LibreWolf is one of the best browsers for people who don’t like generative AI.
Here is the statement posted on Mastodon:
As there seems to have been recent confusion about this, just a quick “official” toot to then pin: we haven’t and won’t support “generative AI” related stuff in LibreWolf. If you see some features like that (like Perplexity search recently, or the link preview feature now) it is solely because it “slipped through”. As soon as we become aware of something like this / it gets reported to us, we will remove/disable it ASAP.
I switched to LibreWolf about six months ago -ish. I’m very happy with the browser. Happy to hear they won’t be incorporating the AI BS.
Same - around when all the terms and conditions drama was happening with Firefox.
For me that was the breaking point. I want to use software I can trust to be on my side - software that I can update to the latest version without worrying about what awful anti-feature they might have slipped in, which I then have to go try and disable.
Firefox demonstrated they aren’t that, but Librewolf gives you it. A clean browser with privacy-respecting defaults, no ads, no sponsored content, no studies, and uBlock installed out the box.
Very happy.
I switched to LibreWolf from Waterfox. Happy with my decision! Even more happy with this announcement!
It’s a little unfortunate MacOS support isn’t the best. However, I totally agree with their stance of not paying the Apple tax. I run Linux, but I can’t totally recommend LibreWolf to my non-techie family cuz they’re on MacOS…
On the other hand, LibreWolf was one of the reasons I moved my parents to Fedora Silverblue!
I currently use Waterfox, but have never tried LibreWolf. What made you swap?
I just switched to Waterfox today. I’m also curious about what the differences are.
In short: LibreWolf is for those who want a “locked-down” fortress out of the box, while Waterfox is for those who want a privacy-conscious browser that still feels like a normal, convenient daily driver.
Choose LibreWolf if: You want the highest level of privacy without having to manually edit config files, and you don’t mind occasionally “fixing” a broken website or re-logging into accounts.
Choose Waterfox if: You want a privacy-respecting browser that supports Firefox Sync, has an Android counterpart, and handles streaming sites/logins without any extra friction (it supports WideWine out of the box, which lets you stream DRM protected content (netflix, hulu, disney, etc).
This is really helpful, thanks!
Great summary. One additional note: Using LibreWolf with the KeePassXC extension makes the issue with re-logging into accounts much less of a hassle. However, the extension unfortunately doesn’t work well when using the Flatpak package of LibreWolf. So, if there is a native LibreWolf package for your distribution, use that one; it should give you a good experience.
Pepole say that with some fiddling it is possible to get KeePassXC integrated even with the Flatpak version, but I for one wasn’t successful in that. So, if there is no native package for your distro, try compiling LibreWolf yourself, or perhaps try the AppImage, or else you may have one reason more to choose Waterfox (at least if there is a native Waterfox package for your distro).
Super helpful man, thank you. I like that librewolf is available if I wanted to be extra locked down, but for my needs I think I’ll swap to waterfox. 🙂
Currently using waterfox on android. Would appreciate hearing how tradeoffs compare to desktop.
I prefer IronFox on android as they include similar privacy protections out the gate similar to Librewolf, unlike Waterfox, which effectively stock firefox minus three or so components.
Yeah it’s getting to the point where there’s really just no point trying to protect your privacy any further on Mac or Windows. There’s simply no point bothering with a privacy-respecting browser when the OS itself is increasingly spying on you. Either choose a free OS or live with the consequences, unfortunately. Those who aren’t ready to make the switch are going to have to start becoming ready, or resign themselves to their fate until they are.
People do get that ultimately Firefox is paying rent right? Like if firefox goes too far, the much smaller team behind Librewolf is very unlikely to be able to keep up.
Your point being? “Give up and submit”?
Point is, there are still actual workers behind your favourite apps who still have to pay bills and feed their family. We can’t keep asking for cake and eat it. I don’t agree with the gradual enshitiffication, but I understand. This is why I am in favour of public-funded internet and applications, in the same vein how other countries fund their TV services like BBC or France 24.
So what is your proposal for now then? We should continue using Firefox and donating to Mozilla? Dont use LibreWolf?
You could not use Firefox and move to a different alternative, but even devs in that alternative will start to demand to be paid more.
Nowhere is anybody complaining about Firefox devs wanting money. That is so far from the issue. Most of us would happily and willingly give Mozilla money if it went to making Firefox a thing we want. If Mozilla had a bounty on features, direct avenues to fund devs, asked for donations every quarter or every semester, called for hardware donations, asked the community how to improve and listened or had community members on the board, I doubt the majority would complain. Mozilla does none of that except maybe asking for donations.
Donations to Mozilla just go into a black box and then you find out its gone to community outreach, AI features, buying an ad company, paying the ex CEO 5 millions per year, firing Servo engineers, and a bunch more crap.
There are many reasons people don’t donate to Mozilla. Unwillingness to pay devs is not one of them.
My point being that people are misinformed about how much of the important work is being done by who.
The bills have to be paid.
The underlying development exists because the developers at mozilla can put food on the table.
