manifest-v3.md
What is Manifest V3
If you’ve been out of the loop, or aren’t constantly online, Manifest V3 is the updated extension manifest format for Chromium browsers. It introduced new rules and APIs for browser extensions. On a surface level, it really isnβt that crazy or interesting.
Extensions are the main contributor to performance drain. They’ve historically been an attack vector for malware and illegal data collection. Meanwhile, the web continues to evolve with service workers, asynchronous task handling, and the shift to browsers being used as offline workspaces.
Most people would be in support of this upgrade to address these issues.
Along with it came the slow deprecation of Manifest V2, which will cripple extensions like adblockers, userscripts, privacy tools that monitor network requests, and anything relying on remotely hosted code.
Deprecating Manifest V2
I’m not one to catastrophize. I’m not really a Google hater. And I am not the most qualified person to make an argument for anyone. But I’m an artist on the internet who is acutely aware of the issues shaping the web today.
I have a distinct memory of Mozilla Firefox’s transition to Quantum, Microsoft Edge’s move to Chromium, Google’s FLoC, and a cascade of other transformative shifts in the browser market from a user perspective.
Forcing Manifest V2’s deprecation is an incredibly dangerous move that prioritizes Google’s business interests and their control over ad blocking.
Even with better browser security and stronger safeguards from ad networks these days, the web is more dangerous than ever. Risky ad networks, with little regard for privacy or security, are proliferating as more traffic flows to low-trust content piracy and gambling websites, in part from worsening economic conditions and a growing gambling epidemic.
As internet usage grows, so does the number of increasingly sophisticated scams.
Userscripts and CSS are essential for improving the sites and communities I spend my time in. I use these extensions for language learning, productivity, shopping, games, site functionality, content archival, and backlinking β critical as the internet becomes increasingly more difficult to navigate.
Web browsers have slowly become more restrictive with little justification, limiting customization, locking features, and even controlling which pages you’re even allowed to load.
It’s a bad trend that diminishes user autonomy in favor of corporate agendas.
Fuck I need a new web browser lol
For the past couple of years, I have been using Microsoft Edge.
It performed as well as most web browsers, favors pixel-accurate rendering over shape accuracy, and fits my general workflows as a self-hating Windows user.
While Microsoft hasn’t officially announced a timeline for dropping Manifest V2, they’ve begun disabling these extensions and will likely follow Google’s lead by June 2025.
I need a new web browser.
The options are pretty bleak.
So I thought it would be useful to lay out my thoughts on what’s out there, whether any of them are a real option for me, and help anyone else in a similar situation form their own opinion.
Every browser I could be bothered to try…
Opera and Opera GX
Opera plans to keep supporting Manifest V2 extensions. Who knows if they will be able to. Opera was always a decent web browser, and Opera GX has built-in poweruser options. I’m skeptical of their performance benefits, but at least it helps differentiate the browser for someone out there.
My reluctance to use Opera comes down to issues that are closely linked. Opera is now owned by the Chinese consortium Kunlun Tech, and despite being free, they pour hundreds of millions of dollars into ad campaigns and influencer marketing. They’ve also made just really, really dumb decisions like autoplaying jumpscare video ads at startup without user consent.
Opera doesn’t bring anything compelling to the table for me. It’s packed with what feel like gimmicks rather than useful features, and the privacy concerns are a real issue.
Be highly skeptical of companies that pour unimaginable amounts of money into user growth. I’ve been calling out extensions like Honey as malware for years, and Opera’s GX browser follows a similar playbook.
DuckDuckGo Browser
In an ideal world, I would be a DuckDuckGo Browser user. Their service is genuinely good. Their mission aligns with my values. They are transparent. The browser is built on Edge, my choice for performance and visuals. And it doesn’t compromise on privacy.
But that’s the problem. It doesn’t compromise on privacy.
No extensions at all.
To its credit, DuckDuckGo includes many of the features that Manifest V3 aimed to eliminate. But switching would cost me some of my favorite extensions, including userscripts.
DuckDuckGo built genuinely a great web browser β fast, clean, and efficient.
If I were building a new, purpose-built computer, I’d install DuckDuckGo on it and call it a day. It’s not just great for privacy; it’s a great web browser.
