If you’re like most people, you spend a good portion of your day browsing the internet for work and entertainment. One of the most popular mediums to access the internet is the Google Chrome browser.
Google Chrome’s biggest advantage over other web browsers is its huge extension library, which can be found on the Chrome Web Store. Of course, extensions are available for other web browsers as well, but they are not as good as the ones available for Google Chrome.
You may use Chrome browser extensions to boost efficiency, minimize distractions, secure your browsing, and many more, all from the convenience of your web browser.
Since the Chrome Web Store has an almost infinite number of extensions, it might be tough to know which ones are genuinely good and most useful for you.
That’s why we’ve put together a list of the best Chrome extensions to help make your online experience even better! These extensions can help with everything from productivity to security to entertainment. You can also enable extensions in Chrome incognito mode.
So whether you’re looking for a way to secure your browser or enhance your productivity, we’ve got you covered.
Table of Contents
Best Chrome Extensions for Security and Privacy
uBlock Origin
If you want complete protection from unnecessary content on your browser, try uBlock Origin.
uBlock Origin is not only an ad blocker extension. Instead, it is a fully packed content blocker. It gives you total control to block and keep any content on the website. For instance, you can avoid accidentally opening a malicious link. Or, you can remove all the massive image files for faster page loading.
The extension is distributed under the GPLv3 license, which means it is by the users for the users. In common words, it is an open-source project updated and maintained by enthusiastic developers at no fee. It is also very lightweight on your CPU.
uBlock Origin is the most transparent adblocker as well. It shows you all the logs from a session if you want. So, you can verify if there is any shady business going on. Besides, all settings related to the extension are entirely local to your browser. The extension does not send any logs or information out from your system. That is another addition to privacy.
Moreover, uBlock Origin provides some attractive customization options. You have full control over allowing and skipping any site from opening on your browser. It will enable you to import your filter and trusted site list from around the web. So, you can look for any online database about malicious sites and import it for your browser.
HTTPS Everywhere
Noticing the HTTPS in the URL is the most common way to know if the website you have visited is secure or not. You must always visit websites with HTTPS protocol as it indicates that the site is secured with an SSL certificate.
However, there might be some instances when you need to visit a website that is not secured using the HTTPS protocol. This is where HTTPS Everywhere comes into action.
This extension encrypts your connection with many major websites, making your browsing more secure. It’s a great way to help protect yourself and your information from online threats.
DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials
DuckDuckGo is a search engine that values your privacy. It does not track your searches and provides you with results from the web without any personal information attached to it.
The DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials extension is designed to work with the search engine to give you even more privacy while browsing. It will block hidden third-party trackers that collect your data without you even knowing it.
This extension is great for people who are concerned about their online privacy and want to take steps to prevent their data from being collected without their consent.
Avast Online Security
Avast Online Security is a web reputation plugin that checks each website you visit for any suspicious data. It works in real-time and checks for trackers, online threats, and phishing scams. You can browse any web page confidently without worrying about the consequences.
The extension also tells you if the site you’re going to has a poor reputation so that you don’t share any essential data on such websites. You can also rate webpages in order to help Avast get better at detecting potentially hazardous sites while using Chrome.
VPN Master
VPN Master is a free and easy-to-use VPN that allows you to access blocked websites and services. It also lets you browse the internet anonymously so that your identity and location are hidden from prying eyes.
You can use VPN Master to unblock websites that are not available in your country. It is also great for people who want to browse the internet privately and securely. The extension can be used to securely and privately browse the internet without having to pay for an external VPN service.
LastPass
If you’re looking for an extension that can help you manage your passwords, look no further than LastPass. It is an amazing free password manager that comes with an app and extension as well. This extension will save all of your passwords in a secure vault and autofill them when needed.
LastPass can also generate strong passwords for you, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting them. It also offers two-factor authentication for added security. You can use LastPass on all of your devices, so you never have to worry about losing your passwords again.