We can’t ignore the fact that a project of Firefoxs scale cannot be held together by volunteer work and hopes and prayers.
If people cared as much as they said they did, they should be looking at how the public could buy Mozilla such that the enshitification stopped rather than pretending alternatives would be able to survive the wake of any of the giants they are downstream of sinking.
Web browsers really should have been publicly funded but we have what we have…
Woohoo! My partner is switching soon because Ecosia betrayed its user base. Eco warrior browser now uses AI search assistant.
What’s this about ecosia? I’ve been using the search for the last few months but haven’t heard any controversy.
It has moved its AI search assistant from a separate tab, and now gives frequent responses in the primary view just like Google, Brave and DuckDuckGo, but there’s no visible option to disable it in either search or browser settings, aka it’s now on by default. I’ve yet to check browser config flags but that shouldn’t be necessary.
They are apparently trying to do AI as greenly as possible: https://blog.ecosia.org/ecosia-ai/
Reducing AI’s footprint isn’t enough — we’re here to make a positive impact. That’s why we generate more renewable energy than our AI features use, from 100% clean sources like solar and wind.
We’ve invested €18M in renewable energy projects — expanding solar parks and adding clean power to the grid. The energy we generate helps displace fossil fuels and accelerate the transition to renewable energy.
We use tools like the AI Energy Score and Ecologits to select efficient models and track their energy use — keeping our process transparent, and ourselves accountable.
https://support.ecosia.org/article/1006-ai-search#Model-training-and-adjustments-LOaKB
We use OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 mini because it strikes a strong balance between performance and efficiency. By choosing a smaller, mainstream model, we aim to deliver a high-quality experience while keeping our energy and water footprint low. We believe there is a need for greater transparency around AI’s environmental impact and continue to push for change across the tech industry.
Our AI Search is built using smaller, more efficient models less energy than larger ones, according to a recent study. We assessed the model’s impact using tools like EcoLogits, CodeCarbon or Hugging Face AI Energy Score. Additionally, we avoid energy-intensive functionalities like video generation or deep research.
We generate more clean energy from solar and wind than our AI features consume. The surplus goes into the electricity grid, helping to replace fossil fuels. While we can’t yet account for the emissions generated during the AI model’s training, using our AI Search features helps accelerate the energy transition towards renewables.
I’m glad to hear that!
I still want to just go to the information source myself instead of an extra middleman of AI and what it thinks its sources are. I emailed Ecosia asking for a config switch to get rid of the AI search option at the bottom of my search results. Not a priority/not planning on it (one of them). Valid, it is not like I’m a paying customer, but also I want to reward people not hopping on the AI train. But at least Ecosia is not being as awful about AI as I thought they were. Will be trying LibreWolf instead.
Ecosia allegedly also gets their search results from Bing, for whatever that’s worth.
I thought Ecosia was working on their own index?
https://support.ecosia.org/article/579-search-results-providers
Didn’t even take a minute to research
Proof that Ecosia isn’t really about their ‘eco’ claims when they’re getting their search results from the people who are actively killing the world right now instead of indexing stuff independently.
That’s not proof. Proof would be if they weren’t using their ad revenue to do what they claim to be doing.
If you think using US tech means you’re evil, wait until you find out where your clothes come from, who works to make your food, who is exploited by the amazing cheap deals you profit off of, who profits from the products you buy.
Ecosia, just like you, doesn’t exist in a vacuum with endless money. They have to make the changes within their means with the cards they are dealt. You’re demanding Ecosia build a competitor to Bing and Google with no money and that they save the world at the same time. Do you demand the same of yourself or do you call yourself a traitor to humanity every time you look in the mirror?
I just downloaded it today and it’s been pretty solid. Need to keep using it to see if anything pops up but I think I’m making the switch.
Been on Firefox for probably more than a decade now. And I have zero need for a Chromium browser.
I would use it if I could have bitwarden. Anyone know if Firefox extensions can be ported into librewolf?
All Firefox extensions work with Librewolf, Bitwarden included. It’s still regular Firefox under the hood, just with different settings enabled by default, uBlock Origin out of the box, and some annoyances removed.
I’m feeling dumb, I got confused with Falkon which I was using for a hot second a few weeks ago. Great to know Librewolf supports extensions. Thanks for the clarification!
LibreWolf is based on Firefox, so all of Firefox add-ons work properly. Also, Bitwarden is even recommended by the developers.
Password managers
We suggest that you use a more robust solution than the built-in password manager available in the browser:- Bitwarden: open source password manager that allows for synchronization across multiple devices.
- KeePassXC-Browser: official browser plugin for the open source password manager KeePassXC.
Recommended Addons – LibreWolf
https://librewolf.net/docs/addons/#password-managersI’m feeling dumb, I got confused with Falkon which I was using for a hot second a few weeks ago. Great to know Librewolf supports extensions. Thanks for the clarification!
Thankyou.
I hope they keep the offline translation. It’s actually an OK use of LLMs with two caveats: I’m not sure how ethically they have been trained, and I don’t trust the output for anything vaguely important.
Been using this for about two years now and still going strong
