Brave vs Opera – Which Is The Fastest Privacy Browser

If you’re a privacy focused person, as I am, you’re probably using Opera Browser. Opera is a secure browser developed by Opera Software, created in 1995 in Norway. Their first browser – known as first as MultiTorg Opera gain traction fast on the internet as it was the only one that allowed opening multiple documents and had a Hotlist.

Since then, Opera was an important competitor in the browsing industry. Even that now, Opera has only 2.08% of the Browser Market share worldwide, according to statcounter, it is a reliable secure browser that can fight easily vs Googles Chrome, Edge Mozilla Firefox  or Vivaldi.

Brave browser was created in 2015 by Brendan Eich, the co-founder of Mozilla Corporation. Mozilla foundation and the creator of Javascript. The browser quickly became known as it had an ad blocking technology incorporated and its browsing experience were far far better than expected. A history of Brave and what they made can be found on their wikipedia page.

Right now, we’ve analyzed both browsers and we’ll create a small comparison of brave browser vs opera browser – focusing on RAM usage, which is the fastest browser, ads and trackers and so on. In fact, Brave almost beat Chrome in our Brave vs Chrome comparison.

Brave vs Opera – Which one has the biggest memory usage? ( RAM usage) 

On the RAM usage, Opera is one of the slowest browsers out there. We could say that one of the cons of Opera browser is the fact that the RAM usage exceeds the competitor ones. Over a year ago, having 3 or 4 tabs of Opera opened would consume up to 3 GB of RAM. Which is a lot for a basic internet user, considering not everyone can get 16GB of RAM or more. Right now, the system improved a bit, but still – The RAM usage is too high for a normal internet user. The browsing experience is ok and there are plenty of Opera addons to install, but the memory usage is a bit too high for Opera.

Brave browser on the other hand, compared with Opera, is on a better position. One of the main pros of Brave is the fact that the memory usage is way higher than other browsers, even if its tested with more than one tab open. In fact, the even done a case study about Brave’s RAM usage on Windows. This is just in case someone wants a more detailed comparison between Brave browser vs Firefox vs Chrome vs Opera.

Opera browser vs Brave Browser – Which one is best for privacy 

One of the thing that made me dump Googles Chrome was the lack of privacy. Any chrome extension was risky, the browser was owned by Google and it didn’t feel like a secure browser actually. It was then when I started searching and found about Vivaldi Opera and Brave.

On the privacy side, Opera vs Brave are very much alike. Both have a Built-in ad blocker – so both block ads if you want to. But Brave has an interesting feature where you can accept ads and earn basic attention tokens. Basic Attention tokens are Brave’s cryptocurrency, rewarded to user who surf the web and want to see ads. How do this work exactly though?

Brave earns money from people that want to advertise on their browser. But, they allow users to agree if they want to receive ads or not. In case users agrees, Brave browser offers 15% revenue share with the users that saw the ad – which the user can keep it in his wallet, convert to USD or support a content creator that accepts BAT donations.

So with Brave, there’s a choice. You either want to earn basic attention tokens or you want a clean browsing experience and the fastest browser out there.

Both Brave and Opera have an ad and tracker blocker. This way, you can be sure that none of them will sell the personal data to third parties for a profit. And also, both have the advantage that by blocking ads and trackers, the browsing experience is improved to the maximum, making any of the two browsers faster than Chrome.

As both browsers are blocking ads and trackers – we would say its a tie here. If Opera wouldn’t have the in-built VPN. The VPN offered by Opera is free but its limited. The amount of data you are allowed to transfer is a small one.

Brave browser doesn’t really have a VPN. But, it has the option of creating a New Private Windows with Tor – which I personally find way, way better. This service is way better than Microsofts Edge , Chrome browser or Firefox browser.

Both browsers are good here, but I’d recommend you to download Brave and test it out. Especially if you want to browse Youtube – Brave is a life saver. On the Brave vs Firefox part, Brave clearly beat the Mozilla’s well known browser.

Interface – Which one is cleaner? 

The Brave browser interface looks a lot like the Chrome one. The browser is created on the Chromium model, so its normal to feel familiar to it. When you will  download Brave, you’ll feel a resemblance with Chrome browser. Indeed, both of them look almost the same – but Brave has some interesting features – such as the Brave reward wallet, places to buy cryptocurrency and a display where it shows you the number of ads and trackers blocked, bandwidth saved and time saved.

Opera browser on the other hand has a way better design. A clean new interface and a really useful speed dial makes the browser really easy to use. The new UI is pretty simple to use, but the flaw is the fact that the left sidebar is a bit harder to use, for someone used with other browsers. However,  the shortcuts for the main settings is a plus for Opera.

Brave and Opera Pros and Cons 

Any browser has its

Brave Browser Pros 

1. Builtin Ad Blocker
2. Reward the content creator
3. Block ads and trackers
4. Have almost any Chrome extension
5. TOR available in browser
6. Faster than chrome ( with the option to block ads )
7. Supports Chrome web store
8. Brave rewards program in BAT for users
9. Created by Mozilla and Javascript creator
10. A lot of password managers to chose from
11. Option to disable fingerprint tracking and other privacy concerns
12. Business model around a cryptocurrency
13. Open source web browser
14. Easy to install extensions
15. Best browser to block trackers
16. Available on all the popular operating systems

Brave Browser Cons 

1. By accepting ads, its the same thing as Chrome (one of the best Cons of Brave)
2. Uses Google on default
3. Loads slower than Chrome with ads
4. The tracker blocker is optional

Opera Browser Pros

1. Builtin ad blocker
2. Video pop-out feature
3. Has an integrated VPN ( one of the best pros of Opera)
4. Compatible with any Chrome extension
5. Opera Turbo
6. Very customizable
7. Has a battery saving mode
8. Has a speed dial
9. Almost open source
10. Has multiple Opera addons
11. Fast video loading
12. Multiple password managers to chose from the website store
13. Compatible with all the popular OS such as Windows, Mac, Android and so on.

Opera Browser Cons 

1. Lacking speed when battling vs Brave
2. Owned by a Chinese company
3. Same security issues as on Chrome
4. Sometimes its buggy
5. The VPN doesn’t live up to its name
6. Doesn’t have an address bar in full screen mode ( Like on Vivaldi)
7. Doesn’t have something like Brave reward
8. Relies on Chrome web store

Conclusion

Analyzing all the PROs of Brave, CONs of Brave, PROs of Opera and cons of CONs of Opera – I personally understood that there’s no perfect browser. However, after you will download Brave – you’ll understand why we like it even more than Opera. The thing that the made it special was the ad tracker browser, the private window option with TOR and the fact that the CEO is a well known person – the co-fonder of Mozilla Foundation and Javascript programming language.

Both browser are extremely good. Brave and Opera are among the most secure web browsers out there with a focus on privacy. However, If you haven’t tested Brave – you can download Brave and give it a try. I’ve fall in love with it ever since I start using it.