LastPass can also be used to save data such as insurance card numbers, passport information, forms, and addresses in addition to keeping track of all of your passwords across the internet.
Best Chrome Extensions For Productivity
StayFocusd
If you are struggling with procrastination, this extension is just for you. StayFocusd is a helpful Chrome extension that keeps track of how much time you spend on specific websites and offers you the option to block the ones that consume most of your time, such as Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, or other distracting social media platform. This way it helps you to keep you focused on your work.
Tell the extension which websites are your time drains, how much time you want to devote to each one every day, and that when you reach the limit, those applications should be blocked.
The Nuclear Option is another excellent feature of this extension. You may configure the number of hours or days during which you want to be totally prohibited from visiting specific websites with the Nuclear Option. And, once you’ve activated it, there’s no way to turn it off until your time limit has concluded. All such features make it one of the Best Chrome Extensions For Productivity.
Clockify Time Tracker
With a single click at the start of the day, Timely allows you to accurately track your activity across apps and the web. To make things even easier, the extension shortens the procedure even more. There’s no need to open the Clockify app or go to the website.
All you need to do is start the timer when you begin working on a task and stop it when you’re done. The extension will then generate a report that shows you how much time you’ve spent on that task.
This extension is a time tracker that lets you know how long you’ve been working on a specific task. It’s perfect if you want to improve your time management skills or find out where all your time goes.
You can also use Clockify to track the time you spend on specific projects, so you can see how much time each project is taking you. This information can be helpful when it comes to billing clients or managing your own time more effectively.
Noisli
The Noisli is one of those Chrome extensions that is built with productivity in mind. It is particularly useful when working in an open office, where background noises are likely to distract you. Simply turn on the extension, pick a sound combination you like, and slip your headphones on.
The Noisli Chrome plugin has become popular for a reason: it delivers on a strong promise and creates background noise that you want to hear (it goes beyond just sea waves or coffee shops). It provides a variety of noise combinations for reading, working, concentrating, and more.
Users with Business and Pro accounts will be able to use timers that are linked to built-in sounds. In conclusion, you can schedule the length of each background sound, when it will begin/end, and how softly you want the sound to stop at the end of each time block.
Forest
Do you have a sudden urge to check Twitter, especially when working on a particularly tedious activity? Forest is another excellent productivity Chrome plugin that helps you reduce procrastination by setting time periods where you focus on your to-do list without being sidetracked.
Forest tasks work differently; your aim is to create a tree by completing one activity at a time, without going to any blocked websites. After you’ve finished the assignment, the tree will be added to the forest, which is a visual representation of all of your completed activities.
Besides creating virtual trees, Forest often hosts various projects Trees for the Future in which you may give and have actual trees planted all over the world.
Hubstaff Time Tracker
Another good choice for monitoring the entire productivity of your remote staff is Hubstaff. It tracks working time and keeps track of how employees are progressing in real-time.
Hubstaff Time Tracker is a project management extension that’s perfect for developers and designers. It allows you to keep track of your assignment changes, design iterations, and progress on various tasks all in one place. Hubstaff Tasks also integrates with over 50 other tools, so you can easily add new features and update your workflow.
With Hubstaff Time Tracker, you can take screenshots and screencasts of your work set billable rates for clients, and generate invoices with ease. You’ll never have to worry about losing track of your time or progress again with this handy extension. This makes it one of the Best Chrome Extensions For Productivity.
Email Tracker for Gmail
If you want to know when your sent emails are opened, Email Tracker is a great extension to use. It allows you to track all of your sent emails and see when they’re opened in real-time.
You can also see how many times each email was opened, what time it was opened, and where the recipient was located when they opened it. Email Tracker also lets you know if your email was forwarded, printed, or downloaded as an attachment.
This extension is perfect for salespeople who want to know when their emails are being read, or for anyone who wants to keep track of important messages.
