I have used Google Chrome as my default web browser since the beta release on September 2008.  Three features I like most about the web browser is the clean and simple look, the merged address and search bar, and the multi-process architecture. At the time, Firefox couldn’t match these features, or even come close. I have used Google Chrome ever since.  After using Google Chrome since 2008, I never once tested memory usage and compared the results with Firefox.

Today I decided to download and install Firefox for the first time since 2008. Things have changed a lot. The web browser has a very clean, open and simple look –just like Google Chrome. In fact, I actually think it looks more streamlined. Unfortunately, the address bar does not also serve as a search bar. I would have enjoyed seeing that. And lastly, Firefox has not upgraded to a multi-process architecture. Aside from this, I really do like the new Firefox look and I am going to immediately start using it again as my default web browser to fully test it.

Quickly I already discovered something that I must have overlooked a few years ago: Google Chrome is a memory hog. It eats up 3.5 times more memory than Firefox. I did some testing, collected some data and captured some screen shots for this post. Here are the details.

I am running Windows XP 32 bit. It’s highly optimized and tweaked to deliver the absolute best performance, security and speed. At idle I run only 16 processes and eat up 130 MB of memory. Open your task manager to compare and contact me if your computer performs much slower than mine. I can totally help you change this.

After opening up Google Chrome and letting the dust settle down for a minute, memory usage increased to 237 MB. Google Chrome basically adds 107 MB on top of the 130 MB of memory used at idle.

After closing Google Chrome and opening Firefox, there is a slight decrease is memory usage. Firefox basically uses 33 MB less memory than Google Chrome.

Here is the part where Firefox totally kills Google Chrome in being more efficient with memory usage.

I loaded Google.com and opened tabs for Yahoo.com, ESPN.com, CNN.com and Fox.com in both web browsers and compared memory usage. The differences were quite astonishing.

Opening these five websites using Google Chrome the total memory usage jumped to 515 MB. That is 385 MB of memory used on top of the 130 MB of memory my system uses by default.

Performing the same test with Firefox the memory usage only jumped to 286 MB, adding only 136 MB of memory used on top of the 130 MB my system already uses by default.

One of the things I do is refurbish older computers for resell. Prior to running this test I always installed Google Chrome on the computers I resell. After running this test I have decided to personally use Firefox full-time as my default browser to check other features and usability and compare the results against my personal experiences using Google Chrome.

This may result with me starting to include Firefox on the computers I refurbish instead of Google Chrome. The reason for this possible change is memory usage. Increasing memory in older systems adds to my expenses.

By the looks of things, it is possible for me to optimized and resell systems with as little as 512 MB. Currently I install a minimum of 1024 MB, mainly to accommodate Google Chrome.