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Comparing RAM usage figures of 11 - no, 14 Web browsers popular in various regions. (Image source: Notebookcheck)

Checking how much RAM popular Web browsers use

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Chrome, Cốc Cốc, Edge, Firefox, Maxthon, Opera, Opera Air, Opera GX, Sleipnir, Whale, Yandex: Which one of these Windows Web browsers is a memory hog? This little article is designed to help those of us stuck with low-RAM systems pick the best browser. Update: 3 more browsers tested
Sergey Tarasov 👁 Published 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 ...
Software Windows

March 13, 2025 00:36 PM GMT update:

RAM usage check results added for Brave, QQ and Vivaldi; article edited accordingly.

Budget laptops sporting a mere 4 gigabytes of RAM just won't leave store shelves, in spite of how affordable DDR4 memory is nowadays. With 64-bit Windows 10 and Windows 11 taking up around 2 GB, a further 128 MB permanently allocated to the iGPU and around 100 MB more reserved for DRM content decoding needs, the user is left with very little memory available. This means every megabyte counts. 

Testing conditions

The following RAM usage check was performed using an MSI Prestige laptop (Core i7-1195G7 11th Gen CPU, 96 EU Iris Xe integrated graphics, 16 GB of RAM, 1080p display with scaling set to 150%) running a recently installed 64-bit Windows 10 Home 22H2. With the 1st batch of Web browsers, tested on March 09, 2025, the procedure was as follows:

  1. Uninstalling Edge; adding a new local Windows user account; removing all previously existing user accounts.
  2. Clean-installing the latest versions of the Web browsers listed below by consecutively running installer EXEs downloaded using another computer the day before and saved to a USB drive, including Edge. Skipping through welcome screens (with browsers that launch automatically upon installing), altering as few settings as possible and closing the window as soon as possible.
  3. Launching a browser. Navigating to notebookcheck.net by manually typing the address in the address bar. Clicking the cookie consent button; opening the Reviews and News pages in new browser tabs, closing the original tab. Opening another browser tab, navigating to youtube.com by manually typing the address in the address bar. Clicking the cookie consent button. Typing 'Notebookcheck' in the search field and loading the Notebookcheck Reviews channel's Videos tab with two clicks. Finally, opening the About page in a new browser tab by visiting the settings menu.
  4. Launching Task Manager. Documenting how much RAM the processes associated with the Web browser being tested take up.
  5. Later the same day: Run #2. Performing the steps described in points #2, #3 and #4 again. Calculating averages.

With the much smaller 2nd batch, tested on March 12, 2025, steps 2 to 5 were performed.

Brave - batch 2, run 1 - popular internationally

Checking how much RAM Brave needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Brave needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck

Chrome - batch 1, run 1 - popular internationally

Checking how much RAM Chrome needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Chrome needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck

Cốc Cốc - batch 1, run 1 - popular in Vietnam

Checking how much RAM Cốc Cốc needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Cốc Cốc needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck

Edge - batch 1, run 1 - popular internationally

Checking how much RAM Edge needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Edge needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Edge needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Edge needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck

Firefox - batch 1, run 1 - popular internationally

Checking how much RAM Firefox needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Firefox needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Firefox needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Firefox needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck

Maxthon - batch 1, run 1 - popular in China

Checking how much RAM Maxthon needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Maxthon needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Maxthon needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Maxthon needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck

Opera Air - batch 1, run 1 - launched recently

Checking how much RAM Opera Air needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Opera Air needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck

Opera GX - batch 1, run 1 - popular internationally

Checking how much RAM Opera GX needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Opera GX needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Opera GX needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Opera GX needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck

Opera - batch 1, run 1 - popular internationally

Checking how much RAM Opera needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Opera needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck

QQ - batch 2, run 1 - popular in China

Checking how much RAM QQ Browser needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM QQ Browser needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM QQ Browser needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
 

Sleipnir - batch 1, run 1 - popular in Japan

Checking how much RAM Sleipnir needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Sleipnir needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Sleipnir needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Sleipnir needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Sleipnir needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
 

Vivaldi - batch 2, run 1 - popular internationally

Checking how much RAM Vivaldi needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Vivaldi needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Vivaldi needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Vivaldi needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck

Whale - batch 1, run 1 - popular in South Korea

Checking how much RAM Whale needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Whale needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck

Yandex - batch 1, run 1 - popular in Russia and EEU countries

Checking how much RAM Yandex needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Yandex needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
Checking how much RAM Yandex needs to load and display 4 tabs. Image source: Notebookcheck
 

Results - Batch 1

Cốc Cốc (Chromium 133) 1968 MB
Opera Air (Chromium 131) 1697 MB
Opera GX (Chromium 132) 1586 MB
Opera (Chromium 132) 1523 MB
Chrome (Chromium 134) 1516 MB
Edge (Chromium 134) 1486 MB
Firefox 136 1327 MB
Sleipnir (Chromium 131) 1228 MB
Maxthon (Chromium 128) 1222 MB
Yandex (Chromium 132) 1194 MB
Whale (Chromium 132) 1176 MB

Results - Batch 2

QQ (Chromium 116) 1863 MB
Vivaldi (Chromium 132) 1536 MB
Brave (Chromium 134) 860 MB

Verdict

Chrome is not the leader despite being the most popular option. Depending on who one chooses to believe, its market share stands at ~60% to ~90% yet it's clear that for systems with little RAM, Chrome is not the best choice.

Neither is Edge.

Brave and Sleipnir block all ads by default, which helps when it comes to lowering RAM usage. Please note that Google advertising revenues are the only reason why websites like Notebookcheck are able to provide objective, timely coverage to consumers all over the world free of charge.

Source(s)

Notebookcheck (own research)

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Sergey Tarasov, 2025-03-10 (Update: 2025-03-17)