Web Browser Grand Prix 7: Firefox 7, Chrome 14, Opera 11.51

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Mozilla released the hotly-anticipated Firefox 7 two days ago. Does it deliver on the promise of speed and memory improvements? Does Firefox 7 have what it takes to dethrone current Web Browser Grand Prix champion, Google Chrome? Read on to find out!

Benchmark Results: Page Load Times

The test sites used in our page load time testing are as follows: Google, YouTube, Yahoo!, Amazon, Wikipedia, eBay, Craigslist, and The Huffington Post. As explained in Web Browser Grand Prix VI: Firefox 6, Chrome 13, Mac OS X Lion, we modified these tests to render at 1080p, and to more closely reflect real-world usage. Instead of the home pages of Amazon, Wikipedia, eBay, and Craigslist, we use functional areas of those sites.

The chart below is a detailed view of the times each Web browser takes to load the individual pages.

This next chart contains the page load time composite score, which is an average of the eight page load times on each Web browser.

Google manages to retain the lead with Chrome 14, and Safari again places second. IE9 also holds onto third place, while Firefox 7 allows Mozilla to edge past Opera to take fourth place.

Clearly, the WebKit-based browsers (Chrome and Safari) take this one. Internet Explorer is a solid middle-of-the-road option. Firefox and Opera are the least attractive from the perspective of page load times, though keep in mind that all of the browsers average page loads in under one second, which isn't too shabby.

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Adam Overa
131 Comments Comment from the forums
  • gerchokas
    Well done Mozilla!
    Now they could change their famous icon to a more minimalist/modern style and we're done. Speedy AND classy, just like a fire fox.
    Reply
  • shiftmx112
    Enjoy it while you can Firefox fans

    Indeed. I have been quite content with FF8 though.
    Reply
  • soccerdocks
    Until another browser beats Chrome in the speed/performance benchmarks I'm sticking with it.
    Reply
  • iam2thecrowe
    im sticking with IE, its perfectly fast enough and stable and why should I have to install another browser when it works perfectly fine?
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    I'm on FF10. :D Nightly 64-bit!
    Reply
  • compton
    I have to say, I do really like chrome. I stopped using Firefox as much one I tried the chrome beta, and now I use IE9 and chrome all the time. I used opera for a while, but Netflix streaming doesn't work with it, nor do many other sites I use.

    Now that IE is good again, I can't fault anyone for using it in lieu of the others.
    Reply
  • makaveli316
    "Until another browser beats Chrome in the speed/performance benchmarks I'm sticking with it."

    lol people still think they can feel the difference in terms of speed in real world performance and there's still people that doesn't use a browser for their needs and preferences, but just because they have seen some silly benchmark.
    Ridiculous. I bet those are the same people that are always complaining in the forums about crashes, viruses and blue screens.
    Reply
  • killik
    Even better yet,if you use FF7 with the MemoryFox addon,Firefox simply obliterates the competition.try it for yourself.
    Reply
  • killik
    Even better yet,if you use FF7 with the MemoryFox addon,Firefox simply obliterates the competition in the memory management department.try it for yourself.
    Reply
  • frostmachine
    I noticed firefox will use progressively more memory. Even if it's just refreshing the same pages. I use firefox, opera n chrome, keeping them open 24hr/day. It can go from intial 100mb to over 500mb. I don't see this in the other browsers.
    Reply