{"slug": "librewolf", "name": "LibreWolf", "category": "browsers", "category_name": "Browsers and extensions", "description": "A privacy-focused fork of Firefox with telemetry removed and hardened default settings.", "recommenders": 17, "commenters": 22, "warners": 1, "score": 14.636, "rising": -0.25, "first": "2025-11-09", "latest": "2026-10-13", "why": "HN commenters like LibreWolf as a near drop-in Firefox replacement that leaves out Mozilla's AI features, ads and other additions and ships stricter privacy defaults.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 17, "neutral": 5, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [3, 3, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["No Mozilla extras", "Privacy defaults"], "caveat": "Site breakage", "short_quote": "I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement", "icon": true, "domain": "librewolf.net", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://librewolf.net/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["LibreWolf", "Librewolf"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters like LibreWolf as a near drop-in Firefox replacement", "cites": [{"id": 749013968, "item_id": 46813373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46813373", "by": "Jugglewhoa", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement", "excerpt": "Firefox has burned enough goodwill with me over the years. Them putting ads in the URL bar was the last straw and I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement and works with all my previous container/add on workflows. May need to mess with fonts, but that's it.", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Mozilla is building an AI 'rebel alliance' to take on OpenAI, Anthropic"}, {"id": 734867088, "item_id": 45929193, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45929193", "by": "lone-cloud", "date": "2025-11-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Instead of Firefox I use(d) LibreWolf which strips out all the Mozilla trash.", "excerpt": "I would personally never use an out-of-the-box browser because of this. Instead of Firefox I use(d) LibreWolf which strips out all the Mozilla trash. I'd argue that all gecko-based browsers are \"bad\" and Mozilla has been largely incompetent for many, many years now with failing to modernize their browser engine. As I remember, their current CEO fired the entire team responsible for a modernizing their browser codebas", "context": "", "use_case": "daily browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "I think nobody wants AI in Firefox, Mozilla"}, {"id": 738041536, "item_id": 46127596, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46127596", "by": "Madmallard", "date": "2025-12-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to Librewolf when this happened and never looked back", "excerpt": "Just leaving this here. I switched to Librewolf when this happened and never looked back: https://youtube.com/shorts/FObvkFtr2ZU?si=U6fCphjmGcNMb5ac", "context": "", "use_case": "web browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Mozilla's latest quagmire"}]}, {"text": " that leaves out Mozilla's AI features, ads and other additions", "cites": [{"id": 740659649, "item_id": 46291228, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46291228", "by": "throwaway613745", "date": "2025-12-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Why do you think Waterfox and Librewolf leave this crap out?", "excerpt": "Mozilla for the love of God I do not want \u201cAI features\u201d in the tool I use to do my online banking. Stop this madness. Nobody is switching away from Firefox because it\u2019s not agentic. But there might be a small amount of people willing to switch away from Chromium slop browsers BECAUSE IT ISNT. Why do you think Waterfox and Librewolf leave this crap out?", "context": "", "use_case": "browser without AI features", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo"}, {"id": 749013968, "item_id": 46813373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46813373", "by": "Jugglewhoa", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement", "excerpt": "Firefox has burned enough goodwill with me over the years. Them putting ads in the URL bar was the last straw and I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement and works with all my previous container/add on workflows. May need to mess with fonts, but that's it.", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Mozilla is building an AI 'rebel alliance' to take on OpenAI, Anthropic"}, {"id": 733856880, "item_id": 45866055, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45866055", "by": "estimator7292", "date": "2025-11-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use LibreWolf because IMO vanilla Firefox is just as disgusting and useless as Google Chrome.", "excerpt": "Mozilla, please. I just want a browser. I want to enter a URL and visit a website, end of experience. I don't want my browser to be \"helpful\". I don't want my browser to be \"smart\" or \"featureful\" or \"\"modern\"\" or \"\"\"beautiful\"\"\". Firefox has precisely one job: navigate to a URI and display the website or file it describes. End. Of. Experience. You're a browser company, please just make a goddamn browser. I'm begging", "context": "", "use_case": "daily browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Firefox Forcing LLM Features"}, {"id": 776918673, "item_id": 48557417, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48557417", "by": "water-data-dude", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Librewolf is also good, and I use that on one of my other machines.", "excerpt": "I'm a big fan of WaterFox! I switched when Firefox decided to add a ton of AI crap without providing a \"turn this crap off\" button (you could force it, but I don't want to fight my tools). Really good experience, been recommending it to all my friends. Librewolf is also good, and I use that on one of my other machines. I like Waterfox a bit more, but that's probably just personal taste. Both are solid and both cut th", "context": "", "use_case": "browser on second machine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Chrome's Next Update Will Mark the End of Popular Ad Blockers"}]}, {"text": " and ships stricter privacy defaults.", "cites": [{"id": 792482064, "item_id": 49530129, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530129", "by": "yesnomaybe", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing.", "excerpt": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing. There are many issues coming with anti-tracking, sometimes a pain in the ... but, whenever I ask myself \"what if I had to switch to Brave or other\" I always end up with the same firm \"Nah, I'm good\". If LibreWolf would disappear, it would still be FF for me, with carefully selected and regularly reviewed privacy settings.", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 773582464, "item_id": 48348904, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48348904", "by": "jameson", "date": "2026-05-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use LibreWolf which disables creating WebGL API by default and I don't have this issue.", "excerpt": "I use LibreWolf which disables creating WebGL API by default and I don't have this issue. Why could be the reasons I'm passing CF turnstile?", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cloudflare Turnstile requiring fingerprintable WebGL"}, {"id": 742760384, "item_id": 46422524, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46422524", "by": "airhangerf15", "date": "2025-12-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been on Librewolf for years. I use it on my personal machine and work machine.", "excerpt": "Mozilla is a hopelessly corrupt organization at this point. At any point they could block support from uBlock Origin working correctly. They still have all their Google money, so they won't be forced to make any real changes. I have been on Librewolf for years. I use it on my personal machine and work machine. I know it's downstream and dependent on Mozilla/Gecko, but it's privacy aware and tries to strip out all the", "context": "", "use_case": "daily browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Firefox browser falls to AI. What do we do now?"}]}, {"text": " The main caveats are site breakage from its anti-tracking and defaults that are a hard sell for typical users", "cites": [{"id": 792482064, "item_id": 49530129, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530129", "by": "yesnomaybe", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing.", "excerpt": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing. There are many issues coming with anti-tracking, sometimes a pain in the ... but, whenever I ask myself \"what if I had to switch to Brave or other\" I always end up with the same firm \"Nah, I'm good\". If LibreWolf would disappear, it would still be FF for me, with carefully selected and regularly reviewed privacy settings.", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 792253313, "item_id": 49515832, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515832", "by": "goawaydang", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Libre but I understand it\u2019s a hard sell.", "excerpt": "Switched the family to Firefox. I use Libre but I understand it\u2019s a hard sell. FF is much easier and the regular user can\u2019t tell the difference anyway since they don\u2019t spelunk into the details.", "context": "", "use_case": "personal browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO"}, {"id": 786618016, "item_id": 49163626, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49163626", "by": "DarkUranium", "date": "2026-08-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "LobreWolf is a good recommendation", "excerpt": "LobreWolf is a good recommendation, though if you want something with more \"usual\" defaults --- I love WaterFox, myself.", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}]}, {"text": ", plus a macOS Gatekeeper deprecation warning and some employers treating it as an unauthorized app.", "cites": [{"id": 736265473, "item_id": 46016592, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46016592", "by": "lilsoso", "date": "2025-11-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "librewolf has been deprecated because it does not pass the macOS Gatekeeper check!", "excerpt": "Thanks for the browser recommendations. I switched to the Mullvad browser. The other recommendation, LibreWolf, provides the following warning on install which scared me away: \"Warning: librewolf has been deprecated because it does not pass the macOS Gatekeeper check! It will be disabled on 2026-09-01.