10 Best Lightweight Browser for Low End PCs in 2024

Browsers are essential software for any PC as they allow us to browse the internet on our PC.

But which lightweight browsers are best for lightweight computers?

Choosing resource-intensive browsers like Chrome on a low-end PC can result in delays, crashes, and possible long-term computer damage.

We have reviewed and compiled a list of 10 browsers suitable for low-end PCs to prevent these incidents and guarantee efficient RAM usage and overall strong performance. Now, let’s start reading them!

Best Lightweight Browsers for Low End PCs

In terms of resource consumption, many PC browsers are designed for low-end PCs.

But to help you decide, here’s a list of the top 10 options based on functionality, performance, and security for use on these types of PCs:

1) Basilisk

Another lightweight browser recommended for PCs with low CPU and RAM capabilities is Basilisk. Its lightweight design effectively reduces the load on smaller PCs, even if it doesn’t deviate much from the resource usage of popular browsers like Chrome.

Basilisk is a popular open-source browser known for its stability. It has an easy-to-use interface that is clean and allows for quick customization.

It uses the Guana rendering engine and has an interface similar to Mozilla Firefox. Additionally, Basilisk is a feature-rich browser that shares most of Firefox’s capabilities.

The browser lets you import browsing history from other browsers, including Chrome, to improve user experience.

2) Vivaldi

Built to prioritize resource management while providing an amazing surfing experience, Vivaldi stands out as a highly specialized web browser. It is considered one of the best lightweight browsers due to its remarkable speed, which is achieved through UI and features that reduce the load on PC resources.

Importantly, although Vivaldi is lightweight, it doesn’t skimp on functionality. The browser has many features, including an easy-to-use tab management system and an integrated ad blocker.

Additionally, Vivaldi distinguishes itself with its extreme customizability, providing an abundance of customization options to personalize the browsing experience to suit personal tastes. In particular, the browser places a high priority on privacy, which is consistent with the need to protect user data.

3) QuteBrowser

QuteBrowser is a keyboard-driven browser with a feature set similar to that of Vim. With an emphasis on providing a fast and lightweight surfing experience, this open-source browser has a basic graphical user interface.

QuteBrowser proved extremely resource-friendly in our tests, using significantly less CPU and RAM. It is a reliable browser that works without taxing your computer.

It also includes comprehensive documentation for its settings and allows you to tweak almost every aspect of its user interface. Additionally, Qutebrowser has an integrated ad blocker for uninterrupted browsing.

4) Falkon

Falkon is one of the fastest web browsers available for KDE. It uses the QtWebEngine rendering engine and is optimized to use as few resources as possible on PCs.

It includes all the typical capabilities of modern browsers, including tab support, session management, and bookmarking. It also includes an AdBlock plugin by default for adblocking.

Falcon has numerous limitations, notably limited support for extensions and reported problems opening some websites, although it does receive updates.

5) Lynx

Of all the browsers on our list, Lynx is the fastest and lightest. One feature in particular accounts for its remarkable speed and low resource consumption: it works as a text-based browser with no support for graphics, images or multimedia content.

As discussed earlier in this post, ads and web page images significantly increase the load on your computer’s resources. Lynx, on the other hand, removes these components, giving your PC a smoother and less taxing surfing experience.

6) K Meleon

A notable lightweight browser designed for low-end PCs is K Meleon. Its lightweight design isn’t the only thing that makes it a great choice. It also has many functions.

Its complex UI is notably similar to Firefox, and both browsers use Mozilla’s Gecko rendering engine.

With 20 MB of RAM, this open source browser works incredibly fast. But, online pages want more.

Apart from the standard features of modern browsers, K Meleon provides extensive customization possibilities. Among the features you can anticipate from the browser are an integrated ad blocker and a profile manager.

It might not have the latest UI, but it still does its job well. One notable disadvantage must be acknowledged, namely the irregularity of updates.

7) Pale Moon

Palemoon is an alternative browser that offers a faster and more efficient PC surfing experience. It is designed as an improved version of Firefox, which guarantees efficient surfing without taxing your machine’s resources.

With its highly user-friendly layout, this open-source browser offers a flawless browsing experience. It includes all the essential functions one would expect from a browser, with a few extras. In particular, it allows users to customize their experience by supporting many themes.

Since it is a privacy-focused browser, it does not come with Google as a supported search engine by default. However, you can add Google as a plugin. This leads us to the conclusion that it supports plugins and add-ons and is highly configurable.

It’s important to note that Yellow Moon lacks several features that Adobe Flash needs to work faster. You can still install some features individually as plugins.

8) SeaMonkey

We also recommend SeaMonkey as a lightweight browser for lightweight PCs. This all-in-one Internet program suite has additional features including an HTML editor, email client, and more, but its primary purpose is web browsing.

SeaMonkey is an open source web browser that is highly customizable, responsive and stable. Moreover, it is easy to use. Despite the many features, this PC browser uses very little memory.

It allows you to use add-ons and different themes. It used relatively minimal RAM and CPU during our tests. You should be aware, though, that not all websites can be viewed on it. Generally, it is among the top browsers on budget computers.

9) Midori

Mozilla’s Gecko rendering engine powers Midori, a contemporary browser with an easy-to-use interface. It’s basically a faster, lighter and more casual version of Firefox.

Apart from being a low-end PC browser, it has a few other capabilities that you will find useful. This includes its user-friendly layout, privacy features, and browsing support capabilities.

The Midori browser is packed with capabilities, including advanced tab management, a side-panel note-taking tool, and multiple device synchronization.

Despite not being Chromium-based, Midori is aesthetically pleasing if you appreciate the aesthetics of Chromium-based browsers. The main focus is how the interface is uniquely organized.

10) SlimBrowser

SlimBrowser is a web browser that runs very fast on PCs and is derived from the Mozilla Firefox project. Despite being lightweight, it has a wide range of functions and high customization.

With its built-in ad blocker, this light browser—suitable for low-end PCs—easily removes obtrusive ad graphics. This feature guarantees a smooth browsing experience without accumulating too many page components to tax the PC.

However, Slim Browser offers more functionality than just the essentials, such as support for mouse gestures and the ability to upload images from the clipboard.

As a result, it becomes one of the best browsers, offering a smooth user experience without sacrificing speed or resource efficiency.

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Which browser is the lightest on desktop computers?

K Meleon is the best lightweight browser designed for low-end computers. It has a lot of functionality and uses less RAM even when you have multiple active websites. Palemoon, Midori, MinBrowser, and some other lightweight browsers are also recommended.

What is the use of Yellow Moon RAM?

Yellow Moon typically uses an average of 150-500 MB of RAM, depending on how many web pages are open in the browser.

With 2 GB of RAM, which browser works best?

Installing and using browsers like SeaMonkey, Midori, K Meleon, and others included on this page if you’re looking for a computer that won’t tax a computer with 2GB of RAM.

These browsers set themselves apart from memory-hungry Chromium-based browsers like Edge and Chrome with their plethora of features and optimizations for low PC performance.

Wrap Up

Aside from built-in bloat in some browsers, such as Chrome, the main reasons most browsers use RAM are ads and image rendering.

Use an ad blocker or switch to a lightweight or text browser to reduce the load on your computer.

Advanced lightweight browsers that are carefully tuned to preserve consistent PC memory and resource usage are the ones highlighted in this article.

You can also improve your computer’s performance by switching to an SSD disk, which will reduce the chance of lags, especially when using the browser.