it presents — is the obvious next step for this page, and until it lands the scores lean on what companies publish about themselves.
A question mark means we have not confirmed the feature, not that it is missing. Hover a feature name for what it means.
Everything else we track, on this page's weighting
#
Name
Score
Owner
Jurisdiction
Main drawback
7
Vivaldi
59
Vivaldi Technologies AS
Norway
The user interface is closed source, only the Chromium base is open
8
Opera
31
Kunlun Tech
China
Majority Chinese ownership through Kunlun Tech
Frequently asked questions
What is the most private browser in 2026?
Tor Browser, without qualification, if you need anonymity — it standardises your fingerprint so you look like every other Tor user, and routes through three relays. For daily use where you want privacy without the cost, Brave is the best default and Mullvad Browser is the best pairing with a VPN.
Does a private browser hide me from my internet provider?
No. Private browsing mode clears local history and nothing else, and even a hardened browser still connects directly to the sites you visit. Your provider sees which domains you reach either way. Only Tor Browser or a VPN changes that, and they solve it differently.
Is Brave actually private, given it shows ads?
Brave blocks other companies' ads and trackers by default and randomises fingerprintable values, which is more than Chrome or Edge do at any setting. It also runs an opt-in advertising programme of its own, paid in its BAT token, which sits oddly with the pitch. The ads are off unless you turn them on; the tension is real and readers should weigh it themselves.
Why does Firefox rank below Brave here when it is more independent?
Because this page scores defaults. Firefox does not block ads without an extension, telemetry is on by default, and its strongest anti-fingerprinting is off by default because it breaks sites. Its engine independence is genuinely more important for the web as a whole, which is why it is a pick rather than a footnote.
Does the browser matter on iPhone?
Less than on desktop, because Apple requires every iOS browser to use WebKit — so Chrome, Brave and Firefox on iPhone are all Safari underneath with a different interface and different blocking rules. The blocking rules still matter, which is why Brave and DuckDuckGo are worth installing there, but the engine argument does not apply.
Will a private browser stop fingerprinting?
Tor Browser and Mullvad Browser genuinely try, by making everyone look the same. Brave randomises per site, which is a different and also effective approach. Firefox can with resistFingerprinting enabled. Safari limits what is exposed. Everything else mostly blocks cookies and calls it privacy — the fingerprint test on this site shows the difference on your own browser.
