Waterfox

Waterfox is an independent browser for power users, built on Firefox's codebase with the parts that phone home taken out. Tracking protection runs by default, there is no data collection and no remote experiments, and there are no chatbots bolted on: translation runs locally on your own device.

It supports the full uBlock Origin filter list, private tabs isolate sessions from each other without juggling profiles, and a free Oblivious DNS service encrypts lookups while keeping your identity hidden from the resolver. Waterfox keeps the classic extension support and the customisation surface that mainstream browsers have spent years trimming away.

Key benefits:

• No telemetry no data collection and no remote experiments, by policy
• Ad blocking full uBlock Origin filter list support built in
• Oblivious DNS encrypted lookups that hide your identity from the resolver
• Private tabs isolated browsing sessions without a second profile
• Local translation on-device, with no chatbots and no LLM calls
• Classic extension support the add-ons and control Firefox forks are built for
• Open source Mozilla Public License 2.0, developed in the open on GitHub
• Independent self-funded since buying itself back from System1 in 2023

Waterfox is developed by BrowserWorks, the company its founder Alex Kontos set up after parting ways with the advertising firm System1 in July 2023, and the project's GitHub organisation gives the United Kingdom as its location, so UK GDPR applies. The source is public under MPL-2.0 with over 6,000 stars and commits landing this month, which is the check that matters for a browser fork.

Ideal for people who want Firefox without telemetry, and who miss the customisation that mainstream browsers keep removing.