Browsing the Internet is one of the favorite activities of people across the globe. The thing is, things get more challenging when you have limited RAM at your disposal.
Our expert testers have chosen the least resource intensive browser
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There are many excellent browsers on the market, but some use too many system resources, lowering the speed of your device.
You’ll find excellent functioning, up-to-standard web browsers with lower memory usage in this list.
The software below offers different features such as built-in free VPN or advanced browsing privacy options, so stick around to see which one meets your needs.
Easy migration: use the Opera assistant to transfer exiting data, such as bookmarks, passwords, etc.
Optimize resource usage: your RAM memory is used more efficiently than in other browsers
Enhanced privacy: free and unlimited VPN integrated
No ads: built-in Ad Blocker speeds up loading of pages and protects against data-mining
Gaming friendly: Opera GX is the first and best browser for gaming
Download Opera
While you can clearly use a dedicated RAM cleaner tool to help you out, the browser that uses the least RAM might also be something you were looking for.
The most crucial difference between the available browsers is their impact on your system resources.
Depending on your PC’s configuration, you might experience lagging or complete system crashes. The amount of resources each browser needs to work correctly varies.
For these reasons, this article will explore some of the best browser options that allow you to get the whole online experience without needing to upgrade your PC.
We will also observe other aspects of each of the browsers presented here, but our main focus will be on those with low system impact. Naturally, our interests are just as different as our needs.
While some are eager to know which browser uses the least RAM, others are keener on discovering which browser uses the least resources in 2022 overall.
That’s where we come into play. Here’s a freshly compiled table to showcase browser RAM usage comparison in 2022
What browser uses the least RAM? (and CPU)
Take your time and explore the variety of benchmark results when it comes to almost all browsers on the market, by researching our content table.
To better understand the circumstances of these tests, it is worth mentioning that all browsers were tested on the same PC, and under the same conditions.
The winner for the best browser that uses low levels of RAM and CPU is Opera. This powerful browser uses only 0.7 to 2.0% of your CPU, and around 600MB of RAM, making it perfect for both 1GB RAM, 2GB RAM, and beyond.
How much RAM should a browser use?
There is no specific amount of RAM that a browser should use, as the answer depends on how you’re using the PC and what your goals are.
This splits situations like this into three separate groups:
First, analyzing the information presented above will ensure that you estimate the amount of RAM you should aim for depending on your device usage.
Let’s move on and find out what browser offers the perfect balance between system requirements and speed, agility, stability, and security.
Which browser uses the least RAM?
Opera – Low impact on resources and unique features
Opera is an excellent Internet browser that works well on low-spec systems. It can be customized with add-ons and different types of plugins, allowing you to tailor your experience to your needs.
- What browser uses the least RAM? (and CPU)
- How much RAM should a browser use?
- Which browser uses the least RAM?
- Opera - Low impact on resources and unique features
- UR Browser - 3 different levels of privacy/security
- K-Meleon - Simple yet very low resource requirement
- Torch - Great UI and a good benchmark score for RAM usage
- Lunascape Orion - Simple interface with acceptable loading speeds
- Which low-resource browsers are the fastest?
When it comes down to web page loading speeds, Opera comes in 1st place in our top 3. This browser puts the least strain on your computer and uses the least resources in 2022.
Even though the speeds registered by Opera in our tests are close to the ones registered by UR Browser, a little is a lot depending on the PC you’re using.
For this reason, Opera lands first place as the browser that uses the least amount of PC memory while UR takes second place. Just a few MB less of system resources used can have a big impact.
The security features found in Opera are better compared to other browsers like Chrome, or Firefox, offering excellent protection against malware, phishing attempts, and other cyber threats.
If you’re looking for a less RAM-consuming browser for PC, then Opera will the perfect pick for you.
Here are some of the best features found in Opera:
- Can customize the toolbars by pinning icons
- One-click bookmarking
- Mouse gestures
- Tab-stacks features – allows you to stack tabs on top of each other
- Security settings for malware and phishing that need configuration to work
- Compatible with Windows, macOS, and mobile devices
UR Browser – 3 different levels of privacy/security
UR Browser is our second pick in the list of browser options that allow you to have the full online experience, without needing to use a high-end PC.
Opera
When it comes to having limited computer resources, Opera is the best choice for faster browsing
Thanks to its sophisticated programming, UR Browser goes really easy on your system resources. The memory consumption is a lot lower than on Chrome, right there at the top with Firefox.