\"", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "privacy browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "The privacy nightmare of browser fingerprinting"}, {"id": 801202385, "item_id": 50075149, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075149", "by": "don-code", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "then continued with LibreWolf", "excerpt": "Obviously experiences will vary, but I have now had three organizations express concern (though not to the point of telling me I must stop) that I use third-party Firefox derivatives. This started with Pale Moon and then continued with LibreWolf. The concern is that they \"aren't authorized apps\". As I've read it, this is a proxy for \"we aren't certain these apps can be trusted, but nobody ever got fired for pointing ", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "Pale Moon", "story": "Firefox Enterprise"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "No Mozilla extras", "summary": "Switchers say it leaves out the AI features, URL-bar ads and other additions they dislike in Firefox.", "quotes": [{"id": 734867088, "item_id": 45929193, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45929193", "by": "lone-cloud", "date": "2025-11-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Instead of Firefox I use(d) LibreWolf which strips out all the Mozilla trash.", "excerpt": "I would personally never use an out-of-the-box browser because of this. Instead of Firefox I use(d) LibreWolf which strips out all the Mozilla trash. I'd argue that all gecko-based browsers are \"bad\" and Mozilla has been largely incompetent for many, many years now with failing to modernize their browser engine. As I remember, their current CEO fired the entire team responsible for a modernizing their browser codebas", "context": "", "use_case": "daily browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "I think nobody wants AI in Firefox, Mozilla"}, {"id": 740659649, "item_id": 46291228, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46291228", "by": "throwaway613745", "date": "2025-12-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Why do you think Waterfox and Librewolf leave this crap out?", "excerpt": "Mozilla for the love of God I do not want \u201cAI features\u201d in the tool I use to do my online banking. Stop this madness. Nobody is switching away from Firefox because it\u2019s not agentic. But there might be a small amount of people willing to switch away from Chromium slop browsers BECAUSE IT ISNT. Why do you think Waterfox and Librewolf leave this crap out?", "context": "", "use_case": "browser without AI features", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo"}, {"id": 749013968, "item_id": 46813373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46813373", "by": "Jugglewhoa", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement", "excerpt": "Firefox has burned enough goodwill with me over the years. Them putting ads in the URL bar was the last straw and I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement and works with all my previous container/add on workflows. May need to mess with fonts, but that's it.", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Mozilla is building an AI 'rebel alliance' to take on OpenAI, Anthropic"}]}, {"label": "Privacy defaults", "summary": "Commenters value its anti-tracking and privacy-focused defaults, such as disabling WebGL.", "quotes": [{"id": 792482064, "item_id": 49530129, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530129", "by": "yesnomaybe", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing.", "excerpt": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing. There are many issues coming with anti-tracking, sometimes a pain in the ... but, whenever I ask myself \"what if I had to switch to Brave or other\" I always end up with the same firm \"Nah, I'm good\". If LibreWolf would disappear, it would still be FF for me, with carefully selected and regularly reviewed privacy settings.", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 773582464, "item_id": 48348904, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48348904", "by": "jameson", "date": "2026-05-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use LibreWolf which disables creating WebGL API by default and I don't have this issue.", "excerpt": "I use LibreWolf which disables creating WebGL API by default and I don't have this issue. Why could be the reasons I'm passing CF turnstile?", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cloudflare Turnstile requiring fingerprintable WebGL"}, {"id": 742760384, "item_id": 46422524, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46422524", "by": "airhangerf15", "date": "2025-12-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been on Librewolf for years. I use it on my personal machine and work machine.", "excerpt": "Mozilla is a hopelessly corrupt organization at this point. At any point they could block support from uBlock Origin working correctly. They still have all their Google money, so they won't be forced to make any real changes. I have been on Librewolf for years. I use it on my personal machine and work machine. I know it's downstream and dependent on Mozilla/Gecko, but it's privacy aware and tries to strip out all the", "context": "", "use_case": "daily browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Firefox browser falls to AI. What do we do now?"