5 Best Browsers with Least Data Consumption [Mobile/Desktop]
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Key notes
- Browsers that use less data can help you make the most out of your mobile or overall available bandwidth.
- Some fully featured browsers also have a mini version, which is a low-data browser.
- You can find alternative (official) versions of popular browsers that take less space on your devices. Â
Slow web page loading is still one of the most annoying aspects of using the browser. To avoid this, many are using browsers for old computers or browsers that use less data.
Modern websites can contain a lot of images, and even videos that not only slow down the loading speed but also consume a lot of mobile data.
The website load time depends on both your network speed and server optimization.
While you can’t help how a website is optimized, you can certainly install browsers with the least data consumption to tackle the high data usage issue.
In this article, we explore the best browsers with the least bandwidth impact to help you resolve the high data usage problem with mobile and desktop browsers.
How do I make my browser use less data?
To avoid high data usage, you need to avoid multimedia-heavy websites since they will use the most data.
Another method that you could use is to disable images. By doing so, images won’t load on any websites, and some websites might not look visually appealing, but you’ll drastically reduce bandwidth usage.
The last option is to disable browser updates. Browsers will download updates automatically in the background, and these updates can be quite large, so disabling updates should help.
Finally, if you want to find a browser that consumes less data, be sure to keep on reading.
Which Web browser uses the least data?
Opera One – Best browser with light usage
Opera One and Opera Mini are one of the first browsers to have integrated data-saving features built into them.
The built-in adblocker helps in saving bandwidth by preventing unnecessary ads and pop-ups from loading.
Additionally, the browser also features built-in messenger apps on the edge of the browser to help you chat and browse at the same.
The users can customize the browser with dark and light themes, keyboard shortcuts, and other options.
Key features of Opera One browser:
- Intuitive tabs make multitasking easier
- Built-in adblocker to block pop-up ads and videos
- Extension support
- Built-in VPN for secure and private surfing.
Opera One
Use this new-age browser and benefit from the latest advancements in online security with lighting speeds.Opera Mini – 90% data saving on mobile
Opera Mini is one of the most popular web browser available on Android platform with low CPU resource usage. The browser can save up to 90% of your data when browsing the web.
With a revamped look, user-friendly experience, and more functionalities, the latest version of Opera Mini allows you to customize your browse’s layout, themes, navigation and more.
If you’re looking for low data usage browser for Android, then this is a perfect choice.
Key features of Opera Mini:
- Built-in adblocker to save data
- Browser customization with custom layout, themes, and more
- Save news stories and web pages for offline reading.
- Browse faster on slow networks
⇒ Get Opera Mini
Puffin Web Browser – Highest browsing speeds
In a test by Pingdom, Puffin browser for Android devices offered the fastest loading speed. The browser also used around 30% less data when loading common websites like Google, Reddit and Buzzfeed.
Puffin browser speeds up mobile browsing by shifting the workload from the resource-limited devices to the cloud server.
It helps in running resource-heavy webpages run fast and smooth on your phones and tablets.
One unique feature of the browser is its ability to download files to your cloud drives without using third-party apps.
Key features of Puffin browser:
- Saves up to 90% of data with its proprietary compression algorithm
- Download to cloud feature to download files directly to your cloud storage
- Enables you to emulate a game controller on your phone with keyboard shortcut customization
⇒ Get Puffin
Firefox Focus – Speedy with minimal design
Firefox Focus is a popular browser developed by Mozilla. It’s specially designed for mobile phones and with user privacy in mind.
So the browser focuses on user privacy by automatically blocking a wide range of online trackers.
It also allows you to easily erase your browsing history, password, and cookies, so you will not be tracked by the ad servers.
The removal of web tracks and ads helps the web pages load faster on the browser.
Key features of Firefox Focus:
- Blocks a wide range of common Web trackers automatically
- Enables you to erase your history, password, and cookies
- Faster browsing and web page loading with adblocking
- Can be used as a content blocker for Safari on iOS devices
Firefox – Privacy expert
Firefox needs no introduction, but if you are wondering whether it can help you save some data when browsing the data, yes, it uses less bandwidth than Chrome does.
Firefox supports DNS over HTTPS, which helps keep internet service providers from selling your data.
Compared to Chromium browsers, Firefox offers an autoplay blocking feature that blocks videos that starts playing automatically whenever you load a webpage.
Key features of Mozilla Firefox:
- DoH supports extract protection.
- Built-in Dark and Light Mode support.
- Picture-in-Picture to pop a video of the browser
- Built-in ad tracker and multi-language support
⇒ Get Firefox
Does Firefox use less data than Chrome?
Bandwidth usage depends mostly on the website you’re visiting and not on the browser. All browsers render the content using the same methods, so there’s no difference in data usage.
So, which browser uses the least data on Windows 10? The answer is that all of them use more or less the same amount of data.
The only difference can occur if you’re using a data saving mode on your browser, but without it, the data used depends on your browsing activity.
In case you want to which browser uses less data on iPhone, the answer would be Safari, since it comes with Low Data Mode feature.
The web browsers listed in this article can not only help you reduce data usage but also stop high CPU usage from browsers by blocking trackers and ads.
Data saver extension for Chrome
Save-Data: on is a Chrome extension that will automatically enable data-saving mode with compatible websites.
Do keep in mind that this extension won’t work on every website, so your results may vary.
⇒ Get Save-Data:on
Data saver extension for Firefox
Save-Data:on Firefox extension is also available, and you can use it to save data, but if you want something more reliable, maybe consider using Bandwidth Hero.
This extension saves your data by compressing images 50%-75% while browsing the web, so it’s worth checking out.
To learn more, check our guide on the fastest web browsers and find the perfect browser for your needs.
This can also fix slow web page loading issues with your smartphone and PC. Go through the list and let us know your favorite browser in the comments below.
