Microsoft Edge versus Chrome

With the arrival of the Edge browser, Microsoft has given a decisive turn to the browser integrated within Windows, quickly forgetting the problems that have plagued Internet Explorer for years.

But is this new browser up to par with the competition? In the guide that follows we’ll be pitting Microsoft Edge against Google Chrome, which is the most downloaded and used browser in the world. Will Edge be able to overcome Chrome or will we have the usual failed copy of IE on our hands?

READ ALSO: Guide, features and tricks for Microsoft Edge

1) Speed ​​and performance

Reading our guide with the performance testing and browser benchmarking we can certainly see how both Edge and Chrome are very fast in opening web pages, both being based on Chromium.

Compared to Chrome Edge has dedicated optimizations on Windows for energy saving and for managing open tabs: this makes it slightly more fluid and responsive on Windows 11 and Windows 10, especially if we use a laptop with a few years of experience behind it.

For more information, you can also read our guide to options to make Edge load faster.

2) Home screen

Edge’s home tab is more beautiful, modern, and customizable. Edge shows a different and animated wallpaper every day (thanks to the Bing search engine images) but also the news of the day, the weather, the traffic situation and the shares; those looking for something simpler can always deactivate everything and leave only the search bar (programmable for work with Bing or Google).

Google Chrome offers the Google search bar and Discover news at the bottom, customized according to the type of pages opened and the user’s settings; to learn more we can read our guide on ways to read Google News on phone and on PC.

3) Reading mode

Both in Edge and in Chrome we can activate reading mode of an article in order to eliminate all the unnecessary or superfluous.

Reading mode also has a button to have the content of a web page read aloud, which works very well in both browsers; on this topic we can read our article about how to read only the text of websites.

4) Security and Privacy

Web browsers are the most vulnerable programs to hacker attacks and virusesso they must always be updated and kept secure.

Microsoft Edge is updated through Windows Update at the first useful opportunity but we can also force the update at any time of the day by pressing the three dots at the top right and taking us to the path Help & Feedback -> About Microsoft Edge.

On Chrome, the update is automatic via system service but, to update it manually, the path is very similar to the one seen on Edge: we can update it quickly by clicking on the three dots at the top right and going to the path Help -> About Google Chrome.

Both browsers perform very well on the privacy side: they integrate advanced tools for block tracking cookiesblock sites that are harmful or full of viruses, to limit inter-site cookies and to prevent us from being tracked by advertising circuits, preventing our browsing habits from being collected in data.

5) Simplicity of use

Modern browsers are all quite simple to use and configure, with a single menu of options divided into various categories. The Microsoft browser will be very familiar to those coming from Chrome, since they will find almost the same options.

Do not underestimate the possibility that only in Edge is present natively, of activate vertical tabs and to use the sidebar to obtain new functions useful for navigation.

6) Extensions

The new Microsoft Edge has extensions based on Chrome extensionsthus equalizing the gap that Internet Explorer or the old Edge had (never fully digested by users).

Edge also has its own Extensions store and we have seen in another article, le best extensions for Edge.

7) Sharing of web pages

Most people today, when they find an interesting article, want to share it on Facebook and Twitter or send it via email.

The share button is now present on all browsers: just click on the address bar at the top right and choose whether to get the sharing link or to share it directly on one of your favorite social networks.

Both Edge and Chrome integrate the sharing functionality between devices: links can be sent from the phone to the PC (and vice versa), so as to facilitate seamless reading.

10) Content synchronization

This is a feature that has made Chrome successful on mobile and on PC, but which is now in serious danger of being overtaken by Edge. The latter indeed syncs with Microsoft account and can bring bookmarks, passwords, tabs and all your personal information from one device to another using the same Microsoft account wherever it’s needed.

To learn more we can read our guides on how to synchronize browser data and passwords on each device and about how download Microsoft Edge for Android and iPhone synchronized with PC.

11) Artificial intelligence

From this point of view Edge is definitely a step up from Chromesince it integrates Bing Chat in the interface (via the top right button) and on the home screen.

Integration with Microsoft’s AI can make a difference in users’ search habits, who can now receive answers directly from Bing Chat without having to search for them on the Google search engine (which Google is aiming to push for the use of Chrome).

In any case, Bing can also be integrated into Chrome, as seen in the guide on how to have Bing Chat with GPT-4 on Chrome, Firefox or other browsers.

Conclusions

The two browsers are very similar and have many points in common, even if in the end they still have very clear differences in terms of interface, settings menu and security and privacy optimizations, which they push the scale slowly towards Edgeespecially with the arrival of Bing Chat as artificial intelligence integrated into the browser (waiting for Google to do the same with Chrome by integrating Google Bard).

To learn more, we can read our guides to Useful features of Microsoft Edge not present in Google Chrome come on how to reset chrome, firefox, edge to initial state.