This browser was designed so that it requires as few resources as possible to run, and still offers you access to a wide range of features that are unprecedented in the market.
Here are some of the best features found in UR Browser:
- Very fast web-page loading speeds
- Very low impact on system resources
- Built-in VPN service
- Ad-blocker
- Malware blocker
- 3 levels of privacy to choose from (Low, Medium, and High)
Besides all the features we mentioned above, UR Browser has a very useful Home Screen that will automatically be populated with news and updates, tailored to your interests.
This software also doesn’t allow any cookies or trackers based on your settings, no matter what site you visit.
Customization options come in numbers, and you’ll be happy to apply all the little tweaks this Chromium-based browser offers.
If you’ve made it your mission to find out which browser uses less RAM, then UR Browser is a choice that simply makes sense, so we encourage you to try it out.
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K-Meleon – Simple yet very low resource requirement
The open-source K-Meleon is a fast and flexible web browser created with Microsoft Windows in mind. It also can use the Mozilla Gecko layout-based secure Goanna engine.
UR Browser
With fast web page loading speeds and a decent ad-blocker, UR Browser promises low memory usage.
K-Meleon supports macros and configuration files, allowing users to adjust the majority of the browser’s features on outdated operating systems and hardware that more contemporary internet browsers do not support.
The browser’s very adaptable interface is one of the reasons we appreciate it. Employing text-format config files, all of the toolbar buttons and menus may be changed.
This function comes in handy when the browser has to be altered for public use, such as at an Internet café or library.
Additional features:
- Popup blocker
- Quick search support
- Mouse gestures
⇒ Get K-Meleon
Torch – Great UI and a good benchmark score for RAM usage
The North Carolina-based Torch Media created the Torch browser, a Chromium-based Internet suite, and browser. It is designed to be commercial freeware.
The browser handles common Internet-related actions directly, including sharing websites through social networks, displaying webpages, downloading torrents, speeding up downloads, and capturing internet media.
Millions of people have downloaded Torch because it is built using the Chromium source code. This feature means users can benefit from extensions and add-ons offered in the Chrome Store.
If you have to deal with movies and downloads a lot, this browser is the best for you.
- Torch player
- Torrent download features
- Torch games accessible
⇒ Get Torch
Lunascape Orion – Simple interface with acceptable loading speeds
Here is a typical web browser that is straightforward to use. The Gecko engine-powered browser’s technology provides quicker startup and javascript execution than other browsers.
Additionally, it may launch more quickly even when several add-ons are loaded.
With Lunascape’s Tabs menu, accessible by right-clicking on a tab, you may open many websites in a single tab. You may, for instance, close the right half of an open tab or all active tabs simultaneously.
It has a wealth of capabilities, including the ability to delete personal information when shut down, customize mouse motions and gestures, display open websites in several lines of text, automatically backup settings, import favorites from other browsers, and change user agents.
⇒ Get Lunascape Orion
Which low-resource browsers are the fastest?
Our team of testers with a combined experience of more than 15 years has tested all the browsers found in this list in order to offer you some useful information about this topic.
- 5 Best Browsers that Use the Least Battery [2022 Tested]
- 5 Ways to fix High CPU Usage in Edge on Windows 10/11
- Opera Browser Out of Memory: 5 Quick Ways to Reduce RAM Usage
- 10 Best Fastest & Lightest Browsers for Windows 7
- 7 Best Browsers that Work Flawlessly on Windows XP in 2022
For the testing sequence, our testing team has used the Base Mark Web 3.0 benchmark, which tests the browsers for a variety of possible issues.
Before we jump into the actual results of these browsers when dealing with RAM usage, it is worth noting that a larger number is indicative of better results in the benchmark.
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Let’s have a look at how the browsers actually compare among themselves:
UR Browser has taken the lead in this test scoring 1413.48 points, making this browser option the fastest on the market, while Opera has scored 835.6 points, making it the second-best browser for systems with low resources.
Even though UR Browser has had better scores, our testers have decided to place Opera in the first place, as the level of built-in tools, stability, security, speed, and customization features makes it far more capable than UR Browser.
Not all browsers from the table above were included in this guide, but if you want to see more information on the topic, feel free to explore the best 12 browsers for use on old or slow PCs.
In this article, we explored some of the best browser software options on the market that work perfectly fine without having a high impact on your system’s resources.
Opera is the best option, giving you access to top-of-the-range online privacy and security features, great customization power, built-in VPN service, breakneck speeds, and low system requirements.
Please let us know what software option you chose from this list and your experience using it in the comments section below.
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