Key Takeaways
- Microsoft Edge lags behind Chrome due to a cluttered homepage, overwhelming users with unnecessary features and settings.
- Edge boasts useful features like Sleep tabs and Collections, but also includes bloat like Microsoft Shopping, leading to frustration.
- Edge’s security features are standard, but not as advanced as competitors like Brave, prompting the need for more focus on user privacy.
Internally known as Project Spartan, Microsoft officially launched the default Windows 10 browser on July 29, 2015. Microsoft later ditched their in-house EdgeHTML rendering engine in favor of Chromium to improve the compatibility and extension support. Even with Microsoft’s aggressive push with Edge on Windows, feature add-ons, Chromium rendering engine, and a tight Microsoft 365 integration, Edge continues to trail Chrome by a huge margin.
That begs the question: is Microsoft Edge really that bad of an experience as a laptop browser? Why did it fail to hit a double-digit market share? In fact, according to the latest report, Microsoft Edge has managed to grab only 5%-6% share in the browser space, way behind the likes of Chrome and Safari. Let’s assess Microsoft Edge based on several factors, weigh its pros and cons, and conclude if it’s worth a second chance.
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Google Chrome vs Microsoft Edge: Which browser is better?
Both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are feature-packed, but which one is superior?
Microsoft Edge user experience
The first impression is the last
When you first launch Microsoft Edge on the desktop, it bombards you with too many unnecessary elements. It straightaway shows an option to choose your interests to personalize a news feed that no one needs or asks for. When you go past that, a busy home page welcomes you with Microsoft News, Bing wallpaper, a sidebar with Microsoft apps, services, tools, Copilot, weather, and more.
It is confusing and an outright bad user experience for someone who simply wants to perform a quick web search. In contrast, Chrome only shows an uncomplicated home page with Google Search in the middle. Besides, Microsoft Edge uses Bing as the default search engine on the middle search bar and address bar, which is clearly inferior to Google.
To Microsoft’s credit, the company does offer an option to customize the Edge browser the way you want, but it’s quite an effort for the average user. The options are buried under the Settings menu, and it takes a while to get the job done. A cluttered home page is the primary reason behind Edge’s bad reputation. Many users simply download Chrome and leave negative reviews for Edge.
Microsoft Edge features
Several useful add-ons, but there is unnecessary bloat
While the default home menu in Edge leaves a lot to desire, Microsoft doesn’t disappoint in the features department. Since it’s Chromium-based, Edge supports all the extensions from the Chrome Web Store.
Microsoft Edge also has unique features like Sleep tabs, Collections, Microsoft Drop to share files, a PDF editor, a built-in screenshot tool, tab groups, vertical tabs, Microsoft Wallet to save passwords and payment methods, workspaces, and more. These are quite useful add-ons to improve your web browsing experience.
On the flip side, it’s riddled with useless features like Microsoft Shopping, Games, order tracking, outdated themes, and more. For example, Microsoft Shopping often suggests coupons while browsing shopping sites, but most of the time they don’t work as advertised, leaving users confused and frustrated. The software giant needs to trim unpopular features from Edge and make it as lightweight as possible.
Microsoft Edge security
Standard features, but doesn’t set a benchmark
Microsoft Edge has standard security features that block trackers from sites you haven’t visited and the ones that are known as harmful trackers. While it should be good enough for most to browse the web safely, Edge doesn’t really set a benchmark in the security space.
Some of the underrated and lesser-known browsers, like Brave, do a better job with live stats and privacy features like protection against bounce tracking, plus malware and phishing detection. Microsoft should focus more on security add-ons and improve Edge’s acceptability among privacy-focused consumers.
Microsoft’s forceful behavior on Windows
Stop it Microsoft, please
This is a sneaky practice from Microsoft. After a major software update, the company shows prompts to use Microsoft-recommended browser settings on Windows. It simply tricks most users here and sets the latest Microsoft Edge as your default browser and pins it to the desktop and taskbar.
It overrides your preferred browser, and instead tries to force you to use the Bing search engine on Microsoft Edge. Such tactics don’t really go over well with Windows users, instead leading to frustration and a bad impression of Microsoft Edge.
Microsoft Edge is worth giving a shot
Is Microsoft Edge just an Internet Explorer with a new UI and a few new features? Not really. It’s a significant step forward from Microsoft’s past attempts. The software giant has worked extensively on Edge to make it a modern offering in a crowded browser space. That said, it’s still far from perfect, and Microsoft needs to trim the bloat and improve the onboarding experience in Edge.
On the other hand, Arc is one of the other latest browsers aiming to disrupt the browser space. It brings innovative features, a powerful theming engine, and other elements that truly make it stand out from the crowd. Read more about it to see how Arc compares to Microsoft Edge in different aspects.