Google Chrome vs Internet Explorer vs Mozilla Firefox

With the hundreds of millions of everyday users on the web today, software developers have released several competent web browsers in the past few years. The big three right now are Chrome, IE, Safari, and Firefox. It seems that every web user has his or her own preference to what browser is best.

Chrome users tend to be those who want the fastest web experience available. They aren't worried about features in their browser; but speed. The users of Internet Explorer are mainly in office computers, schools, and those who just don't go online enough know about the other browsers. Those who surf the web with Safari are almost all Mac users, as Safari is the default browser for Apple's operating systems. Firefox is for those who want the most balanced web experience; not quite as fast as Chrome (though certainly not a slouch), but numerous applications and add-ons that can be incorporated into the browser.

*Lower Numbers are better! Values in bold are the best performing in that category.

Chrome 3.x
JavaScript Speed: 542.3ms
Max CPU Usage: 3.0%
DOM Selection Speed: 39ms
CSS Rendering Speed: 91ms
Page Load Time: 1.45s
Cache Performance: 0.72s

Internet Explorer 8.x
JavaScript Speed: 6,305.5ms
Max CPU Usage: 13.1%
DOM Selection Speed: 137ms
CSS Rendering Speed: 793ms
Page Load Time: 1.61s
Cache Performance: 0.87s

Safari 4.x
JavaScript Speed: 863.9ms
Max CPU Usage 4.4%
DOM Selection Speed: 30ms
CSS Rendering Speed: 117ms
Page Load Time: 1.61s
Cache Performance: 0.89s

Mozilla Firefox 3.x
JavaScript Speed: 1230.6ms
Max CPU Usage: 7.6%
DOM Selection Speed: 73ms
CSS Rendering Speed: 359ms
Page Load Time: 1.34s
Browser Cache Performance: 0.75s

Overall, Google Chrome seems to take the crown in performance. Mozilla Firefox and Safari follow up at a close second, and Internet Explorer is left in the dust by all three other browsers. Those who want more features while still maintaining great performance should give Firefox a try, if you haven't already.


These values are from a performance test done by SixRevisions.com.