Data from the past decade shows an explosion in internet use, and internet browsers fuel this. There are multiple players in the web browser market, but which stands out, and where are users flocking?
We dive into the relevant statistics, insights, data, and figures collected over 100 research hours and vetted by our dedicated editorial team.
Top 8 Browser Statistics (Editor’s Pick)
- Google Chrome for Android is the most used mobile browser.
- Over 63% of desktop users worldwide prefer Google Chrome.
- Safari was used by about 1 in 4 persons accessing the web with mobile browsers in January 2023.
- Safari claimed almost 90% of the iOS browser market share in 2012.
- The Edge browser only had 0.02% of the global desktop market share in January 2020.
- Firefox volunteers have contributed over 40% of the browser’s code base.
- Mozilla’s internal reporting shows a 30,000,000+ user decline between 2019-2022.
- Opera boasts 2.26% of the global browser market share.
Infographic
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/browser-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/top-8-browser-stats.png" alt="Top 8 Browser Statistics" width="768" border="0" height="696.59863945578" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/top-8-browser-stats-1024x929.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/top-8-browser-stats.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/top-8-browser-stats-300x272.png 300w" sizes="auto"></a>
General Browser Statistics
1. The current Google-Mozilla deal is expected to end in 2023.
Even though both companies compete in the browser market, Google reportedly pays Firefox about $400 million per year to remain the default search engine on its browser. Firefox also partners with other niche search engine operators like Yandex in Russia.
2. Google Chrome for Android is the most used mobile browser.
The Google Chrome browser crossed 1 billion Android downloads in 2015. Less than a decade later, it has hit 5 billion downloads.
3. Apple’s Safari had only 26 vulnerabilities in 2022.
It also takes the browser about 54 days to address security issues in its system. Conversely, Microsoft Edge was the least safe browser in 2022.
4. Google Chrome is about 50% slower than the Safari browser.
Safari also has a higher video streaming time on devices, up to 1.5 hours longer than Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/browser-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/chrome-slower.png" alt="Google Chrome is about 50% slower than Safari" width="768" border="0" height="309.74585635359" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/chrome-slower-1024x413.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/chrome-slower.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/chrome-slower-300x121.png 300w" sizes="auto"></a>
5. Windows 10 accounts for over 17% of browser downloads and usage.
December 2022 data shows that Windows 10 accounts for 17.36% of the browser user market by software. Android 12 users are in second place, responsible for 14.86% of all web browser activity. iOS 16 users are close (12.78%), rounding off the top three.
6. Android OS owns the largest market for browsers across different versions.
Different Android operating systems dominate the top 10 platforms for browsers globally, accounting for almost half (48.87%) of all browser activity by December 2022. The breakdown is as follows:
- Android 12 – 14.86% (second-placed platform globally)
- Android 11 – 12.14% (fourth-placed globally)
- Android 10 – 9.68% (fifth-placed globally)
- Android 13 – 4.38% (seventh-placed globally)
- Android 9 – 4.34% (eight-placed globally)
- Android 8 – 3.47% (tenth-placed)
Google Chrome Browser Statistics
However, it was not the leading browser in the USA, losing out to Safari.
8. Google Chrome (46.54%) is not ahead of Safari by far in the UK market.
Apple’s Safari captured a 40.17% share of the British market in December 2022 to give it a closer share.
9. Over 63% of desktop users worldwide prefer Google Chrome.
Surprisingly, Microsoft Edge (13.27%) performed better than Safari (10.41%) on desktops globally in December 2022.
10. Google Chrome outperformed Safari by over 2.2x on tablets in Q4 2022.
Over 61% of the tablet market chose to access the internet over Google Chrome. In contrast, about 27% opted for Safari.
11. By Q4 2022, India was Google Chrome's best-performing market, especially on mobile.
Google Chrome accounts for over 90% of India’s mobile browser market share. The rest is notably shared by Safari (4.8%), Samsung Internet (2.35%), Opera (1.25%), and other browsers.