Best Chrome Extensions for Tab Management
OneTab
OneTab is a Chrome extension that lets you manage your tabs without fear of closing them. It’s perfect if you don’t have time to deal with your tabs, but don’t want to risk losing them by closing them.
OneTab solves all of your open Google Chrome tabs with a single click, no matter how many there are opened. It works by turning all the open Chrome tabs into a list from where they can be restored one at a time or all at once. As a result, OneTab rapidly deallocates the memory consumed by Chrome (tabs).
TooManyTabs
TooManyTabs is a browser extension that makes juggling between many Chrome tabs pretty simple. When you click on the toolbar icon of TooManyTabs, all of your open tabs are displayed in a preview, and going to a tab is as simple as clicking on its preview. There’s also a search bar to help you discover tabs by their titles.
What’s most remarkable is that TooManyTabs can automatically back up and restore active tabs to your Google Drive account. Other than that, inactive tabs may be organized into a column and suspended to save space. Tab data may also be exported and imported as HTML files.
Session Buddy
Session Buddy is one of the most powerful Chrome session/tab management plugins accessible. It’s a real powerhouse, with the ability to save and restore your active browsing sessions with just one click.
Sessions can be saved in a variety of formats, including JSON, HTML, and CSV. There are a lot of customization possibilities, including session names and maximum session counts that may be stored. Then there’s stuff like the ability to make tabs invisible/duplicate them, as well as keyboard shortcuts.
Toby
Toby enhances your Chrome browser’s tab management experience with a unique spin. The extension not only gives you access to all of your open tabs but also allows you to group the most frequently used ones so that you can open them all at once with a single click.
Toby also replaces the new tab page on your Chrome with a customized one that shows you all of your favorite tabs. Toby is ideal for individuals who work with a set of predetermined websites. For example, while researching for something, you may group all its related tabs separately, keeping other tabs away.
Tab Outliner
Tab Outliner has a steep learning curve for something as simple as a tab manager extension. However, once you get the hang of it, things become much simpler. Tab Outliner organizes all the current tabs in a tree-like format. Not only that, you may drag and drop text from web pages to the tab list to make quick notes, making tab management a lot easier.
You may also use hover-over buttons to perform actions like duplicating already open tabs, as well as opening Google Docs. And if you wish to do so, you may always upgrade to the premium edition for additional features such as global keyboard shortcuts, automatic tab information backup to Google Drive, and more.
Best Chrome Extensions for Social Media Management
BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is an excellent extension for Chrome or Firefox that will provide you with insight into how well your content is performing. When looking for metrics on a website, click the extension to display statistics such as the number of social shares and backlinks to a piece.
BuzzSumo is also a simple tool for monitoring the level of engagement your content receives. You may also use BuzzSumo to examine your competitors and find methods to increase the number of people who share your material.
Save to Facebook
Facebook comes with a “Save” function that users can utilize to combine links, pictures, and videos they discover on Facebook into one place in their account.
This extension allows you to do the same from any computer or mobile device on the internet, making Facebook a centralized location to store material you’d like to check out later.
Save to Facebook is an ideal extension for people who do a lot of research on the internet and want to have everything they find in one place that’s easy to access.
Buffer
The Buffer Chrome extension allows you to easily post material from any website to your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles. It also gives you the ability to schedule your posts so that they’re published at the best time for engagement.
The extension is perfect for people who want to share content on social media but don’t have the time to do it manually. It’s also great for those who want to make sure their posts are published at optimal times. By using this tool, you will be able to create and schedule your social media content faster from anywhere on the web.
SocialAnalyzer
SocialAnalyzer is a social media monitoring extension that allows you to keep track of popular content in one of your target fields or niches. Look at the most up-to-date postings on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to see if there is any interest in what others are already putting out.
This extension is perfect for people who want to be on the cutting edge of their field and see what content is being consumed the most. You can also use SocialAnalyzer to keep track of your competitor’s social media activity and see what content they’re putting out that’s resonating well with their audience.
