UC Browser vs Waterfox
UC Browser
ucweb.com
Waterfox
waterfox.comSide by side
| Figure | UC Browser | Waterfox |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $5/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Web browsers | 8.7 (#24) | 9.3 (#3) |
| Built-in ad blocking | Yes | Yes |
| Founded | 2004 | 2011 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Headquarters | Singapore | Suite 140, 372 Old Street, London, EC1V 9AU, United Kingdom |
| Supported platforms | both | Downloads are listed for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android; Windows requires Windows 10 or later, macOS 10.15 or later, and Linux glibc 2.17 or later. |
| Privacy | The maker says UC Browser offers VPN encryption for private browsing and access without geo-restrictions. | The privacy policy says Waterfox telemetry, health reports and crash reports are disabled and locked off at build time. |
| Product | UC Browser is a mobile web browser focused on speed, privacy, and browsing features. | Waterfox is a free, open source web browser focused on privacy and customisation. |
| Support | The App Store listing says users can contact support through the app’s Menu > Feedback or at [email protected]. | Waterfox provides help articles for browsing, privacy and security, customization, troubleshooting and Android. |
| Tracking protection | advanced | advanced |
Plans
In their own words
UC Browser
UC Browser is a freemium web browser available on Android, iOS and macOS. The maker, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Singapore, lists built-in ad blocking and advanced tracking protection. Its video player supports accelerated loading, high-resolution playback, speed control up to 2×, floating-window viewing and offline downloads. The browser can detect online videos and offer one-click media downloads from websites and social platforms. Webpage translation uses multiple AI models, and multiple search engines are supported. The browser includes 20GB of free cloud storage for backup, syncing, access and sharing. UC Drive adds cloud video streaming, one-click saving of web images and videos, and cross-device file access. The maker describes social-post downloads as free, unlimited and original quality. Incognito mode does not store searches or visits; the privacy policy says device, network, usage, browsing-history and URL-bar data may be collected.
Waterfox
Waterfox is a free, open-source web browser built around privacy and customisation. It uses the Gecko engine and is listed for Android, browser extensions, Linux, macOS and Windows. On desktop, it blocks ads, trackers, pop-ups and overlays by default; filter lists and site exceptions can be adjusted. Private tabs use their own container, and Waterfox removes that container’s site data when the final private tab closes. DNS requests are encrypted and passed through an Oblivious HTTP relay; users can change or disable the default Fastly-operated relay and Cloudflare-operated resolver. Tree tabs nest pages under the page that opened them, with branches that can be collapsed or moved together. Firefox WebExtensions work, but Chrome-only extensions do not transfer automatically. Regular updates incorporate Mozilla security fixes using the Firefox ESR model. Waterfox says telemetry, health reports and crash reports are disabled at build time. Sync is off until Mozilla-account sign-in, and synced data is end-to-end encrypted. The browser plan is free, with no premium tier or required payment.