Brave vs Chrome is the comparison for anyone who likes how Chrome works but wants less of Google in it. About two in three web page views worldwide are loaded in Google Chrome (StatCounter, Sept 2026). Brave reports 128 million monthly users. Both run on the same engine, so the choice comes down to blocking, tracking, sync and the extras each company adds.
Brave and Chrome Side by Side
| Brave | Chrome | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (Oct 2026) | Free. Optional Leo Premium (about $14.99/month), a paid VPN, and Brave Origin ($59.99 once) with the extras turned off | Free |
| Engine | Chromium | Chromium |
| Ad and tracker blocking | Shields, on by default and built into the browser, on computers and phones | Extensions only. On computers, Manifest V3 blockers such as uBlock Origin Lite. The phone apps don’t run extensions |
| Tracking defaults | Blocks third-party trackers, cross-site cookies and fingerprinting | Blocks third-party cookies by default only in Incognito |
| Sync | Brave Sync with a sync code, no account. Encrypted with a key that stays on your devices | Through your Google account. Google can’t read it only if you set a sync passphrase |
| AI | Leo assistant, no account needed, can be hidden | Gemini in Chrome on computers, for people signed in with a Google account |
| Built-in extras | Rewards, crypto Wallet, VPN, News and Leo, all of which you can hide | Google sign-in, Google Password Manager and Gemini |
| Company | Brave Software Inc., USA | Google, USA |
| Open source | Yes (MPL-2.0) | Built on open-source Chromium, but Chrome itself isn’t open source |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS | Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, iOS |
Who Should Pick Which
- Pick Brave if you use Chrome today and want better privacy without relearning anything. Sites look the same, and your bookmarks and extensions come with you.
- Pick Chrome if your employer or school manages it, or you use Google’s services all day and want them wired into your browser.
- Pick neither if you’d rather leave Chromium, the code Google leads. Firefox with uBlock Origin is the degoogle community’s default answer. See Chrome to Firefox and our Chrome alternatives.
Same Engine, Different Company
Brave is built on Chromium, the open-source project behind Chrome. Pages render the same, Chrome Web Store extensions install with Add to Brave, and websites treat Brave like Chrome. StatCounter doesn’t even count Brave separately, because Brave identifies itself as Chrome.
Brave inherits Chromium’s changes, including the end of Manifest V2 extensions. Its own code is open source (MPL-2.0), while Chrome adds closed Google parts on top of Chromium.
On iPhone, Apple has long required browsers to use its WebKit engine outside the EU. There, Brave and Chrome differ mainly in blocking and settings.
Ad Blocking After Manifest V3
Chrome moved extensions to a new system, Manifest V3, and switched off the old one, Manifest V2, between October 2024 and March 2025. The full uBlock Origin needs Manifest V2, so it no longer runs in Chrome. Its developer offers uBlock Origin Lite, built for Manifest V3, as the Chrome version. Chrome’s phone apps don’t run extensions at all, so on your phone Chrome has no ad blocker.
Brave’s Shields aren’t an extension. They’re part of the browser, so Manifest V3 didn’t touch them, and they work in Brave’s Android and iPhone apps too. Brave says they block third-party ads, trackers, cross-site cookies, phishing and fingerprinting. Click the lion icon in the address bar to see what’s blocked on a page, or to lower Shields for a site that breaks.
On computers, Brave also hosts its own copies of four Manifest V2 extensions, namely AdGuard, NoScript, uBlock Origin and uMatrix. You turn them on at brave://settings/extensions/v2, and Brave calls this best-effort support. Most people don’t need them.
Privacy and Tracking
Chrome and your Google account. When you’re signed in and syncing, Chrome becomes part of your Google account. Google’s privacy policy lists “Chrome browsing history you’ve synced with your Google Account” among the activity it collects.
Third-party cookies. Google dropped its plan to phase them out. In October 2025 it said Chrome would keep its current approach of letting users choose, and it retired most of its Privacy Sandbox ad technologies, Topics included. Chrome blocks third-party cookies by default only in Incognito. For normal windows, look for Block third-party cookies in Chrome’s cookie settings.
Brave’s defaults. Brave blocks cross-site cookies and trackers without any setup. Against fingerprinting, it slightly randomizes the browser features trackers use to recognize you, and blocks the most identifying ones.
Safe Browsing. Both browsers check sites against Google’s Safe Browsing list. On computers, Brave routes those checks through its own servers so Google doesn’t see your IP address. On Android it doesn’t, and on iPhone Brave uses Apple’s version.
