Kōwhiria tō reo | Choose your language

Te Reo Māori English

Te Reo translation is a DRAFT pending native speaker review. Corrections welcome

Chrome → Firefox / Vivaldi / Brave

Three strong alternatives. Pick the one that fits your style. All of them stop Google from monitoring every page you visit.

About 30 minutes Quick win
1

Choose your browser

5 minutes

Firefox: the only major non-Chromium browser — important for web diversity. Full support for uBlock Origin and privacy extensions. Mozilla Foundation, open source. Vivaldi: extreme customisation, tab stacking, built-in mail client. Norwegian company, European jurisdiction. Brave: most aggressive privacy defaults, blocks trackers and ads out of the box, uses 30% less RAM than Chrome. Pick whichever appeals to you — all three are solid choices.

What you should see

You have decided which browser to try first. You can always switch later.

2

Download and install

5 minutes

Go to the official website: mozilla.org/firefox, vivaldi.com, or brave.com. Click the download button. Run the installer — click through the setup screens. Launch the new browser when installation finishes.

What you should see

The new browser opens with a welcome screen offering to import your Chrome data.

3

Import your Chrome data

5 minutes

All three browsers offer a Chrome import wizard on first launch. Select Chrome as the source. Check all boxes: bookmarks, history, saved passwords, and autofill data. Click Import and wait 1-3 minutes. Your bookmarks bar, saved logins, and browsing history transfer automatically.

What you should see

Your Chrome bookmarks appear in the new browser. Saved passwords work when you visit familiar sites.

4

Install privacy extensions

10 minutes

For Firefox: open the menu → Add-ons and themes → search for uBlock Origin and install it. For Vivaldi or Brave: visit the Chrome Web Store and add uBlock Origin. Brave already blocks ads by default, but uBlock Origin adds deeper filtering. Optionally add Privacy Badger for extra tracker blocking. Chrome is removing full uBlock Origin support in 2025 — these browsers keep it.

What you should see

Shield icons appear in your toolbar. Visit a news site — ads are blocked and pages load faster.

5

Set as your default browser

2 minutes

The new browser will ask to become your default — click Yes. On Windows: Settings → Apps → Default apps → Web browser → select your new browser. On Mac: System Preferences → General → Default web browser. On your phone, install the mobile version from your app store and set it as default there too.

What you should see

Links from email and other apps now open in your new browser, not Chrome.

Troubleshooting

Some websites look broken or do not work
Click the uBlock Origin icon and click the big blue power button to disable blocking for that site. Some sites break when trackers are blocked. You can re-enable blocking when you leave the site.
Passwords did not import correctly
Try importing again from the browser settings: usually under Passwords or Import Data. Make sure Chrome is closed during import. You can also export Chrome passwords as a CSV and import that file.
The browser feels slower than Chrome
Restart the browser and disable any unnecessary extensions. Firefox in particular gets faster after a day of use as it optimises for your patterns. Brave is typically the fastest of the three.
I miss a Chrome-specific feature
Most Chrome features have equivalents. Firefox Containers isolate sites. Vivaldi has built-in notes, mail, and calendar. Brave has a built-in Tor window. Check the browser's documentation for your specific need.

What to do next