Alternatives to Iridium Browser

A Chromium-based desktop browser modified to stop data being sent to Google and other central services. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as Iridium Browser.

  • ungoogled-chromium

    Plain Chromium with every connection to Google web services stripped out, and nothing else changed.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    ungoogled-chromium also removes Google web service calls from Chromium with a public patch set, and adds Windows and macOS builds, though extensions must be installed by hand.

  • Brave

    A Chromium browser that blocks ads and trackers out of the box, with no extension to install first.

    FreemiumOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroid

    Brave keeps a Chromium base with ad and tracker blocking on by default and ready builds for all desktops and Android, but ships a crypto wallet and rewards programme.

  • Chromium

    The open-source browser project that Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi are all built from.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Chromium is the upstream project with no Google sign-in or usage reporting built in, packaged by most Linux distributions, but without the reproducible, auditable privacy patches of Iridium.

  • Cromite

    A hardened Chromium fork for Android, Windows and Linux with ad blocking and Google services removed.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsLinuxAndroid

    Cromite is an open-source GPL-3.0 Chromium fork with Google services removed and ad blocking compiled in, adding Android and Windows builds, though effectively one maintainer runs it.

  • Helium

    An open-source Chromium browser that blocks ads, trackers and cookie banners by default without telemetry.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Helium is an open-source Chromium browser with ad, tracker and cookie banner blocking and no telemetry, offering ready builds for Windows, macOS and Linux as a younger project.

  • SRWare Iron

    Chromium rebuild that strips out Google's tracking and reporting features.

    FreeProprietaryWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroid

    SRWare Iron also strips Google tracking and reporting from Chromium and adds Windows, macOS and Android builds, but it is closed source and its removals are hard to verify.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.