Web Browser Grand Prix 4: Firefox 4 Goes Final

Features
By Adam Overa
published

It's official! After four months of delays, twelve betas, and two RCs, Firefox 4 has gone final. But after all that, does this fox still have teeth? Can Internet Explorer 9 retain the WBGP title, or will it become the shortest-lived champion to date?

Performance Benchmarks: JavaScript

Unfortunately, at the time of final testing, JSBenchmark, a regular component of the WBGP, was offline.

Kraken

Firefox 4 finishes first in the Kraken JavaScript benchmark, more than 500 milliseconds ahead of Chrome. In third place, Opera takes twice the time to finish as FF4. Finishing about 1500 milliseconds behind Opera is IE9, with Apple Safari taking 450 ms more than Microsoft's browser, putting it in last place. 

SunSpider

IE9 again takes the top spot in SunSpider, almost 25 ms ahead of newcomer Firefox 4. Chrome finishes the test a fraction of a millisecond behind FF4 to place third. Right behind Chrome is Opera in fourth, with Safari taking over 60 ms longer than Opera to finish last.

V8 Benchmark

We're continuing to monitor the behavior of the V8 benchmark. Unfortunately, since JSBenchmark is not available to compare against, we won't be absolutely sure V8 is not a ringer for Google.

Chrome again slaughters the competition in Google's V8 test suite, earning more than twice the score of second-place finisher Firefox 4. Opera scores a third-place finish just behind Mozilla Firefox. Safari earns about 1300 points less than the Norwegian Web browser to place fourth, which leaves WBGP3 champ IE9 in last place.

It's not so much the placing generated by this test that bothers us, or even the fact that Chrome usually wins; it's the scale of Chrome's win. When JSBenchmark is included, it typically mirrors the placing of V8, but by much more reasonable margins. We're only leaving the V8 score in this time because JSBenchmark is down. Otherwise, it's safe to say we're over this one.

As usual, the JavaScript benchmarks are a mixed bag, with one win each from Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Taking into account the total placing and margins of victory (other than Chrome in V8), it's Firefox 4 that leads in this discipline, though Chrome is right up there as well. Opera is now the middle-of-the-road option in JS speed, and IE9's performance is inconsistent. At this point, the aging Safari 5 is significantly slower than the competition.

Adam Overa
156 Comments Comment from the forums
  • reprotected
    Because people can't wait for half a second. I never had a single rendering problem with any of my browsers.
    Reply
  • LuckyDucky7
    Adblock Plus, Adblock Plus, Adblock Plus.

    That pretty much sums it up. No amount of optimization will help you when it comes to loading web pages if you have a large amount of adframes and such to slow you down.

    So have your super-fast IE9: I bet the ads will appreciate loading quick too.
    Reply
  • @ericburnby

    you must enjoy all those ads, in real world the difference in speed is negligible, but i sure has hell appreciate a rock stable browser, which is not what IE is, now saying that i have to say IE9 is definitely light years ahead of it's predecessor

    have used all 3 browser and found FF to be the most stable by far
    Reply
  • @ StableBrowser,

    You must enjoy being an ignorant Fx fanboy. IE9 comes with adblocking features without needing any extensions.
    Reply
  • nd22
    IE9 is indeed fast, but my question relates to Safari, a browser created specifically for Mac, not for Windows. On Mac Safari is incredible fast, why Tom’s did not tested Safari on the platform which it was designed for?
    Reply
  • @luckyducky7

    "Adblock Plus, Adblock Plus, Adblock Plus.

    That pretty much sums it up. No amount of optimization will help you when it comes to loading web pages if you have a large amount of adframes and such to slow you down.

    So have your super-fast IE9: I bet the ads will appreciate loading quick too."

    Not if you use tracking protection.
    Reply
  • adamovera
    nd22IE9 is indeed fast, but my question relates to Safari, a browser created specifically for Mac, not for Windows. On Mac Safari is incredible fast, why Tom’s did not tested Safari on the platform which it was designed for?It is my hope that we'll be able to do that. Hopefully for the next major Safari release. If that's at the same time as Lion, then we might have to use the latest updated Snow Leopard for time reasons.
    Reply
  • jsowoc
    Re: Acid3
    This is why Firefox doesn't get 100:
    http://limi.net/articles/firefox-acid3/
    Reply
  • I loaded up IE today because the Chase website gives me problems with Chrome, and I was surprised by how fast IE9 is now. Loading pages seemingly as fast or faster then chrome. I even thought of switching it to my primary browser, but the lack of Ad-block support killed it. It is a necessary feature and every browser should have it or something like it these days.
    Reply
  • andy5174
    The latest Chrome is indeed pretty fast, but I just can't live without Tab Mix Plus which is only available to Firefox. Someone please write a similar add-on for Chrome!!!
    Reply