Mercury
A Firefox fork with compiler optimizations and privacy patches taken from LibreWolf, Waterfox and GNU IceCat.
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About Mercury
Mercury is a community build of Firefox by Alex313031, the developer of the Thorium browser. It is compiled with extra optimizations for performance and applies patches collected from LibreWolf, Waterfox and GNU IceCat, which adjust privacy defaults and remove some of Firefox's built-in services.
The repository includes build configurations, policies and a portable variant. It suits people who prefer Firefox's engine and extensions but want a tuned, privacy-adjusted build maintained outside Mozilla.
Strengths
- Compiler-optimized Firefox builds
- Privacy patches drawn from LibreWolf, Waterfox and IceCat
- Portable variant available
Limitations
- Maintained by a single developer
- Updates can trail official Firefox releases
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source.
- License
- MPL-2.0
- Developer
- Alex313031
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Best suited for
- Firefox users who want an optimized build with privacy tweaks
- Categories
- Web browsers, Privacy tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to Mercury
Compare allSoftware that can replace Mercury for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
LibreWolf
A Firefox build with the privacy settings already turned up and uBlock Origin included.
LibreWolf is one of the projects Mercury borrows privacy patches from, shipping uBlock Origin, strict tracking protection and Resist Fingerprinting, and clearing cookies on close by default.
Waterfox
A Firefox build with telemetry stripped out, ad blocking and encrypted DNS turned on from the start.
Waterfox, another source of Mercury's patches, strips telemetry from the build and turns on ad blocking and encrypted DNS, and also offers an Android build.
Firefox
The main browser not built on Chromium, with tracking protection turned on by default.
Firefox is the upstream Mozilla release, so updates arrive first and it runs on Android and iOS, though without Mercury's compiler optimizations or extra privacy patches.
Floorp
A Firefox build from Japan with vertical tabs, workspaces, split view and web panels already wired in.
Floorp keeps the Firefox engine and add-ons while adding built-in vertical tabs, workspaces, split view and web panels, maintained by a small team rather than one developer.
Zen Browser
A Firefox build with vertical tabs, workspaces and split view, aimed at people who found Arc appealing.
Zen Browser is a Firefox build focused on an Arc-style layout with vertical tabs, workspaces and split view, including ARM64 builds, rather than on compiler optimizations.
GNU IceCat
The GNU Project's build of Firefox containing only free software, with added privacy extensions.
GNU IceCat, another patch source for Mercury, contains only free software and blocks nonfree JavaScript with LibreJS, but is Linux only and breaks many sites until scripts are allowed.
Mullvad Browser
Tor Browser's fingerprinting defences without the Tor network, built to sit in front of a VPN instead.
Mullvad Browser uses Tor Browser's fingerprinting defences without the Tor network, is meant to run behind a VPN, and requires macOS Sonoma or later.
Mercury as an alternative
Listings that name Mercury as an alternative.
Firefox ESR
The Extended Support Release of Firefox, a long-term stable build intended for organisations.
Mercury is a compiler-optimized Firefox fork with privacy patches and a portable variant, but a single developer maintains it and updates can trail official Firefox releases.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
Tor Browser
A hardened Firefox that sends every page through the Tor network, so the site sees an exit node instead of your address.
Pale Moon
Independent Firefox fork with the classic interface and XUL extension support.
IronFox
Hardened Firefox fork for Android, successor to DivestOS Mull.
Firefox Developer Edition
A pre-release build of Firefox for web developers, with the newest developer tools and platform features.
