Ever since Google Chrome blog announced the launch of Google Chrome Extensions, people have never stopped talking when this move is going to kill FireFox.
Well, you might know how much I love FireFox (even despite the fact that because of my experiments with addons it sometimes becomes dead slow) and how hardcore I may become wen it comes to something that I love, but even I couldn’t ignore those talks any longer.
So yes, I went ahead, did some research, tried Google Chrome extensions and here’s what I came up with:
Chrome Extensions vs FireFox Addons
| FireFox | Google Chrome | |
| Installation | Requires browser re-start (this addon makes the process a bit more easier) | Easy and instant |
| Variety | Plenty of addons available | Only few extensions so far |
| Affect on browser performance | The more addons, the slower the browser | Runs extensions in separate processes, so no extension affects the entire browser. |
| The update process of extensions (?) | Update on the start (with confirmation required) | Automatic |
| Security | Is known for security issues | “Isolated Worlds” : By separating various processes from one another, Chrome should insure one addon security issues does not affect the whole browser |
Note: you will need to install a Beta version of Google Chrome to install addons.
So except for a couple of points (one of which is temporal and one is a questionable benefit because auto updating may be not cool but it is good for security as due to that auto-updating feature, Chrome is able to remotely kill any extension that is reported to be doing bad things to people’s systems), FireFox seems to lose.
The comparison resources:
- Google Chrome Extensions vs Firefox Add-ons: Head to Head Comparison;
- Chrome Extensions v.s Firefox Add-ons: Why You Should Migrate?;
- By Extension, Chrome Battles Firefox
Are you migrating?
I only see one issue with me (for example) switching to Chrome in the near future: I spend 90% of my working time browsing – FireFox is my #1 tool and it will need huge amount of time to get used to a new working environment: to find alternatives to my installed addons and to learn all Chrome shortcuts.
