Firefox Add-ons Reach 3 Billion Downloads

By Douglas Perry
published

Mozilla is celebrating the popularity of Add-ons for Firefox.

More than 3 billion downloads have been downloaded by Firefox users since add-ons have been made officially available in November, 2004. It took Mozilla 49 months to reach the first billion; the second billion took only 20 months and the third billion arrived after 24 months.

Mozilla said that 85 percent of Firefox users have at least on add-on installed. The most popular remain AdBlock Plus, Firebug, NoScript, Personas Plus and Video DownloadHelper, which are part of a add-on base that includes more than 150,000 add-ons from more than 25,000 developers in total.

The average Firefox user has five add-ons installed. The most popular add-on categories are privacy and security, search, bookmarks and themes. What do you have installed in your Firefox?

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22 Comments Comment from the forums
  • A Bad Day
    For those who say, "Firefox sucks because my web browser already has all of the features that add-ons have.", must enjoy running bloatwares.

    The more features a software comes with, the more HDD/SSD and RAM space it takes up.

    Reply
  • badhomaks
    Adblock. I believe everyone who has firefox or chrome should get it. Best add-on in my opinion.
    Reply
  • chewy1963
    badhomaksAdblock. I believe everyone who has firefox or chrome should get it. Best add-on in my opinion.
    It absolutely is the best IMO also, especially in firefox. It does what it says it will and does using surprisingly few resources (RAM/CPU cycles).
    Reply
  • killerclick
    badhomaksAdblock. I believe everyone who has firefox or chrome should get it. Best add-on in my opinion.
    Unless you like sites that provide content thanks to advertising. If everybody used Adblock, we'd have to pay for content like Tom's instead of getting it for free (or for the low low price of tolerating ads). Even worse, the sites may choose to serve their advertisers in sneakier ways like publishing slightly more favorable reviews. Try Ad-blocking that if you can, you can't even be sure about such things.

    I've known about Adblock for 5 years, but I won't deny sites I regularly visit their tiny revenue stream. I'll even click on a bunch of banners just because I'm feeling generous.
    Reply
  • srap
    A Bad DayThe more features a software comes with, the more HDD/SSD and RAM space it takes up.Not necessarily. It all depends on how it was made. If it was written properly, unused features do not use RAM, and few on HDD-s.
    The other and bigger problem when these features are half-done. Opera is able to use torrents, but not magnets. Opera can be used as an IRC client, but it completely lacks the ability to create log-files (what is unacceptable for any software that can be used for chat).

    Edited: fixed a typo.
    Reply
  • badhomaks
    killerclickUnless you like sites that provide content thanks to advertising. If everybody used Adblock, we'd have to pay for content like Tom's instead of getting it for free (or for the low low price of tolerating ads).That's why sometimes if it's a site that I want to support, I will turn off the adblocker and click a few ads. Then I can turn my adblock on knowing that I'm supporting them even though I still have adblock.
    Reply
  • zybch
    The majority of the web is unusable to me without adblock and flashblock installed.
    Sure, its a site's prerogative to use annoying advertising support, just as its mine to disable those same ads when they're intrusive, irritating (flash) or when they have not even the slightest connection to my interests or the content of the page/site I'm viewing.
    If those sites abuse their viewers then they deserve to lose their advertising funds.
    We users never had any comeback against crap/annoying/intrusive garbage ads, but now we do.
    Reply
  • memadmax
    Sometimes Ad's are a backdoor for a trojan to come in during a drive by....

    AdBlock, NoScript ftw
    Reply
  • killerclick
    memadmaxSometimes Ad's are a backdoor for a trojan to come in during a drive by....AdBlock, NoScript ftw
    That's just an excuse for getting everything you can while giving as little as possible. It's a poisonous mentality that just makes the world a shittier place.
    Reply
  • A proud Firefox user, my add-ons are: Adblock Plus, Awesome Screenshot, BetterPrivacy, BrowserProtect, DownThemAll!, Easy Youtube Video Downloader, Fasterfox Lite, FlagFox, Flashblock, FlashGot, Ghostery, NoScript, RequestPolicy and WOT. I value my privacy and my limited bandwidth from my ISP.
    Reply