A recent study has shed light on the network activity generated by 19 popular web browsers during their initial launch on a user’s PC. The analysis focuses on the number and nature of background service requests sent by these browsers, excluding traffic related to user interaction or web page content. These service requests are often used for tasks such as checking for updates, downloading security filters, serving ads, or retrieving data for start pages.
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The browsers evaluated in the study include the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox, Brave, Ungoogled Chromium, Vivaldi, Tor Browser, Opera, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, Yandex Browser, Mullvad Browser, Librewolf, Arc Browser, Kagi Orion, Pale Moon, Floorp, Zen Browser, Waterfox, and Thorium. The study specifically examines network activity during the first launch of a newly installed browser, before any user interaction occurs.
Key Findings
- No network activity detected: Only four browsers — Kagi Orion, Tor Browser, Pale Moon, and Ungoogled Chromium — showed zero external network connections immediately after launch.
- High network activity: Other browsers established connections to multiple external servers, potentially transmitting information such as the user’s IP address.
- No user control: None of the browsers that made service requests provided users with the ability to opt out of this initial data transfer. While some browsers allow users to disable telemetry or other data-sharing features after installation, these settings can only be changed after the first-run data sharing has already occurred. Number of hosts each browser accessed
Here's a breakdown of the number of external hosts each browser accessed during the test:
- Zen Browser: 82 hosts
- Microsoft Edge: 48 hosts
- Floorp: 42 hosts
- Opera: 31 hosts
- Mozilla Firefox: 29 hosts
- Google Chrome: 25 hosts
- Librewolf: 24 hosts
- Yandex Browser: 24 hosts
- Waterfox: 21 hosts
- Brave: 17 hosts
- Arc Browser: 16 hosts
- Mullvad Browser: 15 hosts
- Vivaldi: 11 hosts
- Thorium: 10 hosts
- Apple Safari: 6 hosts
- Ungoogled Chromium, Kagi Orion, Tor Browser, Pale Moon: 0 hosts
Hosts the browsers connect to on the first launch
Firefox
- prod.classify-client.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net TCP port 443
- prod.remote-settings.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net TCP port 443
- mc.prod.ads.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net TCP port 443
- prod.detectportal.prod.cloudops.mozgcp.net TCP port 80
- push.services.mozilla.com TCP port 443
- prod.balrog.prod.cloudops.mozgcp.net TCP port 443
- telemetry-incoming.r53-2.services.mozilla.com TCP port 443
- safebrowsing.googleapis.com TCP port 443
- firefox.settings.services.mozilla.com TCP port 443
- ads.mozilla.org TCP port 443
- aus5.mozilla.org TCP port 443
- services.addons.mozilla.org TCP port 443
- location.services.mozilla.com TCP port 443
- a1887.dscq.akamai.net TCP port 80
- detectportal.firefox.com TCP port 80
- incoming.telemetry.mozilla.org TCP port 443
- r10.o.lencr.org on TCP port 80
- prod.content-signature-chains.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net TCP port 443
- e3913.cd.akamaiedge.net TCP port 80
- content-signature-2.cdn.mozilla.net TCP port 443
- a19.dscg10.akamai.net TCP port 80
- edgedl.me.gvt1.com TCP port 443
- attachments.prod.remote-settings.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net TCP port 443
- addons.mozilla.org TCP port 443
- pki-goog.l.google.com TCP port 80
- ocsp.digicert.com TCP port 80
Chrome
- clients.l.google.com TCP port 443
- safebrowsingohttpgateway.googleapis.com on TCP port 443
- accounts.google.com on TCP port 443
- googlehosted.l.googleusercontent.com TCP port 443
- optimizationguide-pa.googleapis.com TCP port 443
- clients2.googleusercontent.com TCP port 443
- redirector.gvt1.com TCP port 80
- r3.sn-3pm7dned.gvt1.com on TCP port 80
- update.googleapis.com TCP port 443