12. Google Chrome is better optimized for space than Mozilla Firefox.
On average, Firefox takes up 1700MB+ of space, while Google Chrome uses up 900MB.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/browser-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/chrome-better-optimized.png" alt="Google Chrome is better optimized for space than Mozilla Firefox" width="768" border="0" height="309.74585635359" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/chrome-better-optimized-1024x413.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/chrome-better-optimized.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/chrome-better-optimized-300x121.png 300w" sizes="auto"></a>
13. Google Chrome is the most preferred browser in China across all platforms.
Even though Google’s services are blocked in China, the Chromium-based browser still accounts for 41.65% of the browser market share there in January 2023. Safari comes third (with 13.15%), while UC Browser makes an appearance in second (at 22.78%).
14. The Chrome v108 is still the most used browser and Google Chrome version.
Even though Google Chrome is now on its v109, the v108 accounted for 37.69% of all browsers globally. It is followed by the Chrome 107 version, which boasts 10.78% of the market share. However, Chrome 109 just arrived in December 2022.
15. Google Chrome releases security updates in about two weeks.
Firefox is next, requiring 28 days to patch a security issue, while Internet Explorer/Edge requires about a month. Apple is the slowest, taking Safari 54 days to resolve vulnerabilities.
Safari Browser Statistics
However, it trails Google Chrome globally, capturing a smaller 25.2% of the market share.
17. Safari was used by about 1 in 4 persons accessing the web with mobile browsers in January 2023.
In this regard, Safari is sandwiched between Google Chrome (64.31%) and Samsung Internet (5.06%).
18. Safari is the best performer on tablets in the USA.
Safari slightly pulls ahead of Google Chrome on tablets in its best market, the USA, averaging only 37.81% of the market share. The December 2022 data also shows that Google Chrome enjoys a 35.76% market share in the same region.
19. Safari beat other browsers on mobile in the USA in December 2022.
USA’s mobile users are Safari’s best market as the browser scores a 51.04% market share among this group. Chrome (42.73%) comes second, while Samsung Internet (3.52%) wraps up the top three providers.
Safari’s 10.9% market share in Asia pales compared to Google Chrome’s 72.22% in Q4 2022. UC Browser is third, with 3.58% of the Asian browse market share.
Google Chrome is replacing Safari’s spot in Oceania, claiming 51.21% of the market share and leaving the Apple-made browser with 33.24%. Microsoft Edge sees a decent performance in the Oceania market with 6.51%.
10.79% of Apple iOS users prefer Google Chrome, but 88.74% of iOS users opt for the pre-installed Safari browser.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/browser-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/safari-market-share.png" alt="Safari claimed almost 90% of the iOS market share" width="768" border="0" height="300.04735595896" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/safari-market-share-1024x400.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/safari-market-share.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/safari-market-share-300x117.png 300w" sizes="auto"></a>
23. Apple Safari browser surpassed the 1 billion user mark for the first time in September 2022.
In contrast, Google recorded over 3.3 billion users in the same timeframe. Microsoft Edge was third globally, averaging over 212.6 million users.
24. More Safari users are on the current version as of December 2022.
Most Safari users are on the Safari 16 version, pushing it to an 8.72% market share globally. The previous version (Safari 15) is in 4th place with 4.48% of the global market share.
Microsoft Edge Browser Statistics
December 2022 data shows that the browser only beats Firefox and Samsung Internet Browsers, among other notable names.
December 2022 data shows that this is ahead of Samsung Internet (3.73%) and Firefox (1.73%). Other browsers come together to snag the remainder at 1.80%.