If you are a social media marketer, this tool may be useful for you to fine-tune your social media marketing strategy and monitor brand sentiment.
Bitly
Bitly is a URL shortening service that allows you to share long URLs in a shorter form. This is especially useful when sharing links on social media platforms such as Twitter where there is a character limit.
The Bitly extension for Chrome allows you to quickly shorten any URL so that it can be shared more easily. This extension is perfect for people who want to share links on social media but don’t want to use up all of their characters.
This is particularly useful for social media marketers who can personalize the short links with an Enterprise plan of Bitly.
Best Chrome Extensions for better Reading
Reader View Extension
The first reader extension on our list is the Reader View Extension. This extension makes reading web pages in Chrome much easier by stripping away all the clutter and leaving only the text and images. This can be a great help when you’re trying to focus on an article or just want to get through a long web page quickly.
The Reader View extension introduces Mozilla’s open-source Readability implantation to Chromium. The extension enables you to change between the normal view and the reader view by clicking on the page action button.
EasyReader
The second extension on our list is EasyReader. This extension is similar to the Reader View Extension in that it strips away all the clutter from web pages. However, EasyReader also has some additional features that make it a great choice for reading on the web.
EasyReader has a number of different settings that you can customize to make your reading experience just perfect. You can change the font size, line height, margins, and more.
DOM Distiller Reading Mode
Have you ever gone to a website where the text is so unappealing that it gives you a headache, or where finding content is difficult because of superfluous sidebars and share buttons? If so, the DOM Distiller Reading Mode is for you.
This extension is designed to give you a clean and uncluttered view of web pages. It’s perfect for when you want to focus on the content and not be distracted by the rest of the page.
Best Chrome Extensions for Writing Assistance
Grammarly for Chrome
Grammarly is a freemium extension that checks your spelling and grammar as you type. It’s perfect for those who want to improve their writing skills or make sure they’re always using proper grammar.
This grammar checker works in real-time, so you’ll see mistakes as you make them. Grammarly will then suggest the correct spelling or grammar usage. You can also click on any mistake to see more information about why it’s wrong and how to fix it.
Grammarly is a fantastic tool for students, teachers, reporters, and office staff alike. It may significantly reduce your typing time, influence your overall writing performance, and relieve you of anxiety while sending an important email.
Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides
If you use Google applications, then you’re in luck. The “Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides” extension allows you to open and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files directly in Google Drive. This extension is perfect for people who want to be able to edit their Office documents without having to download them first.
Check out Office Editing when you and your coworkers need to work on computers with different operating systems or want to collaborate on a live document simultaneously.
Rivia.AI
Is it possible to automatically create “How-to?” blogs along with the screenshots? With the Rivia.AI Chrome extension, it is.
If you are a blogger who regularly writes tutorials, Rivia.AI can be a productivity booster for you. This unique Chrome extension enables users to quickly record their Chrome workflows and automatically convert them into a step-by-step guide, along with their screenshots. You can edit your documents as per your requirements and instantly share them through public links.
The extension is also useful for those who want to create process documents or video tutorials. Rivia.AI can help you save a lot of time that would otherwise be spent on manually creating such content.
The extension is pretty light weighted and does not consume much system memory.
LanguageTool
LanguageTool is a free proofreading extension for Chrome that checks your spelling, grammar, and style as you type. This extension is perfect for people who want to improve their writing skills or make sure their documents are error-free.
If you’re a non-native English speaker, this tool can be especially useful for you. It supports more than 20 international languages. LanguageTool can also help you improve your writing by suggesting alternative phrases and words.
This extension is perfect for students, writers, business professionals, and anyone who wants to improve their writing skills.
Google Dictionary
The Google Dictionary extension allows you to quickly lookup definitions of words while you’re browsing the web. This extension is perfect for people who want to improve their vocabulary or learn more about the words they’re reading.
