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Chrome Used 10X More RAM Than Safari on macOS Big Sur in Recent Test [Updated]

AndenIDK said:
I would use safari, if it wasnt so retarded with the extensions / limited .. Adblock isnt working right, youtube is full of ads..
Click to expand...

Go to the AppStore and install AdGuard for Safari, fire the app up and go to filters tab and then add this to custom filters:


You dont have to buy or subscribe to anything to use AdGuard as it is, if you want to use VPN feature then you need to buy a license key for it. But you can block ads with free version just fine.
 
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jdavid_rp said:
I mean, RAM was made to be used. If using more free RAM means you can switch between tabs and they will all keep doing its thing without problems im ok with it
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It's about efficiency, if your car gets 20 miles to a gallon and another car at the same price point and style gets 40 miles to the gallon is your car that efficient? The real question is after a decade why does Chrome use so much ram when there are tools to make it browser more efficient.
 
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I've been slowly changing over to Safari... I just wish the tabs could mimic Chrome and the ability to have multiple users (like Chrome's people) and I'd be set. I'm mostly just using Chrome for Google Drive stuff now. It's just tough to change old habits but definitely not in the mood to let Google know anything more about me.
 
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Can believe it. Have used Chrome as my main browser with multiple profiles for work and personal across multiple devices (Apple and otherwise) for well over 10 years now, but with the upgrade to Big Sur I noticed my hitherto faultless 2015 rMBP run like a pig with Chrome running.

That being said, I really don't think I can make the jump to another browser with bookmarks and syncing across devices as it is, no matter how much I've tried.
 
I use Safari, but I’m about to give up and switch full time to Brave. I can’t stand Safari hanging any f***king longer every time I log into a website. I don’t care how much ram it uses, it’s inexcusable.
 
somnolentsurfer said:
I just don't get this at all. Safari feels so much more intuitive and Mac-like to me. It behaves in a natural way that makes sense and does what I expect it to do. I guess if you're coming from Chrome on Windows and want your Mac to feel like that it kind of makes sense. But then why are you using a Mac at all?
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People can, and do use a wide range of products other than just being completely tied into the Apple ecosystem. Chrome is the best browser to use across all devices. Safari being more mac like on Windows and Android is pointless.

Also, the last sentence stinks. People use Macs for a multitude of reasons, having to use or like Safari is not a pre-requisite to ownership.
 
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Sneakz said:
I use Safari, but I’m about to give up and switch full time to Brave. I can’t stand Safari hanging any f***king longer every time I log into a website. I don’t care how much ram it uses, it’s inexcusable.
Click to expand...

I had similar hanging issues on my MacBook Pro M1, go to System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced -> TCP/IP -> Configure IPv6 -> Link-local only -> Renew DHCP Lease.
 
Well, kinda to be expected since Chrome is a lot more feature rich than Safari. Also not used RAM is a wasted RAM, not a big deal. Chrome really likes to keep everything in the catche so tab switching is instant.
 
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Memory is cheap versus getting compromised plus Chrome works better for me than Safari with regards to YouTube up to 8K, Stadia, etc. The extra memory usage just means Chrome is properly sandboxed unlike Safari.

Compromising the macOS Kernel through Safari by Chaining Six Vulnerabilities
https://github.com/sslab-gatech/pwn2own2020
 
I don’t even have google spyware (Chrome) installed on any of my Macs, used it once and hated it. Have always used Safari. Once in a blue moon I will use Firefox if Safari fails on a poorly set up website.
 
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MacRumors said:


Under normal and lightweight web browsing, Google Chrome uses 10x more RAM than Safari on macOS Big Sur, according to a test conducted by Flotato creator Morten Just (via iMore).

google-chrome-macos-big-sur.jpg


In a blog post, Just outlines that he put both browsers to the test in two scenarios on the latest version of macOS. The first test was conducted on a virtual machine, and the second on a 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro with 32GB of RAM. In the first round of testing, Just simulated a typical browsing pattern of opening Twitter, scrolling around, and then opening a new tab with Gmail and composing an email.

