Recommended reading

Web Browser Grand Prix: Firefox 15, Safari 6, OS X Mountain Lion

Round-ups
By published

Today we're breaking out the Hackintosh for our first-ever Web Browser Grand Prix on Apple OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion). How will Chrome 21, Firefox 15, Opera 12.02, and Safari 6 stack up against each other, and to IE9 and the rest of the Windows 7 browsers?

Chrome, Firefox, IE9, Opera, Safari

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Web Browser Grand Prix Champions

The table below lists all of the previous Web Browser Grand Prix winners, with links to their respective articles.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Web Browser Grand PrixChampion
Web Browser Grand Prix: The Top Five, Tested And Ranked

Web Browser Grand Prix 2: The Top Five Tested And RankedWeb Browser Grand Prix 2: Running The Linux CircuitWeb Browser Grand Prix 3:  IE9 Enters The RaceWeb Browser Grand Prix 4: Firefox 4 Goes Final

Web Browser Grand Prix 5: Opera 11.50, Firefox 5, And Chrome 12

Web Browser Grand Prix VI: Firefox 6, Chrome 13, Mac OS X LionWeb Browser Grand Prix 7: Firefox 7, Chrome 14, Opera 11.51

Web Browser Grand Prix VIII: Chrome 16, Firefox 9, And Mac OS XWeb Browser Grand Prix 9: Chrome 17, Firefox 10, And UbuntuWeb Browser Grand Prix: Chrome 18, Firefox 11, Windows XP

Web Browser Grand Prix: Chrome 20, Opera 12, Firefox 13

Web Browser Grand Prix Contenders

ChromeVendor:GoogleDebut:9/02/2008Current Version:21Layout Engine:WebKitJavaScript Engine:V8Supported Platforms:Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOSHTML5 Hardware Acceleration:NoWebGL:Windows & OS X-OnlyWBGP Wins:6 (4 Windows 7, 2 Linux)Download Chrome!

Chrome 21 on Windows 7

Chrome 21 on OS X 10.8

FirefoxVendor:MozillaDebut:11/09/2004Current Version:15Layout Engine:Gecko 2.0JavaScript Engine:JaegerMonkeySupported Platforms:Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOSHTML Hardware Acceleration:YesWebGL:YesWBGP Championships:3 (Windows 7)Download Firefox!

Firefox 15 on Windows 7

Firefox 15 on OS X 10.8

Internet ExplorerVendor:MicrosoftDebut:8/16/1995Current Version:9Layout Engine:TridentJavaScript Engine:ChakraSupported Platforms:Windows (Vista and 7)HTML5 Hardware Acceleration:YesWebGL:NoWBGP Championships:2 (Windows 7)Download Internet Explorer!

IE9 on Windows 7

OperaVendor:Opera SoftwareDebut:12/09/1996Current Version:12Layout Engine:PrestoJavaScript Engine:CarakanSupported Platforms:Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOSHTML5 Hardware Acceleration:NoWebGL:NoWBGP Championships:2 (Windows 7, Windows XP)Download Opera!

Opera 12 on Windows 7

Opera 12 on OS X 10.8

SafariVendor:AppleDebut:1/07/2003Current Version:6Layout Engine:WebKit 2JavaScript Engine:NitroSupported Platforms:OS X, iOSHTML5 Hardware Acceleration:YesWebGL:NoWBGP Championships:2 (OS X)Download Safari!

Safari 6 on OS X 10.8
57 Comments Comment from the forums
  • glurg
    chrome ftw
    Reply
  • Eggrenade
    It would be nice if I could view the additional charts with only one click, and not in a separate window.
    Reply
  • lahawzel
    It's nice to see Chrome performing so well, but I'm still waiting on the Chrome equivalents of all the plugins I use in FF before I think about switching. The web just doesn't feel the same without them.

    (The nice popular ones like ABP, Lazarus, Greasemonkey all have equivalents; some lesser-used plugins like Rikaichan also have ports by now. Only a matter of time!)
    Reply
  • bennaye
    chrome is absolutely deserving of the award. say what you will about the frequent patch releases touted as upgrades, chrome is a very good browser, as shown by this month's article. even on OSX there is only a small margin separating chrome and safari. but the one qualm i do have with chrome is the lack of add-ons compared to firefox. and i a lot of people share this concern. the add-ons do make the experience that much better.

    as always, a great read.
    Reply
  • Would like to see this again after IE10 is released.
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    How about 64-bit Internet Explorer 9 vs Waterfox 15.0?
    Reply
  • adamovera
    bennayechrome is absolutely deserving of the award. say what you will about the frequent patch releases touted as upgrades, chrome is a very good browser, as shown by this month's article. even on OSX there is only a small margin separating chrome and safari. but the one qualm i do have with chrome is the lack of add-ons compared to firefox. and i a lot of people share this concern. the add-ons do make the experience that much better.as always, a great read.All versions of Chrome hold up incredibly well cross-platform, if you look back at the two Linux WBGPs, it won there, too. Thanks for reading!
    Reply
  • adamovera
    AdamsTaiwanWould like to see this again after IE10 is released.Absolutely, a Windows 8-based WBGP is already in the cards for October.
    Reply
  • adamovera
    JOSHSKORNHow about 64-bit Internet Explorer 9 vs Waterfox 15.0?When we have more stable 64-bit browsers, I'll definitely do a 64-bit WBGP - including versus their 32-bit counterparts.
    Reply
  • I wish Tom's would fiddle around with the settings of these browsers for these tests. In every System Builder Marathon you overclock the builds, why not try and crank the most speed while ensuring better memory management out of the browser as well?

    Testing these browsers at stock doesn't reveal even an eighth of the picture.
    Reply