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Firefox ESR vs Waterfox: catalog facts
Firefox ESR	Waterfox
Free Free and open source; Mozilla offers optional paid professional support for organisations.	Free Free and open source under MPL-2.0. Development is funded by donations.
Windows, macOS, Linux	Windows, macOS, Linux
Long-term stable feature set for managed deployments MSI and PKG installers plus group policy templates	Telemetry and data collection are removed from the build, not just disabled in preferences Ad blocking and private, anonymised DNS are on by default
New features arrive later than in regular Firefox Mainly aimed at organisations rather than home users	One small team tracking Mozilla, so security updates land after Firefox's The project has changed hands in the past, which matters if you are picking it on trust
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: MPL-2.0	License: MPL-2.0
No account needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Needs internet
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.