}]}, {"label": "Drop-in replacement", "summary": "Firefox users say it works with their existing add-ons and container workflows, such as uBlock Origin.", "quotes": [{"id": 749013968, "item_id": 46813373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46813373", "by": "Jugglewhoa", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement", "excerpt": "Firefox has burned enough goodwill with me over the years. Them putting ads in the URL bar was the last straw and I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement and works with all my previous container/add on workflows. May need to mess with fonts, but that's it.", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Mozilla is building an AI 'rebel alliance' to take on OpenAI, Anthropic"}, {"id": 754193232, "item_id": 47137077, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47137077", "by": "j1436go", "date": "2026-02-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to LibreWolf, use uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "I switched to LibreWolf, use uBlock Origin and have modified the web search so it uses noai.duckduckgo.com and appends -ai to every Google search query. I'm rather happy with this setup.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements"}, {"id": 783684672, "item_id": 48980292, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48980292", "by": "mediumsmart", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use librewolf too with privacy badger and librejs - good browser", "excerpt": "fair enough - librewolf - same as Orion: 18.29 fingerprint uniqueness - I dont know the other browsers except Tor. I use librewolf too with privacy badger and librejs - good browser", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy-focused browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Orion Browser by Kagi"}]}, {"label": "Long-term use", "summary": "Several users say they have run it for years and never looked back.", "quotes": [{"id": 792482064, "item_id": 49530129, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530129", "by": "yesnomaybe", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing.", "excerpt": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing. There are many issues coming with anti-tracking, sometimes a pain in the ... but, whenever I ask myself \"what if I had to switch to Brave or other\" I always end up with the same firm \"Nah, I'm good\". If LibreWolf would disappear, it would still be FF for me, with carefully selected and regularly reviewed privacy settings.", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 742760384, "item_id": 46422524, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46422524", "by": "airhangerf15", "date": "2025-12-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been on Librewolf for years. I use it on my personal machine and work machine.", "excerpt": "Mozilla is a hopelessly corrupt organization at this point. At any point they could block support from uBlock Origin working correctly. They still have all their Google money, so they won't be forced to make any real changes. I have been on Librewolf for years. I use it on my personal machine and work machine. I know it's downstream and dependent on Mozilla/Gecko, but it's privacy aware and tries to strip out all the", "context": "", "use_case": "daily browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Firefox browser falls to AI. What do we do now?"}, {"id": 738041536, "item_id": 46127596, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46127596", "by": "Madmallard", "date": "2025-12-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to Librewolf when this happened and never looked back", "excerpt": "Just leaving this here. I switched to Librewolf when this happened and never looked back: https://youtube.com/shorts/FObvkFtr2ZU?si=U6fCphjmGcNMb5ac", "context": "", "use_case": "web browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Mozilla's latest quagmire"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Site breakage", "summary": "One long-time user says its anti-tracking settings cause frequent issues.", "quotes": [{"id": 792482064, "item_id": 49530129, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530129", "by": "yesnomaybe", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing.", "excerpt": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing. There are many issues coming with anti-tracking, sometimes a pain in the ... but, whenever I ask myself \"what if I had to switch to Brave or other\" I always end up with the same firm \"Nah, I'm good\". If LibreWolf would disappear, it would still be FF for me, with carefully selected and regularly reviewed privacy settings.", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}]}, {"label": "Unusual defaults", "summary": "Some find it a hard sell for regular users and recommend browsers with more usual defaults instead.", "quotes": [{"id": 792253313, "item_id": 49515832, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515832", "by": "goawaydang", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Libre but I understand