This extension is perfect for students, writers, business professionals, and anyone who wants to improve their writing skills. By using this tool, you will be able to quickly lookup definitions of words that you come across while reading.
Additionally, LanguageTool provides style suggestions to improve your writing: synonym replacements for common jargon, concise rephrasing of lengthy sentences, and formal alternatives to commonly utilized phrases.
Wordtune
Wordtune is an AI-driven Chrome extension that offers a variety of different possibilities to what is currently on your page.
You can use Wordtune to rewrite any document or text, whether it’s in Google Docs, Outlook, or another text editor. You can highlight the sentence or phrase you’d want to modify and then Wordtune will provide you with several alternatives. After that, all you have to do is choose the one you prefer.
Best Chrome Extensions For Media Management
Awesome Screenshot
Awesome Screenshot is a browser extension that lets you take and enhance screenshots without leaving your browser. After capturing a portion of your screen or an entire web page, you may crop, identify, draw shapes on it, and blur sensitive data.
This extension is best for those who need to take screenshots regularly and edit them before sharing. The interface is very user-friendly and the features are straightforward.
Smallpdf
If you deal with a lot of PDFs, Smallpdf is one of the finest Chrome add-ons available. You may modify, convert, merge, split, and compress PDFs within your Chrome browser.
The best thing is that you can convert a PDF file to an MS Office document or vice versa. Not to mention the fact that it’s almost always free, which is fantastic.
Loom
Loom is a simple-to-use screen recorder for Chrome. The extension lets you to record your browser window with just one click and also gives you an easy-to-share link after you finish recording. It’s the ideal method to record Chrome without having to upload the video somewhere else.
You may utilize the screen recording tool to add a recording of your webcam to the video, make GIFs from screen recording, modify videos, mark up while filming the screen, and much more.
Video Downloader Pro
Video Downloader Pro is a very handy tool if you want to download videos from the internet. It’s simple to use and works with most major video sites.
With Video Downloader Pro, you can download videos from Facebook, Vimeo, and other popular video sites. You can also convert the videos into different formats. The only downside is, because of Google’s restrictions, you cannot download videos from YouTube. In fact, there is no YouTube video downloader extension available.
ColorZilla
If you want a quick and straightforward way to pick colors out of your screen, use ColorZilla.
ColorZilla is one of the most popular color pickers available for Chrome. To start with, when you install the extension, the symbol appears in your extension tab. You can click the extension icon to enable the color picker quickly. Then, hover above any color you want to note and click to finalize it.
You would see which color you are about to select in a pop-up panel in real-time. The panel also shows you the RGB values and the Hex color code. You can also set the sample size from point sample to 25*25 pixels. Or, you can create a custom area to choose an average color.
Besides that, the tool saves your color history in a palette for you to recollect it later. Another feature I liked about this extension is the Webpage Color Analyzer. It shows you the CSS color theme of the currently opened website on your tab. You can replicate the design if you are a web developer.
Wrapping Up
There are a lot of Chrome extensions out there, and it can be tough to find the best ones. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best Chrome Extensions for you to try out based on our own personal experiences. If you have any other favorites that we didn’t mention, let us know in the comments.
To install a Chrome extension, visit the Chrome Web Store and find the extension you’d like to add. Once you’ve clicked on the extension, click “Add to Chrome.” A pop-up will appear asking you to confirm the installation, click “Add Extension.”
It depends on the extension. Some extensions can impact your browsing speed, while others don’t have any noticeable effect. If you notice your browser is running slower than usual, try disabling or removing the extension to see if that makes a difference.
Yes, all extensions available on Chrome Web Store can be used on all the Chromium-based browsers such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
No, you don’t need to create an account to use Chrome extensions. However, some extension developers may ask you to create an account in order to use their extension.
Yes, Chrome extensions are generally safe. However, like any piece of software, there is always a risk that something could go wrong. When installing a new extension, be sure to read the permissions that it is asking for and only install extensions from trusted sources.
