Waterfox vs Yandex Browser

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.

Yandex Browser is a free Chromium-based browser for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. It can import data and settings from another browser, organize tabs into groups, and sync passwords, bookmarks, history, tabs, extensions, and settings across devices with a Yandex ID. Built-in tools translate text, image captions, websites, documents, and videos; YandexGPT-powered features support editing, summarizing, translation, text-to-speech, and creative processing. The browser can summarize YouTube videos, articles, and text, and provide timestamps for video highlights. Protect can block dangerous or fraudulent pages and help secure passwords and card data; password checks flag simple, reused, or publicly exposed passwords. Users can identify trackers and block those they do not trust, and install extensions from the Chrome and Opera catalogs. Yandex says some data is sent to its servers for technical tasks and usage statistics. Download scanning is available only on Windows, and the maker says browser protection is not a full antivirus product. Sync works across Yandex Browser, not between different browsers.