it\u2019s a hard sell.", "excerpt": "Switched the family to Firefox. I use Libre but I understand it\u2019s a hard sell. FF is much easier and the regular user can\u2019t tell the difference anyway since they don\u2019t spelunk into the details.", "context": "", "use_case": "personal browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO"}, {"id": 786618016, "item_id": 49163626, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49163626", "by": "DarkUranium", "date": "2026-08-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "LobreWolf is a good recommendation", "excerpt": "LobreWolf is a good recommendation, though if you want something with more \"usual\" defaults --- I love WaterFox, myself.", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}]}, {"label": "macOS install", "summary": "One user reports a warning that the macOS package is deprecated for failing the Gatekeeper check.", "quotes": [{"id": 736265473, "item_id": 46016592, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46016592", "by": "lilsoso", "date": "2025-11-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "librewolf has been deprecated because it does not pass the macOS Gatekeeper check!", "excerpt": "Thanks for the browser recommendations. I switched to the Mullvad browser. The other recommendation, LibreWolf, provides the following warning on install which scared me away: \"Warning: librewolf has been deprecated because it does not pass the macOS Gatekeeper check! It will be disabled on 2026-09-01.\"", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "privacy browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "The privacy nightmare of browser fingerprinting"}]}, {"label": "Workplace approval", "summary": "One user reports several organizations raising concerns that it is not an authorized app.", "quotes": [{"id": 801202385, "item_id": 50075149, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075149", "by": "don-code", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "then continued with LibreWolf", "excerpt": "Obviously experiences will vary, but I have now had three organizations express concern (though not to the point of telling me I must stop) that I use third-party Firefox derivatives. This started with Pale Moon and then continued with LibreWolf. The concern is that they \"aren't authorized apps\". As I've read it, this is a proxy for \"we aren't certain these apps can be trusted, but nobody ever got fired for pointing ", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "Pale Moon", "story": "Firefox Enterprise"}]}, {"label": "Font tweaks", "summary": "One switcher says you may need to adjust font settings.", "quotes": [{"id": 749013968, "item_id": 46813373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46813373", "by": "Jugglewhoa", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement", "excerpt": "Firefox has burned enough goodwill with me over the years. Them putting ads in the URL bar was the last straw and I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement and works with all my previous container/add on workflows. May need to mess with fonts, but that's it.", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Mozilla is building an AI 'rebel alliance' to take on OpenAI, Anthropic"}]}], "who": [{"by": "anthk", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48744797", "date": "2026-07-01"}, {"by": "yesnomaybe", "context": "uses Fedora for work", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46702232", "date": "2026-01-20"}, {"by": "reify", "context": "set up a computer for a 10 year old", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45865257", "date": "2025-11-09"}], "tags": ["for Firefox switchers", "for privacy-focused users", "for Linux users"], "use_cases": ["web browsing", "daily browser", "privacy browsing", "privacy browser", "personal browsing", "firefox-based browser"], "compared": [{"slug": "firefox", "name": "Firefox", "co": 13, "switched_from": 6, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ublock-origin", "name": "uBlock Origin", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "mullvad-browser", "name": "Mullvad Browser", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "chrome", "name": "Chrome", "co": 2, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "brave", "name": "Brave", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "waterfox", "name": "Waterfox", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "tor-browser", "name": "Tor Browser", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50070302", "title": "Firefox Enterprise", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49842764", "title": "PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49723408", "title": "Mistral X Mozilla: Private, Multilingual AI Browsing", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49527748", "title": "Hang on to Your Firefox", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49514878", "title": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49286427", "title": "Ask HN: What browser do you use?", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 3, "warn": 1}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 2}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 801202385, "item_id": 