Alightweight web browser is aweb browser that sacrifices some of the features of a mainstream web browser in order to reduce the consumption ofsystem resources, and especially to minimize thememory footprint.[1][2][3]
The tables below compare notable lightweight web browsers. Several of them use a commonlayout engine, but each has a unique combination of features and a potential niche. The minimaluser interface insurf, for example, does not havetabs,[4] whereasxombrero can be driven withvi-like keyboard commands.[5]
Four of the browsers compared—Lynx,w3m,Links, andELinks—are designed fortext mode, and can function in aterminal emulator.Eww is limited to working within Emacs. Links 2 has both atext-based user interface and agraphical user interface. w3m is, in addition to being a web browser, also aterminal pager.[6]
| Browser | Developers | Status | Engine | Programming languages | License | Latest release | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version | Date | ||||||
| Arora | Benjamin C. Meyer et al.[7] | Discontinued | QtWebKit[8] | C++ | GPL-2.0-or-later | 0.11.0[9]  | 2010-09-27 |
| Dillo | Jorge Arellano Cid et al. | Active | Dillo | C,C++ | GPL-3.0-or-later | 3.2.0[10] | 2025-01-18 |
| ELinks | Petr Baudiš, Jonas Fonseca, et al. | Active | Links | C,C++ | GPL-2.0-only | 0.18.0[11] | 2024-12-26 |
| Eww | Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen | Active | GNU Emacs libraries | Emacs Lisp | GPL-3.0-or-later | ||
| Falkon (QupZilla) | David Rosca | Active | QtWebKit /Qt WebEngine | C++ | GPL-3.0-or-later | 25.04.3[12] | 2025-07-03 |
| hv3 | Dan Kennedy & team | Discontinued | Tkhtml | Tcl | GPL | ||
| K-Meleon | Christophe Thibault et al. | Active | Gecko /Goanna (fork) | C++ | GPL | 76.4.7[13] | 2023-04-07 |
| Links | Mikuláš Patočka, Twibright Labs, et al. | Active | Links | C | GPL-2.0-or-later | 2.30[14] | 2024-07-27 |
| Lynx | Lou Montulli, Thomas Dickey, et al. | Active | libwww derivative | C (ISO C) | GPL-2.0-only | 2.9.2[15] | 2024-05-31 |
| NetSurf | John-Mark Bell, Michael Drake, et al.[16] | Active | NetSurf | C (ANSI C) | GPL-2.0-only | 3.11[17] | 2023-12-28 |
| Otter Browser | Michał Dutkiewicz[18] | Active | QtWebKit /Qt WebEngine | C++ | GPL-3.0-or-later | 1.0.03[19] | 2022-02-22 |
| QtWeb | LogicWare; LSoft Technologies[20] | Unmaintained | QtWebKit | C++ | GPL-2.0-or-later | 3.8.5[21] | 2013-09-09 |
| qutebrowser | Florian Bruhin et al. | Active[22] | QtWebKit /Qt WebEngine[23] | Python3 | GPL-3.0-or-later | 3.6.2[24] | 2025-11-27 |
| rekonq | Andrea Diamantini et al. | Discontinued | QtWebKit[8] | C++ | GPLv3 | 2.4.2[25] | 2014-01-12 |
| surf | Christoph Lohmann et al. | Active | WebKitGTK | C | MIT | 2.1[26] | 2021-05-08 |
| uzbl | Dieter Plaetinck et al. | Discontinued | WebKitGTK | C,Python | GPL-3.0-only | 0.9.1[27] | 2016-10-27 |
| w3m | Akinori Ito et al. | Unmaintained | w3m | C | MIT | 0.5.3[28] | 2011-01-15 |
| WebPositive | Andrea Anzani, Ryan Leavengood, et al. | Active | HaikuWebkit | C++ | MIT | 1.3-alpha[29] | 2021-08-01 |
| xombrero | Marco Peerboom et al. | Discontinued | WebKitGTK | C,JavaScript | ISC | 1.6.4[30] | 2015-02-17 |
| Browser | BSD | Haiku | Linux | macOS | OpenIndiana | OS/2 | QNX | RISC OS | Windows | Android |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arora | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[31] | Yes | No | No | Yes | |
| Dillo | Yes | Yes[32] | Yes | Yes | Yes[33] | No | No | Yes[33] | Cygwin[33][34] | |
| ELinks | Yes[35] | ? | Yes[35] | Yes[35] | Yes[35] | Yes[35] | No[35] | Dropped[35] | ? | |
| Falkon (QupZilla) | Dropped[36][37] | Yes[36][37] | Yes[36][37] | Dropped[38] | No | Dropped[36][37] | No | No | Dropped[37] | |
| K-Meleon | Wine | No | Wine[39] | Wine | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
| Links | Unofficial | No | Yes | Unofficial | ? | Yes | No | No | Yes | |
| Lynx | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[40][41] | Yes | |
| NetSurf | Yes[42] | Yes[43] | Yes[42] | Yes[42] | Yes[42] | No | ? | Yes[44] | Yes[45] | |
| Otter Browser | Yes[46] | Unofficial[47] | Yes[46] | Yes[46] | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
| QtWeb | Yes | Unofficial[48] | Yes | Yes | Unofficial[i] | No | No | No | Yes | |
| qutebrowser | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | |
| rekonq | Yes | No | Yes | No | Unofficial[i] | No | No | No | Inactive[ii] | |
| surf | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | |
| uzbl | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| w3m | Unofficial | Unofficial | Yes | Unofficial | Unofficial | Inactive | No | No | Cygwin | |
| WebPositive | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | |
| xombrero | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
Test scores reflect the version of the browser engine in use. Generally, a lower score indicates an older version of the browser engine.
| Image formats | Advanced | Test scores | Plug-inAPIs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Browser | GIF,JPEG,PNG | WebP | JavaScript | Frames | Acid3 | HTML5test | Netscape | Pepper |
| Arora | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i] | 359/550[50] | No[ii] | No |
| Dillo | Yes | Yes[51] | No | Partial | N/A[iii] | N/A[iii] | No | No |
| ELinks | No | No | Partial[iv] | Partial | N/A[iii] | N/A[iii] | No | No |
| Falkon (QupZilla) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i] | 497/550[53] | Partial | Partial |
| K-Meleon | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i] | 416/555[54] | Partial[55] | No |
| Links | Yes[v] | Yes | No[vi] | Partial | N/A[iii] | N/A[iii] | No | No |
| Lynx | No | No | No | Partial | N/A[iii] | N/A[iii] | No | No |
| NetSurf | Yes[57] | Yes | Partial[58] | Yes | N/A[iii] | N/A[iii] | No[59] | No |
| Otter Browser | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 100/100 | 370/550[60] | Yes | No |
| QtWeb | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i][vii] | 234/550[61] | No[ii] | No |
| qutebrowser | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 99/100[citation needed] | 521/550 | No | No |
| rekonq | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i] | 385/555[62] | No[ii] | Partial[63] |
| surf | Yes | Yes[viii] | Yes | Yes | 100/100[i] | 385/500[65] | Yes | ? |
| uzbl | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 98/100 | 461/500 | Yes | ? |
| w3m | Yes[66] | No | No[67] | Yes | N/A[iii] | N/A[iii] | No | No |
| WebPositive | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | 98/100[i] | 358/500[68] | No | No |
| xombrero | Yes | Yes[viii] | Yes | Yes | 100/100 | 385/500[69] | Yes | ? |
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