Arc Browser
Arc Browser literally requires you to create an account to use it.
Recently, their CEO announced their next product.
Chrome with a ChatGPT wrapper.
Throughout history there have been bold innovators.
Nikola Tesla, Alan Turing, and now Josh Miller of The Browser Company.
This is both frustrating and embarrassing. It is further truth that nerds should be shamed and degraded into submission. And at this point, it feels like the only option we have left to save society.
Firefox
Before I start: I’m sorry to all of my Firefox bros.
I’ve been a Firefox hater since the switch to Quantum in 2017. It broke all legacy extensions, stripped customization, bloated memory usage, managed to somehow perform worse for people (the whole point of the switch!!!), and shattered trust in the company among myself and everyone I know who saw it happen.
Since then, Mozilla has installed add-ons promoting movies that collect your data, redesigned their UI again with even more excessive whitespace and no working compact mode, secretly enrolled European users into focus groups for a third-party company, and sending their browsing data to them. I am literally crashing out.
They’ve gone all-in on profitability, like buying and ruining Pocket, increasing sponsored content, and rolling out one of the most poorly thought out Terms of Use I think I’ve seen.
If this were a one-time thing at any company, it’d be concerning, but Mozilla continually makes the same mistakes, no matter the leadership or state of the market. To work at Mozilla, you might as well have your frontal lobe surgically removed. You’d have to be willfully obtuse, or suffer a memory problem, to not notice these issues.
Firefox has redeeming qualities. The addon-ecosystem is pretty good, and uBlock Origin is objectively better on Firefox. It may lag behind Google and Chrome in features and website optimization, but its performance isn’t as terrible as some people like to joke about.
Firefox doesn’t work for me. I’ve tried customizing the CSS, running month-long trials, and testing every hack I could find. I miss my Chrome extensions. I miss not getting frustrated by dumb UX quirks.
Firefox makes browsing miserable, and while that may be a plus for some, it’s not the right choice for me.
Brave
I truly hate everything.
Brave and I have a one-sided history. I started using it in late 2018, and at the time, its value proposition was good enough. It had excellent tracker and ad blocking built-in, solid privacy standards, was resource-efficient, and low memory usage. It was open-source and their monetization model seemed straight-forward.
With Brave there wasn’t any hidden agenda.
So the issues should be obvious.
The web3 integration and cryptocurrency wallets are annoying. They’re rolling out artifical intelligence into their browser like every other company. Their rewards system is pointless. These features don’t affect performance and are easy to turn disable, or lobotomize (like Mozilla employees). But it’s bloat with an agenda.
Brave has also pushed some shady business models, like Brave Ad Replacement, which replaces ads on your website with their own. The idea was a mob shakedown. You needed to go through Brave to collect your ad revenue.
I switched from Brave to Edge in 2021 due to performance issues, the constant installation of unwanted features (ironic, I know), and a general loss of trust in the company.
Despite everything, Brave remains one of the few browsers that will support select Manifest V3 extensions for the forseeable future. So I gave Brave a shot for a little over a week, and I can’t lie. It’s not that bad.
Brave’s more aggressive tab management hasn’t caused any issues in my regular workflows. There’s clearly some focus on design aesthetics with lesser-used features. There are nice privacy features, like their translation service that strips your IP address. The picture-in-picture has media controls. And I’m just not running into many issues.
Conclusion
What did we learn?
Not sure.
That a dude that who willingly stuck it out through incredible features such as the Bing Chat button and built-in “buy now, pay later” has inconsistent principles?
Nobody can really say…
But seriously…
The choice of your web browser is only a personal one. Everyone has different needs and priorities. There isn’t a perfect option. This is all just a means to an end: another way for everyone to argue on the internet.
But Manifest V3 is more than just an update to Chrome. It’s a clear sign of Google’s attempts to dominate and control how we interact with the internet. To clarify again, I’m not a Google hater. I actually enjoy a few of their products. But this is an undeniably a turning point for myself and many others.
At the rate things are progressing, it wouldn’t surprise me if they eventually start limiting basic customization like changing your homepage. My only hope is that the more these companies push, the more we see exciting software alternatives take shape.
If you have any thoughts on this, or just want to harass me for posting my opinion on the internet, you are always welcome to keep in touch.