Under that test, Just found that Chrome reached 1GB of RAM usage, while Safari used only 80MB of RAM. The two-tab test was only the start, however.

chrome-safari-ram-test.png


With 54 tabs open, Just found that Google Chrome used 24x more RAM per tab compared to Safari. Both browsers, according to Just, were free of any extensions, and this specific test was conducted on his actual MacBook Pro, not a virtual machine. Per his findings, Chrome used 290MB of RAM per open tab, while Safari only used 12MB of RAM per open tab.

chrome-safari-RAM-2.png


While the results are stark, Just does say that Google Chrome is likely "going out of its way to manage its memory usage across tabs," in efforts to keep the current tab "fast and responsive." In his tests, Just finds that his own application, Flotato, a lightweight alternative to Chrome that creates apps based on webpages, used significantly less RAM than both Safari and Chrome.

Chrome is known to being a memory hog on Mac and Windows computers, an issue Google has recently attempted to solve.

With macOS Big Sur, Safari received significant updates that saw it further outpace Chrome. Apple says that Safari on macOS Big Sur is "50% faster on average at loading frequently visited websites than Chrome," and that Safari provides up to one and a half hours longer of streaming video, and up to one hour longer normal web browsing on a single charge, compared to Chrome and Firefox.

Article Link: Chrome Used 10X More RAM Than Safari on macOS Big Sur in Recent Test
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N
eRondeau said:
I will preface this with two statements:
  1. I'm as big a Mac fanboy as anyone on here
  2. I haven't done any research on this topic so IDK what I'm talking about LOL
Having said that, I'm very impressed with the Microsoft Edge browser on Big Sur. I haven't installed Chrome on my Macs for years because I hate the way it secretly embeds its auto-update functionality. Edge at least sort-of plays nice with MacOS. The browser itself looks great, feels super-fast, and accepts virtually all third-party Extensions. (Try the MS Office Online extensions... very powerful and totally free!) Edge works with High Sierra or later. Seriously, if you haven't tried it at least take a look. I still use Safari 75% of the time, but its UI design looks awfully cheap compared to Edge. I'd be interested to know how fares in memory usage compared to Safari & Chrome.
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Also like Edge, but can’t get used to the yellow folders for the bookmarks bar. :)
I guess that color makes sense in Windows...

From the article I was thinking about this:
While the results are stark, Just does say that Google Chrome is likely "going out of its way to manage its memory usage across tabs," in efforts to keep the current tab "fast and responsive."
Click to expand...
Safari might be using less RAM, but it has always quite quickly gotten sluggish for me to switch between tabs when one has several open. While it got better, this is still true in Safari 14 which I think was supposed to improve that. Google Chrome which I've been using (at my new job) for one and a half months now as stayed impressively snappy despite an immense ammount of tabs open (MacBook Pro 13” from 2018).

But maybe the cost for this is more resources being used compared to Safari.
 
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Chrome is terrible. I can't get into Safari's terrible tab management. So Brave it is.
 
ZipZilla said:
Chrome is terrible. I can't get into Safari's terrible tab management. So Brave it is.
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I cant get over how much I LOVE the feature in Safari when you have only 1 tab open then tab bar closes up, thats the most unique and cool feature Ive ever seen in any browser. And switching tabs with CMD + numbers is cool, and going into tab overview with "pinch in" is very handy.
 
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Chrome keeps the tabs in RAM whereas Safari suspends the tabs and leaves placeholders TO RELOAD when going back to them. Safari on BigSur acts like Safari on iOS - tabs in the background get suspended and are forced to reload when accessing them. Same with Catalina Safari.

If you want a fast responsive browser use Chrome and pay the memory hit, otherwise use safari
 
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now i see it said:
Chrome keeps the tabs in RAM whereas Safari suspends the tabs and leaves placeholders TO RELOAD when going back to them. Safari on BigSur acts like Safari on iOS - tabs in the background get suspended and are forced to reload when accessing them. Same with Catalina Safari.

If you want a fast responsive browser use Chrome and pay the memory hit, otherwise use safari
Click to expand...

No, that’s not quite right. Safari on mac allows background tabs to continue running, and won’t force a reload unless the system is short on memory. And you can disable that from the developer menu (disable hidden page timer throttling)
 
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