Brave’s own data collection. Brave has three data collection settings, for diagnostic reports, privacy-preserving product analytics (P3A) and a daily usage ping. Turn all three off under Settings, Privacy and security, Data collection.
Rewards, Wallet and Leo
Brave ships extras that put some degooglers off. These are Brave Rewards, a crypto-based program tied to Brave’s own ads, a crypto Wallet, the Leo AI assistant, a VPN offer and Brave News. Some privacy communities don’t recommend Brave partly because of them, and because of an earlier affiliate-link controversy.
You can hide all of them in a few minutes on a computer.
- Rewards. Open Settings, then Rewards, and turn off every ad option. Then right-click the Rewards icon and choose Hide.
- New tab ads. On a new tab, click Customize, open Background Image and turn off Show Sponsored Ads.
- Wallet, Leo and VPN. Right-click each toolbar icon and choose Hide, and remove Wallet and Leo from the sidebar.
Hiding leaves the features in the browser. To remove them, Brave offers Group Policy settings for technical users, or Brave Origin, a paid edition that costs $59.99 once (June 2026) and turns the extras off by default. Origin is free on Linux.
Chrome has AI of its own. On computers, Gemini in Chrome summarizes pages and answers questions about your open tabs for people with a Google account, and Google keeps adding countries. Brave says Leo needs no account and doesn’t retain your chats or use them for training. Our Gemini alternatives page compares Leo with other assistants.
Sync and Passwords
Chrome syncs through your Google account. Google says synced data is always encrypted. Only with a sync passphrase can Google not read it, and the passphrase has costs. You can no longer check your saved passwords at passwords.google.com, only addresses you type sync as history, and you need the passphrase on every new device.
Brave Sync has no email login. You join devices into a sync chain with a code, shown as a QR code or a list of words. Brave stores your synced data as an encrypted file, and its privacy policy says only you hold the decryption key, on your devices. The flip side is that Brave can’t recover your data if you lose every device. Brave’s help pages say iPhone syncs fewer data types than computers and Android.
Passwords. Brave’s import can’t bring Chrome’s passwords directly, so you export a CSV file from Chrome and import it. Passkeys saved in Google Password Manager don’t come across. A separate manager such as Bitwarden works in any browser, and our password manager guide covers the move.
Speed, Memory and Battery
Brave’s website says Brave is “3x faster than Google Chrome.” In September 2026 Brave published a more detailed desktop test of its own. On a Mac mini, it loaded the home pages of 50 popular sites ten times each, with the other browsers on default settings and no ad blocker.
- Full page load. 4.4 seconds in Brave against 5.1 seconds in Chrome.
- Main content on screen. About 2.4 seconds in both, nearly a tie, as IT-Connect pointed out.
- CPU and memory. About 33% CPU and 1,200 MB of memory in Brave, against about 47% and 1,750 MB in Chrome.
- Energy. About 4% less than Chrome per page load.
These are Brave’s own numbers, and no independent rerun had been reported when IT-Connect covered them. Both browsers use the same engine, so the savings come from the ads and trackers Brave doesn’t download. On ad-heavy sites, the benefit shows up more in data use and battery life than in how fast pages feel.
What Each One Costs
Both browsers are free. Brave’s paid extras are optional. Leo Premium costs about $14.99/month or $149.99/year, Brave sells a VPN, and Brave Origin is $59.99 once (free on Linux). Chrome has no paid version.
How to Switch From Chrome to Brave
- Install Brave from brave.com.
- Open Brave’s main menu, then Bookmarks, then Import Bookmarks and Settings. Select Chrome, tick what you want, including Extensions, and click Import.
- In Chrome, go to
chrome://password-manager/settings, click Export passwords, then Download file. - In Brave, go to
brave://password-manager/settings. Under Import passwords, click Select file and choose the CSV. Then delete the CSV and empty the trash. - Hide the extras you don’t want and turn off the three data collection settings.
- Link your phone with Brave Sync and make Brave your default browser. Then sign out of Chrome and delete its synced data at chrome.google.com/data.
Our Chrome to Brave guide covers each step, including phones and Brave Sync. Then check which search engine Brave set, with help from our DuckDuckGo vs Google Search comparison.
Before you delete that password CSV, it can show you every site that knows your Gmail address. Our scan reads it in your browser, ignores the password column and uploads nothing.