Chrome vs Firefox: RAM Usage Comparison

When it comes to web browsers, Chrome and Firefox are two of the most popular options. But which one uses more RAM?

This is a question that many people have been asking lately, as both Chrome and Firefox have been notorious for gobbling up memory. But if you have to choose one over the other, we are here to help you.

In this article, we will compare the RAM usage of Chrome and Firefox and see which one comes out on top.

Prerequisites for conducting RAM Usage Tests

Before conducting the RAM usage tests, for unbiased results, you need to ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

• Clear Browsing Data (caches and other site data) on both the browsers
• Update both the browsers
• Learn to use Task Manager for checking RAM usage

Here is the configuration of my system:

• RAM: 8 GB
• Operating System: Windows 11 Pro 22H2
• Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz  2.42 GHz

Clear Browsing Data

The first step is to clear the browsing data on both browsers. This will help ensure that the results are not biased by any cached data.

To clear browsing data on Chrome, follow these steps:

1. Click on the three dots in the top-right corner of the browser window.
2. Hover over More Tools and click on Clear Browsing Data.
3. In the pop-up window that appears, select All Time from the time range drop-down menu.
4. Check the boxes next to Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
5. Click on Clear Data.

To clear browsing data on Firefox, follow these steps:

1. Click on the three lines in the top-right corner of the browser window.
2. From the list, click on the History option and select Clear Recent History.
3. In the pop-up window that appears, select Everything from the time range drop-down menu.
4. Check the boxes next to Cookies and Cache.
5. Click on Clear Now.

Now that we have cleared the browsing data, we can proceed with updating the browsers.

Update the Browsers

It is always recommended to use the latest version of any software for security and performance reasons. Therefore, before conducting the RAM usage tests, make sure that both browsers are updated to their latest versions.

To update Chrome, follow these steps:

1. Click on the three dots in the top-right corner of the browser window.
2. Hover over Help and click on About Google Chrome.
3. The browser will automatically check for updates and install them if any are available.

To update Firefox, follow these steps:

1. Click on the three lines in the top-right corner of the browser window.
2. From the list, click on the Help option and select About Firefox.
3. The browser will automatically check for updates and install them if any are available.
4. Now that we have updated the browsers, we can proceed with the RAM usage tests.

Checking RAM Usage with Task Manager

Task Manager is a built-in utility in Windows that allows you to view and manage the running processes on your computer. It also provides performance information about your computer’s CPU, memory, disk, and network. Google Chrome also comes with an in-built task manager to display all the running Chrome processes. However, if you want to know the processes running in the system, the Windows task manager is the one you should access.

To open Task Manager in Windows, follow these steps:

1. Press the Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys on your keyboard.
2. To view the RAM usage of a particular process, click on the Memory column, under the Processes tab.
3. The processes will be sorted according to their RAM usage, with the highest RAM usage at the top.
4. Next, click on the Performance tab.
5. You will now see the performance information of your computer’s CPU, memory, disk, and network.

Now that we know how to use Task Manager to check RAM usage, we can proceed with the tests.

Firefox vs. Chrome Memory Usage Tests

Now we will unbiasedly test Chrome and Firefox browsers under various factors. For impartiality, we will open the same web pages/websites or YouTube videos on both Chrome and Firefox.

1 Tab Test

We will start by opening only one tab on both browsers and see which browser uses more RAM.

Keep in mind that even when you open one tab, each of these browsers generates many tiny processes, so it does put a strain on your computer.

For the first test, I opened Facebook on both Chrome and Firefox. Here are the results:

Chrome: 580.4 MB

Firefox: 358.8 MB

As you can see, even with just one tab open, Chrome uses significantly more RAM than Firefox.

Let’s see how these browsers perform when we open multiple tabs.

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5 Tabs Test

For the second test, I opened the following five tabs on both browsers:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Gmail
• Google Docs
• Twitter

Here are the results:

Chrome: 1127.6 MB

Firefox: 1061.3 MB

As seen again Firefox came out as a winner in this stress test.

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10 Tabs Test

For the third test along with the previously opened tabs, I opened 5 more tabs of the same YouTube videos on both Chrome and Firefox.

Because multiple YouTube videos may result in additional loading and resource usage, especially if you have many of them opened simultaneously, I’ve chosen YouTube as a testing ground for five tabs.

Here are the results:

Chrome: 1237.7 MB

Firefox: 1812.8 MB

As you can see, with ten tabs open, both browsers used a lot of RAM. However, Firefox used more RAM than Chrome in this test.

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Conclusion

From the tests we’ve conducted, it is clear that Firefox uses less RAM than Chrome when multiple tabs are open. So if you’re looking for a browser that doesn’t use as much RAM, then Firefox would be the better choice. However, keep in mind that even Firefox uses a significant amount of RAM when multiple tabs are open.

Also when it comes to playing YouTube videos, the Chrome browser performs better. This might be because since Chrome and YouTube both are owned by Google, it is possible that Chrome is better optimized for running YouTube videos.