I currently use chrome and have all the enhanced security and privacy settings set to the most enhanced you can get on chrome and I want to say I’ve never been hacked ect because I’m very careful online however a friend said I should try brave because it’s way more safe and private than chrome so I downloaded it and it’s ok I’m getting used to it but I’ve now read a few articles and posts on here that brave is no more private than chrome and i read something about people still tracking you based on websites your logged into or something like that. Anyway I just wanted to know is it basically no safer than chrome?
I also was thinking maybe add my own protection is the safest bet rather than relying on a browser as I only moved to brave because I thought it was safer and more private than chrome but seen many pots that say it’s not a secure as they make out.
@Rosepetal thanks for reaching out and great question! It’s one we see often. The answer is yes, it is absolutely safer/more private than Chrome. Here are a few things to consider on the subject:
Privacy
While Brave does leverage the Chromium engine (as many other browsers do), our team goes in and guts anything implemented in the engine that would track you, your data or otherwise send any sort of telemetry anywhere outside of your browser. While much of this is technical, you can see everything we strip, remove or proxy from Chromium to ensure your privacy here:
You can also see how Brave compares to other browsers with respect to privacy from some third party resources – for example:
Further, anything Brave does “track” (which isn’t much) is done so privately, anonymously and ensures that the data sent is encrypted-- such that you cannot be identified and your data cannot be traced back to you by anyone including Brave itself. These services are implemented in-house by Brave and do not leverage any 3rd party analytic services. Additionally, users can opt-out of these services at any time by disabling them in the browser. For a better idea of what these services are and how they’re implemented, please see:
It is important to note that Brave safeguards your data your data out of the box (as well as offers advanced protections, should you choose to leverage them), but there are limitations to how much any browser can protect you/your data, which depend largely on how you use the browser. For example (again, this applies to any/all browsers, not just Brave), if you log into your Google account, you are explicitly identifying yourself to Google, which can allow them to track your activity within their own services. Browser extensions can also introduce [potential] privacy vulnerabilities, as they require access to your browser/data when they’re installed. Your ISP can also see what websites you visit, unless you’re connected through a VPN.
That said, the mindset we have at Brave is that many users still want to log into/use a variety of sites and services (such as Google) while browsing and as such, we believe that it is up to the user to decide what sites/services they want to grant data access to. Brave goes above and beyond to ensure our users have all the necessary tools available to them out of the box to stay as private as they’d like, but allow users the freedom to browse in the way that best suits them.
Safety
Similar to the above points, Brave implements several features to ensure that you are safe from harmful sites, scripts and malware while browsing online. Some of these features include (but are not limited to):
Malware blocking to warn and prevent you from downloading potentially malicious/harmful files
Our Safe Browsing implementation which leverages the built-in Safe Browsing feature of Chromium, without sharing your history/data with Google services
HTTPS Everywhere & HTTPS-only modes which automatically upgrades connections from HTTP to HTTPS when available and refuses connections to sites without secure encryption (respectively)
Script blocking to prevent potentially malicious code execution on sites
Sandboxed tabs that isolate website processes from each other and your system
Reducing attack surfaces by removing unnecessary features and code in the browser
That being said, similar to my statements on privacy, online safety is ultimately up to what the user chooses to do in the (any) browser. If you want to visit a site that is running some malicious code, Brave will warn you that the site is insecure or potentially dangerous and may even block you outright from visiting it. However, if a user chooses to bypass the warning or disable safety features in order to gain access to and visit that site, this may leave them vulnerable to the malicious code or other security threats present on that site.
In addition to what I’ve stated already, it’s worth doing your own research to decide if moving to the browser is the right call. However, from a purely logical standpoint, one of Brave’s primary motives is to put user privacy first, which is a quality that many other browsers – especially Chrome – do not share. On the most base level, even if you browse the exact same sites in the exact same way in Brave and Chrome, you are already by default more protected using Brave. We try to illustrate this as plainly as we can for prospective users like yourself with pages like:
So switch it off which is what I do…Why are you replying to a Brave Community post if that’s how you feel…
Crypto also puts a lot of people off but settings allows you to deal with it.
How about suggesting a more privacy focused browser that’s usable as a daily driver?
Strange because mine is and I have had no AI answers recently - I would concur that in the past it seems to have re-enabled itself but not recently and to be honest maybe it’s the price you pay for free…
I note you haven’t suggested an alternative…