50075149, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50075149", "by": "don-code", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "then continued with LibreWolf", "excerpt": "Obviously experiences will vary, but I have now had three organizations express concern (though not to the point of telling me I must stop) that I use third-party Firefox derivatives. This started with Pale Moon and then continued with LibreWolf. The concern is that they \"aren't authorized apps\". As I've read it, this is a proxy for \"we aren't certain these apps can be trusted, but nobody ever got fired for pointing ", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "Pale Moon", "story": "Firefox Enterprise"}, {"id": 797742897, "item_id": 49858931, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49858931", "by": "DavideNL", "date": "2026-09-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Firefox (and Librewolf), and have no issues.", "excerpt": "I use Firefox (and Librewolf), and have no issues. So, it must be some extension or content blocker list causing that issue?", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock"}, {"id": 795915904, "item_id": 49744744, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49744744", "by": "DavideNL", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Fyi, you may want to check out Librewolf: https://librewolf.net/", "excerpt": "Fyi, you may want to check out Librewolf: https://librewolf.net/", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mistral X Mozilla: Private, Multilingual AI Browsing"}, {"id": 792482064, "item_id": 49530129, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49530129", "by": "yesnomaybe", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing.", "excerpt": "I've been using LibreWolf (FF based) for years now and I love this thing. There are many issues coming with anti-tracking, sometimes a pain in the ... but, whenever I ask myself \"what if I had to switch to Brave or other\" I always end up with the same firm \"Nah, I'm good\". If LibreWolf would disappear, it would still be FF for me, with carefully selected and regularly reviewed privacy settings.", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Hang on to Your Firefox"}, {"id": 792253313, "item_id": 49515832, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515832", "by": "goawaydang", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Libre but I understand it\u2019s a hard sell.", "excerpt": "Switched the family to Firefox. I use Libre but I understand it\u2019s a hard sell. FF is much easier and the regular user can\u2019t tell the difference anyway since they don\u2019t spelunk into the details.", "context": "", "use_case": "personal browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO"}, {"id": 788588513, "item_id": 49286782, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49286782", "by": "Pieczasz", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Have you tried any other firefox based browsers, like Zen, or LibreWolf?", "excerpt": "Have you tried any other firefox based browsers, like Zen, or LibreWolf?", "context": "", "use_case": "Firefox-based browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What browser do you use?"}, {"id": 786618016, "item_id": 49163626, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49163626", "by": "DarkUranium", "date": "2026-08-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "LobreWolf is a good recommendation", "excerpt": "LobreWolf is a good recommendation, though if you want something with more \"usual\" defaults --- I love WaterFox, myself.", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)"}, {"id": 783684672, "item_id": 48980292, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48980292", "by": "mediumsmart", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use librewolf too with privacy badger and librejs - good browser", "excerpt": "fair enough - librewolf - same as Orion: 18.29 fingerprint uniqueness - I dont know the other browsers except Tor. I use librewolf too with privacy badger and librejs - good browser", "context": "", "use_case": "privacy-focused browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Orion Browser by Kagi"}, {"id": 779916757, "item_id": 48744797, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48744797", "by": "anthk", "date": "2026-07-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Dillo on the netbook, Librewolf on the NUC", "excerpt": "It's still there, at IRC/Usenet/some niche forums. Replace phreaking with maybe some mesh networks and ways to connect computers without calling an ISP. There are still niche blogs and even phlogs. And you can still use Pidgin and libpurple plugins to connect to a huge array of protocols. Ditto with core Biltbee or Bitlbee+libpurple allowing you to use any IRC client (even the ones without TLS for DOS and Win9X) to c", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "browser on main desktop", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Internet I Grew Up with Doesn't Exist Anymore"}, {"id": 779086769, "item_id": 48692923, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48692923", "by": "eperot", "date": "2026-06-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "running Librewolf in gVisor", "excerpt": "Thanks. We're working on rootless network setup to make `runsc do --rootless` work with networking enabled