By January 2021, the number had climbed to 7.8%. Microsoft Edge now owns 10.91% of the desktop market share as of August 2022.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/browser-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/edge-market-share.png" alt="The Edge browser only had 0.02 percent market share" width="768" border="0" height="286.71191791634" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/edge-market-share-1024x382.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/edge-market-share.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/edge-market-share-300x112.png 300w" sizes="auto"></a>
Mozilla Firefox Browser Statistics
The once top-spot contender lags behind the newer Samsung Internet Browser (3.05%).
Even though it lost to the Samsung browser globally in December 2022, it is ahead on US soil. Here, Samsung only managed a 1.74% market share, almost half what Firefox averages.
30. Firefox is preferred to Samsung Internet on desktops.
Data gathered in December 2022 shows that Firefox was used by 6.64% of desktop netizens. In contrast, Samsung Internet was not in contention.
31. Firefox volunteers have contributed over 40% of the browser’s code base.
The browser also has 1000+ volunteers actively submitting code for its development.
32. Germany is Firefox's best-performing market among desktop users.
The browser garnered 20.30% of the German desktop browser market share in December 2022. It was led by Google Chrome (39.55%) and followed by Microsoft Edge (17.03%).
33. Mozilla Firefox has about 563 extensions.
That’s a far cry from the 200,000+ extension-rich library on Google Chrome.
34. Mozilla’s internal reporting shows a 30,000,000+ user decline between 2019-2022.
At the end of 2008, Mozilla enjoyed a 20% global browser market share. Today, its market share has dropped below 3% across all platforms worldwide.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/browser-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/mozilla-decline.png" alt="Mozilla lost 30M users 2019-2022" width="768" border="0" height="286.71191791634" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/mozilla-decline-1024x382.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/mozilla-decline.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/mozilla-decline-300x112.png 300w" sizes="auto"></a>
The Samsung-owned solution captured 2.66% of the internet in December 2022. All other browsers lumped together to hold 3.77% of the market share.
Opera Browser Statistics
36. Only 1.37% of mobile browser users opted for Opera.
However, less than 1% of users chose the Opera browser on their tablets in December 2022.
In comparison, other browsers combined held 0.17% of the total US mobile market share in December 2022.
That meager number translates into an impressive 350 million users. However, this is down from about 3% in 2020.
39. Africa was Opera's best-performing market globally in 2022.
It accounted for 33.24% of the mobile market share in Nigeria and 15.91% of the mobile market share in Cameroon, second only to Google Chrome on both accounts.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/browser-statistics/" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/africa-opera.png" alt="Africa was Operas best performing market" width="768" border="0" height="286.71191791634" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/africa-opera-1024x382.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/africa-opera.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/africa-opera-300x112.png 300w" sizes="auto"></a>
Opera (49.73%) pips Google Chrome (47.33%) to the win in the Kenyan mobile market. However, in Kenya, it is behind Google Chrome on tablets (55.58% compared to 31.56%) and desktops (77.03% to 3.6%).
41. Opera is the only browser to offer multiple versions for mobile users.
It has Opera, Opera Touch, and Opera Mini options for mobile users. However, it is streamlined with one option for PC users.
42. 3.98% of South American browser users prefer Opera.
That pales compared to Google Chrome’s 79.58% market share in the region in January 2023. In second is Safari, with 8.02% of the market.
Surf Easy
Whether you’re booking tickets to a musical play on Opera, confirming the exact locations for your next expedition on Safari, or browsing the right color schemes for your new home on Chrome, these web browsers are designed to connect you to the rest of the web easily.
However, they are not as secure against vulnerabilities and threats on their own. So, discover how the best VPNs for browsers can add an extra layer of security to your web experience.
- https://www.similarweb.com/browsers/
- https://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/stats/opera-browser-statistics.html
- https://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/stats/firefox-statistics.html
- https://www.wired.com/story/firefox-mozilla-2022/
- https://techjury.net/blog/web-browser-market-share/
- https://siteefy.com/how-many-people-use-microsoft-edge/
- https://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/stats/Safari-statistics.html
- https://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php
- https://techjury.net/blog/web-browser-market-share/
