8 Best Free Linux Small Footprint Web Browsers

Current desktop machines are equipped with multi-coreprocessors, gigabytes of system RAM and the ability to run manyprograms simultaneously. With the huge range of system resourcesavailable it is not surprising the software bloat phenomenon iswitnessed. This is a process where successive versions of anapplication consume more system resources than necessary, or offer anever-increasing number of features that the majority of users do notuse or need.

The field of web browsers is dominated by Mozilla Firefox,Google Chrome,Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera. To try to countersoftware bloat, the developers of these browsers make use of plug-ins,extensions or add-ons. This means that the extra functionality offeredby these tools are made available to only those who actually need them.Nevertheless, these web browsers still have one thing in common; theydo not have a particularly small footprint. Whilst they run fast on awell specifiedmodern PC, there are many users that are using much more limitedhardware. These low spec machines can be extremely popular. 

Forexample, witness the uproar that has been generated by the RaspberryPi, a single-boardcomputer that costs a mere $25 or $35. With its ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHzCPU and 256MB of RAM (some of which is allocated to its GPU), thissingle-board computer simply does not have the resources to run aheavyweight web browser. There is a lot of hardware being regularlyused where a web browser with a small footprint has real benefits.

The purpose of this article is to identify the finest opensource web browsers that have a small footprint. A fewof the web browsers featured here do not fully support web standards,and are unable to make use of JavaScript or Cascading Style Sheets.Some of the web browsers are text mode. But all of the web browsershave one thing in common; they offer a fast, lighter way to surf theweb on computers with limited system resources.

Now, let's explore the 8 small footprint web browsers at hand.For each title we have compiled its own portal page, a full descriptionwith an in-depth analysis of its features, a screenshot of the softwarein action, together with links to relevant resources and reviews.