when `passt` is installed right now. See issue #13337 (yes that's a cool issue number) which should unblock this. The tty issue is known, should be fixed soon too, though contributions welcome as it sounds like it should be simple fix and we love more contributions :) FWIW, X11 apps work well, I have a personal ", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxed browser project", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run isolated sandboxes with full lifecycle control: AWS introduces MicroVMs"}, {"id": 778331106, "item_id": 48645694, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48645694", "by": "unmanageduck", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Browsers:\n  - Librewolf", "excerpt": "Package manager: Nix(alternative to homebrew) https://nixos.org/download/#nix-install-macos Package management: Nix-darwin https://github.com/nix-darwin/nix-darwin Browsers: - Librewolf https://librewolf.net - Tor https://www.torproject.org - Orion https://orionbrowser.com Video downloader: Yt-dlp https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp Video/audio player: Mpv https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv Video editor: LosslessCut http", "context": "", "use_case": "browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 776918673, "item_id": 48557417, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48557417", "by": "water-data-dude", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Librewolf is also good, and I use that on one of my other machines.", "excerpt": "I'm a big fan of WaterFox! I switched when Firefox decided to add a ton of AI crap without providing a \"turn this crap off\" button (you could force it, but I don't want to fight my tools). Really good experience, been recommending it to all my friends. Librewolf is also good, and I use that on one of my other machines. I like Waterfox a bit more, but that's probably just personal taste. Both are solid and both cut th", "context": "", "use_case": "browser on second machine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Chrome's Next Update Will Mark the End of Popular Ad Blockers"}, {"id": 775531296, "item_id": 48470706, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48470706", "by": "vunderba", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I switched to Librewolf a while ago.", "excerpt": "Yup \u2013 I think that Chrome\u2019s Manifest V3 has severely limited the capabilities of ad blockers like uBlock Origin as well. I switched to Librewolf a while ago.", "context": "", "use_case": "browsing with ad blocking", "switched_from": "Chrome", "story": "Ask HN: How to escalate a rejected Google extension?"}, {"id": 773582464, "item_id": 48348904, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48348904", "by": "jameson", "date": "2026-05-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use LibreWolf which disables creating WebGL API by default and I don't have this issue.", "excerpt": "I use LibreWolf which disables creating WebGL API by default and I don't have this issue. Why could be the reasons I'm passing CF turnstile?", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cloudflare Turnstile requiring fingerprintable WebGL"}, {"id": 754193232, "item_id": 47137077, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47137077", "by": "j1436go", "date": "2026-02-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to LibreWolf, use uBlock Origin", "excerpt": "I switched to LibreWolf, use uBlock Origin and have modified the web search so it uses noai.duckduckgo.com and appends -ai to every Google search query. I'm rather happy with this setup.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements"}, {"id": 749013968, "item_id": 46813373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46813373", "by": "Jugglewhoa", "date": "2026-01-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement", "excerpt": "Firefox has burned enough goodwill with me over the years. Them putting ads in the URL bar was the last straw and I switched to LibreWolf. Haven't looked back since, its basically a drop in replacement and works with all my previous container/add on workflows. May need to mess with fonts, but that's it.", "context": "", "use_case": "web browsing", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Mozilla is building an AI 'rebel alliance' to take on OpenAI, Anthropic"}, {"id": 747235713, "item_id": 46702232, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46702232", "by": "yesnomaybe", "date": "2026-01-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use an exotic browser (LibreWolf) running teams.", "excerpt": "+1 for fedora. I use it for work. I use an exotic browser (LibreWolf) running teams. Slack desktop from https://packagecloud.io/slacktechnologies/slack it does everything well (screensharing, audio, video) all on Gnome Wayland. the beauty is you can use native packages not flatpaks, so better chance everything works because it's been tested by the maintainer against the fedora release. at least that my theory.", "context": "uses Fedora for work", "use_case": "browser for Teams", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Is Linux Safe to Daily drive in 2026?"