- r1.sn-3pm7dne6.gvt1.com TCP port 80
- edgedl.me.gvt1.com TCP port 80
- clientservices.googleapis.com TCP port 443
- update.googleapis.com UDP port 443
- www.googleapis.com TCP port 443
- optimizationguide-pa.googleapis.com UDP port 443
- chromewebstore.googleapis.com TCP port 443
- www.google.com TCP port 443
- www.gstatic.com TCP port 443
- ogads-pa.clients6.google.com TCP port 443
- plus.l.google.com TCP port 443
- play.google.com TCP port 443
- chromewebstore.googleapis.com UDP port 443
- clientservices.googleapis.com UDP port 443
Safari
- token.safebrowsing.apple TCP port 443
- www.apple.com TCP port 443
- securemetrics.apple.com TCP port 443
- securemvt.apple.com TCP port 443
- gateway.icloud.com TCP port 443
- api-glb-euc1b.smoot.apple.com TCP port 443
Vivaldi
- clients.l.google.com TCP port 80
- vivaldi.map.fastly.net TCP port 443
- mimir2.vivaldi.com TCP port 443
- update.vivaldi.com TCP port 443
- weather.vivaldi.com TCP port 443
- downloads.vivaldi.com TCP port 443
- vivaldi.com TCP port 443
- update.googleapis.com TCP port 443
- player.vimeo.com.cdn.cloudflare.net TCP port 443
Yandex Browser
- api.browser.yandex.com TCP port 443
- update.googleapis.com TCP port 443
- browser.yandex.com TCP port 443
- sba.yandex.net TCP port 443
- 300.ya.ru TCP port 443
- neuro.translate.yandex.ru TCP port 443
- s3.yandex.net TCP port 443
- edgedl.me.gvt1.com TCP port 80
- ya.ru TCP port 443
- yandex.ru TCP port 443
- browser.yandex.ru TCP port 443
- yastatic.net TCP port 443
- api.browser.yandex.ru TCP port 80
- edgedl.me.gvt1.com TCP port 443
- mail.yandex.ru TCP port 443
- dr.yandex.net TCP port 443
- brontp-pre.yandex.ru TCP port 443
- dr2.yandex.net TCP port 443
- cloud.cdn.yandex.net TCP port 443
- dzen.ru TCP port 443
- suggest.dzen.ru TCP port 443
- mc.yandex.ru TCP port 443
- suggest.sso.dzen.ru TCP port 443
- cloudcdn-ams19.cdn.yandex.net TCP port 443
Librewolf
- addons.mozilla.org TCP port 443
- push.services.mozilla.com TCP port 443
- services.addons.mozilla.org TCP port 443
- gitlab.com TCP port 443
- a1887.dscq.akamai.net TCP port 80
- firefox.settings.services.mozilla.com TCP port 443
- versioncheck-bg.addons.mozilla.org TCP port 443
- publicsuffix.org TCP port 443
- prod.remote-settings.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net TCP port 443
- ublockorigin.pages.dev TCP port 443
- prod.content-signature-chains.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net TCP port 443
- ublockorigin.pages.dev UDP port 443
- raw.githubusercontent.com TCP port 443
- malware-filter.gitlab.io TCP port 443
- 1278313086.rsc.cdn77.org TCP port 443
- prod.globalsign.map.fastly.net TCP port 80
- curbengh.github.io TCP port 443
- pgl.yoyo.org TCP port 443
- cdn.jsdelivr.net.cdn.cloudflare.net TCP port 443
- cdn.jsdelivr.net UDP port 443
- filters.adtidy.org TCP port 443
- dualstack.n.sni.global.fastly.net oTCP port 443
- cdn.statically.io UDP port 443
- ublockorigin.github.io TCP port 443
Thorium
- accounts.google.com TCP port 443
- www.google.com TCP port 443
- www.gstatic.com TCP port 443
- ogads-pa.clients6.google.com TCP port 443
- plus.l.google.com TCP port 443
- play.google.com TCP port 443
- ogads-pa.clients6.google.com UDP port 443
- apis.google.com TCP port 443
- update.googleapis.com TCP port 443
Summary
This study highlights significant differences in how browsers handle background network activity. For privacy-conscious users, browsers like Kagi Orion, Tor Browser, Pale Moon, and Ungoogled Chromium stand out for their lack of initial network connections. On the other hand, browsers like Zen Browser and Microsoft Edge generate significant network traffic before the user even begins interacting.
While some browsers offer post-installation settings to limit data sharing, the inability to prevent initial data transfer raises concerns about user privacy. This highlights the importance of choosing a browser that aligns with your privacy preferences from the start.
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