{"slug": "gecko", "name": "Gecko", "category": "browsers", "category_name": "Browsers and extensions", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 11, "warners": 5, "score": -0.693, "rising": 1.67, "first": "2025-11-26", "latest": "2026-09-12", "why": "Gecko, WebKit and\u2014hopefully\u2014Ladybird are the true alternatives.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 2, "compare": 1, "warn": 5}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Gecko, WebKit and\u2014hopefully\u2014Ladybird are the true alternatives.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/mozilla-mobile/firefox-ios", "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Gecko"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 793299744, "item_id": 49581234, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49581234", "by": "strenholme", "date": "2026-09-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The reason why I support Gecko and Ladybird", "excerpt": "It looks like more of Firefox has been ported over to Rust since then: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/security-chromium-versus-firefox.450867/#post-3136787 The reason why I support Gecko and Ladybird\u2019s engine is because I am opposed to monoculture, however. Even if Gecko (Firefox) is less secure than Chromium (Chrome, Edge, etc.), by not having a monoculture, a Chrome exploit will only take down the subset o", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Actively exploited sandbox RCE in all Chromium versions"}, {"id": 789149088, "item_id": 49321818, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49321818", "by": "ahmetozer", "date": "2026-08-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I hope, i will be see gecko engine at IOS", "excerpt": "I hope, i will be see gecko engine at IOS https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/firefox-ios/issues/19063#issuecomment-5202832870", "context": "", "use_case": "browser engine on iOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 775557521, "item_id": 48472345, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48472345", "by": "JumpCrisscross", "date": "2026-06-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Gecko, WebKit and\u2014hopefully\u2014Ladybird are the true alternatives.", "excerpt": "Won\u2019t Brave follow Google\u2019s lead on this? Gecko, WebKit and\u2014hopefully\u2014Ladybird are the true alternatives. I used to think this was too extreme. But the ad vendor dragging ad blockers out of the engine flipped my view.", "context": "", "use_case": "independent browser engine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Chrome is killing all uBlock Origin bypasses, Edge, Opera to follow"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 794771202, "item_id": 49673200, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49673200", "by": "rvz", "date": "2026-09-12", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "escapeable at both the engine level in V8, Gecko and JavaScriptCore", "excerpt": "I agree. It is mostly a solution looking for a problem and has close to the same functional downsides as Flash or Applets other than \"transparency\". Its 'sandbox' is also escapeable at both the engine level in V8, Gecko and JavaScriptCore (All in C/C++) and at the implementation level; especially if the software was converted from C to WASM. So it is not the silver bullet people think it is. [0] https://nvd.nist.gov/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance of WebAssembly Runtimes in 2026"}, {"id": 740665456, "item_id": 46291591, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46291591", "by": "sharps1", "date": "2025-12-16", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "There were a ton of issues using Gecko", "excerpt": "They originally started with Gecko and switched to Chromium. \"There were a ton of issues using Gecko, starting with (at the time) no CDM (HTML5 DRM module) so no HD video content from the major studios, Netflix, Amazon, etc. -- Firefox had an Adobe deal but it was not transferable or transferred to any other browser that used Gecko -- and running the gamut of paper-cuts to major web incompatibilities especially on mo", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo"}, {"id": 740628003, "item_id": 46289250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46289250", "by": "ksec", "date": "2025-12-16", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Gekco is still hard to be embedded", "excerpt": ">Technically..... Since its birth, Firefox is still the only browser that manage multiple ( hundreds or in some cases, thousands! [1] ) tabs better than any browser. And in my view in the past 12 - 24 months Firefox has managed to be as fast as chrome. While Chrome also improved on its multiple Tab browsing experience. Safari.... I dont know why this battery life argument keeps coming up because it is not the case. I", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo"}, {"id": 739675072, "item_id": 46229692, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46229692", "by": "shiomiru", "date": "2025-12-11", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "it still doesn't work in Gecko", "excerpt": "The greatest mistake IMO is the way float state leaks out of blocks, as this is both extremely unintuitive and undesirable for performance reasons.[1] Floats should've been restricted to inline formatting contexts, with all in-flow blocks behaving as if they had `clear: both' set. I also don't understand why they never specced the (much simpler) `text-align: -moz-left/-moz-right/-moz-center' which already had precede", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Incomplete list of mistakes in the design of CSS"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["browser engine on ios", "independent browser engine"], "compared": [{"slug": "ladybird", "name": "Ladybird", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "webkit", "name": "WebKit", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "chromium", "name": "Chromium", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46288491", "title": "Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49623933", "title": "Performance of WebAssembly Runtimes in 2026", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49570669", "title": "Actively exploited sandbox RCE in all Chromium versions", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49319633", "title": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48930397", "title": "Reynard: A real Firefox web browser for iOS 13 or later", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48471970", "title": "Google Chrome is killing all uBlock Origin bypasses, Edge, Opera to follow", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"compare": 1}, "2025-12": {"warn": 4}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 794771202, "item_id": 49673200, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49673200", "by": "rvz", "date": "2026-09-12", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "escapeable at both the engine level in V8, Gecko and JavaScriptCore", "excerpt": "I agree. It is mostly a solution looking for a problem and has