}, {"id": 742760384, "item_id": 46422524, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46422524", "by": "airhangerf15", "date": "2025-12-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been on Librewolf for years. I use it on my personal machine and work machine.", "excerpt": "Mozilla is a hopelessly corrupt organization at this point. At any point they could block support from uBlock Origin working correctly. They still have all their Google money, so they won't be forced to make any real changes. I have been on Librewolf for years. I use it on my personal machine and work machine. I know it's downstream and dependent on Mozilla/Gecko, but it's privacy aware and tries to strip out all the", "context": "", "use_case": "daily browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Firefox browser falls to AI. What do we do now?"}, {"id": 740659649, "item_id": 46291228, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46291228", "by": "throwaway613745", "date": "2025-12-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Why do you think Waterfox and Librewolf leave this crap out?", "excerpt": "Mozilla for the love of God I do not want \u201cAI features\u201d in the tool I use to do my online banking. Stop this madness. Nobody is switching away from Firefox because it\u2019s not agentic. But there might be a small amount of people willing to switch away from Chromium slop browsers BECAUSE IT ISNT. Why do you think Waterfox and Librewolf leave this crap out?", "context": "", "use_case": "browser without AI features", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo"}, {"id": 738041536, "item_id": 46127596, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46127596", "by": "Madmallard", "date": "2025-12-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to Librewolf when this happened and never looked back", "excerpt": "Just leaving this here. I switched to Librewolf when this happened and never looked back: https://youtube.com/shorts/FObvkFtr2ZU?si=U6fCphjmGcNMb5ac", "context": "", "use_case": "web browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Mozilla's latest quagmire"}, {"id": 736265473, "item_id": 46016592, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46016592", "by": "lilsoso", "date": "2025-11-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "librewolf has been deprecated because it does not pass the macOS Gatekeeper check!", "excerpt": "Thanks for the browser recommendations. I switched to the Mullvad browser. The other recommendation, LibreWolf, provides the following warning on install which scared me away: \"Warning: librewolf has been deprecated because it does not pass the macOS Gatekeeper check! It will be disabled on 2026-09-01.\"", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "privacy browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "The privacy nightmare of browser fingerprinting"}, {"id": 734867088, "item_id": 45929193, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45929193", "by": "lone-cloud", "date": "2025-11-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Instead of Firefox I use(d) LibreWolf which strips out all the Mozilla trash.", "excerpt": "I would personally never use an out-of-the-box browser because of this. Instead of Firefox I use(d) LibreWolf which strips out all the Mozilla trash. I'd argue that all gecko-based browsers are \"bad\" and Mozilla has been largely incompetent for many, many years now with failing to modernize their browser engine. As I remember, their current CEO fired the entire team responsible for a modernizing their browser codebas", "context": "", "use_case": "daily browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "I think nobody wants AI in Firefox, Mozilla"}, {"id": 733856880, "item_id": 45866055, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45866055", "by": "estimator7292", "date": "2025-11-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use LibreWolf because IMO vanilla Firefox is just as disgusting and useless as Google Chrome.", "excerpt": "Mozilla, please. I just want a browser. I want to enter a URL and visit a website, end of experience. I don't want my browser to be \"helpful\". I don't want my browser to be \"smart\" or \"featureful\" or \"\"modern\"\" or \"\"\"beautiful\"\"\". Firefox has precisely one job: navigate to a URI and display the website or file it describes. End. Of. Experience. You're a browser company, please just make a goddamn browser. I'm begging", "context": "", "use_case": "daily browser", "switched_from": "Firefox", "story": "Firefox Forcing LLM Features"}, {"id": 733844114, "item_id": 45865257, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45865257", "by": "reify", "date": "2025-11-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "change the browser to the Mullvad Browser or and librewolf", "excerpt": "I did this two years ago for a 10 year old. I went with Linux Mint XCFE The issue for all parents is surely online safety, especially so for our youngest. I managed to prevent the 10 year old acccessing porn and other non child friendly sites. change the browser to the Mullvad Browser or and librewolf --------------------- make sure you change the DNS in network manager and the the browser. https://mullvad.net/en/hel", "context": "set up a computer for a 10 year old", "use_case": "child-safe browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How would you set up a child\u2019s first Linux computer?"}]}