close to the same functional downsides as Flash or Applets other than \"transparency\". Its 'sandbox' is also escapeable at both the engine level in V8, Gecko and JavaScriptCore (All in C/C++) and at the implementation level; especially if the software was converted from C to WASM. So it is not the silver bullet people think it is. [0] https://nvd.nist.gov/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance of WebAssembly Runtimes in 2026"}, {"id": 793299744, "item_id": 49581234, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49581234", "by": "strenholme", "date": "2026-09-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The reason why I support Gecko and Ladybird", "excerpt": "It looks like more of Firefox has been ported over to Rust since then: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/security-chromium-versus-firefox.450867/#post-3136787 The reason why I support Gecko and Ladybird\u2019s engine is because I am opposed to monoculture, however. Even if Gecko (Firefox) is less secure than Chromium (Chrome, Edge, etc.), by not having a monoculture, a Chrome exploit will only take down the subset o", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Actively exploited sandbox RCE in all Chromium versions"}, {"id": 789149088, "item_id": 49321818, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49321818", "by": "ahmetozer", "date": "2026-08-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I hope, i will be see gecko engine at IOS", "excerpt": "I hope, i will be see gecko engine at IOS https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/firefox-ios/issues/19063#issuecomment-5202832870", "context": "", "use_case": "browser engine on iOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 782919664, "item_id": 48932479, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48932479", "by": "mpaco", "date": "2026-07-16", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "There has been some work on porting Gecko to iOS, but there doesn't seem to have been any progress in over a year", "excerpt": "There has been some work on porting Gecko to iOS, but there doesn't seem to have been any progress in over a year: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1834907", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Reynard: A real Firefox web browser for iOS 13 or later"}, {"id": 775557521, "item_id": 48472345, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48472345", "by": "JumpCrisscross", "date": "2026-06-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Gecko, WebKit and\u2014hopefully\u2014Ladybird are the true alternatives.", "excerpt": "Won\u2019t Brave follow Google\u2019s lead on this? Gecko, WebKit and\u2014hopefully\u2014Ladybird are the true alternatives. I used to think this was too extreme. But the ad vendor dragging ad blockers out of the engine flipped my view.", "context": "", "use_case": "independent browser engine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Chrome is killing all uBlock Origin bypasses, Edge, Opera to follow"}, {"id": 761857185, "item_id": 47616074, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47616074", "by": "ForLoveOfCats", "date": "2026-04-02", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Wine's recreation of MSHTML is based on Gecko from Firefox", "excerpt": "Wine's recreation of MSHTML is based on Gecko from Firefox https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/wikis/Gecko", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "ReactOS Shows Improved Stability and 64-Bit Support at Chemnitz Linux Days 2026"}, {"id": 740665456, "item_id": 46291591, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46291591", "by": "sharps1", "date": "2025-12-16", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "There were a ton of issues using Gecko", "excerpt": "They originally started with Gecko and switched to Chromium. \"There were a ton of issues using Gecko, starting with (at the time) no CDM (HTML5 DRM module) so no HD video content from the major studios, Netflix, Amazon, etc. -- Firefox had an Adobe deal but it was not transferable or transferred to any other browser that used Gecko -- and running the gamut of paper-cuts to major web incompatibilities especially on mo", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo"}, {"id": 740628003, "item_id": 46289250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46289250", "by": "ksec", "date": "2025-12-16", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Gekco is still hard to be embedded", "excerpt": ">Technically..... Since its birth, Firefox is still the only browser that manage multiple ( hundreds or in some cases, thousands! [1] ) tabs better than any browser. And in my view in the past 12 - 24 months Firefox has managed to be as fast as chrome. While Chrome also improved on its multiple Tab browsing experience. Safari.... I dont know why this battery life argument keeps coming up because it is not the case. I", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo"}, {"id": 739675072, "item_id": 46229692, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46229692", "by": "shiomiru", "date": "2025-12-11", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "it still doesn't work in Gecko", "excerpt": "The greatest mistake IMO is the way float state leaks out of blocks, as this is both extremely unintuitive and undesirable for performance reasons.[1] Floats should've been restricted to inline formatting contexts, with all in-flow blocks behaving as if they had `clear: both' set. I also don't understand why they never specced the (much simpler) `text-align: -moz-left/-moz-right/-moz-center' which already had precede", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Incomplete list of mistakes in the design of CSS"}, {"id": 738004817, "item_id": 46125301, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46125301", "by": "Theshe", "date": "2025-12-02", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Gecko lacked important product features", "excerpt": "They did use Gecko as the base originally: \"In 2015, before we released to users, the Brave browser actually was built on the Gecko engine. However, early on our engineering team realized that Gecko lacked important product features, led to more Web compatibility (webcompat) issues, and overall had poorer performance.\" (1) (1) https://brave.com/faq/#chromium-gecko", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mozilla's latest quagmire"}, {"id": 737009042, "item_id": 46063065, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46063065", "by": "bigyabai", "date": "2025-11-26", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "compared with Blink and even Gecko", "excerpt": "> Safari's supposedly-poor support for web standards is mostly Google propaganda. I don't think that users \"mostly\" agree. Safari's market share on macOS craters compared to Chrome: https://radar.cloudflare.com/reports/browser-market-share-2025-q1#id-7-market-share-by-os Google propaganda or not, Mac owners aren't sticking with this \"superior\" preeinstalled browser tech. And I get it, as a Linux user I find WebKit in", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Orion 1.0"}]}