Computer Specs

Dell Inspiron 1501 Laptop

Cold Start Times

The cold start time is the amount of time it takes the browser to start after a fresh reboot. Long start times can frustrate users. Because computer users are used to everything being instant, so differences in fractions of seconds are important.

These benchmarks are the average of 10 different start times using AppTimer. Each iteration was performed after a fresh reboot. Measurements are in milliseconds. Smaller is better.

The results of this test shows that Chrome is by far the quickest to load. FireFox is the slowest, taking almost four times as long as any of the other browsers to load. In defense of FireFox, I have several plugins installed which lengthened the time considerably. On the otherhand, the plugins are a primary reason that many people use FireFox. Twenty seconds is simply unacceptable.

Browser Performance
Opera 11.01 6.21629
Firefox 3.6.13 20.83649
Safari 5.0.3 3.80044
Chrome 9.0.597.94 1.89351
Internet Explorer 8.0 3.02381

Warm Start Times

The warm start time is the amount of time it takes the browser to start after it has already been opened one or more times since the last reboot. This is important, as many people leave their computers on for long periods of time.

The tests were performed in the same manner as above using AppTimer, but this time the computer was not rebooted in between testing of the individual browsers themselves.

While all of the browsers had better results, the placement is not much different from the cold start benchmark. Chrome again has a solid lead. Opera is about equivalent to the others this time. FireFox is four times faster with a warm start than with a cold start, but its 5.7 seconds is still almost greater than all of the other browser's cold start times combined.

Browser Performance
Opera 11.01 1.72553
Firefox 3.6.13 5.78357
Safari 5.0.3 1.39409
Chrome 9.0.597.94 0.29142
Internet Explorer 8.0 1.99457

CSS Rendering Benchmark

Rendering HTML and CSSS is the primary job of a browsers, so this benchmark may be the most important on the page. Every time a page is accessed the browser has to render the HTML and CSS. This benchmark compares how quickly these browsers do so.

This test consists of a file that has 2,500 positioned divs to stress the browser. The test was performed 10 times and the results were then averaged. Unfortunately, Chrome and Safari do not produce accurate results with this test, so their numbers were not included. The numbers are in milliseconds. Smaller is better.

Unsurprisingly, Opera, advertised as the fastest browser in the world, is the winner here with FireFox not far behind. Internet Explorer begins to reveal some of its flaws with times more than double the other two browsers.

Browser T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 Avg
Opera 270 228 225 219 243 226 228 224 221 226 231.0
Firefox 357 346 333 283 286 322 280 445 311 432 339.5
Safari N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Chrome N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
IE 890 860 688 671 703 641 688 656 688 657 714.2

*Statistics came from CSS Test. Chrome and Safari do not produce accurate numbers with this test so are not included.

JavaScript Bechmark

Another important aspect of a browser is how quickly it runs JavaScript. With so many AJAX and DHTML websites, the Internet is no longer a place to just get information. Users expect near desktop performance from the web applications that they use.

The benchmarking test I used here was SunSpider. It runs several different algorithms many times to get a statistically accurate measurement. These measures are in milliseconds.

Browser 3D Access Bitops Controlflow Crypto Date Math RegExp String
Opera 75.3 70.7 23.9 6.4 41.0 72.7 63.3 24.1 202.0
Firefox 325.3 301.0 68.0 103.7 92.4 279.8 96.5 174.1 535.5
Safari 102.2 90.1 48.8 5.4 43.4 83.7 70.7 27.3 279.4
Chrome 89.7 64.4 58.7 4.8 44.1 57.3 65.7 25.5 185.0
IE 1359.1 2173.6 1673.6 267.4 811.0 1043.7 1144.3 757.6 2423.5

The totals from this test are shown below. Opera and Chrome are neck-and-neck fighting for fastest on these tests. Safari is not too far behind. FireFox takes longer than all three of the first browsers take combined. But Internet Explorer takes more than 5 times as long as FireFox.

Browser Performance
Opera 11.01 579.4
Firefox 3.6.13 1976.3
Safari 5.0.3 751.0
Chrome 9.0.597.94 595.2
Internet Explorer 8.0 11653.8

*Benchmark test SunSpider.

The "Acid Tests"

The Acid tests check a browser's adherence to the standards for the DOM, JavaScript, and CSS. Following standards is important so that a webpage looks the same no matter which browser opens it.

The first two Acid tests create an image or a page and compare that image to a static image. All of the browsers tested passed these. The third gives a score out of 100. Opera, Chrome, and Safari all passed with 100. FireFox came close with 94. Internet Explorer falls considerably behind with a 20.

Browser Acid 1 Acid 2 Acid 3
Opera 11.01 yes yes 100%
Firefox 3.6.13 yes yes 94%
Safari 5.0.3 yes yes 100%
Chrome 9.0.597.94 yes yes 100%
Internet Explorer 8 yes yes 20%

*Acid Tests 1 Acid Tests 2 Acid Tests 3.

Peacekeeper Benchmark

Peacekeeper was purportedly created to "keep the peace" in the browser wars. It is a series of important benchmark tests that are similar to the "Acid Test".

Browser Rendering Soc Net Graphics Data DOM Txt Parsing
Opera 2432 2516 5773 3063 3061 7324
Firefox 1369 1370 2437 1486 1035 1551
Safari 1204 2062 2449 2561 3098 3191
Chrome 1841 2262 6648 10253 3123 6867
IE 502 405 0 311 250 420

Chrome takes the lead with Opera being not far behind. Internet Explorer is consistently in last place in all of the tests. Safari and FireFox are the happy medium.

Browser Performance
Opera 11.01 3347
Firefox 3.6.13 1349
Safari 5.0.3 2289
Chrome 9.0.597.94 3911
Internet Explorer 8.0 366

*Benchmark test Peacekeeper.

Browser Popularity

Marketing and exposure has helped Internet Explorer become one of the most popular browsers on the web in spite of its security flaws and deviation from the internet standards. These numbers have been declining over the last few years. Firefox has quickly become the replacement for Internet Explorer. This decline has forced Microsoft to take measures to conform to standards and address many of its security issues.

Browser Jan-11 Dec-10 Nov-10 Oct-10 Sep-10 Aug-10 Jul-10 Jun-10 May-10 Apr-10 Mar-10 Feb-10 Jan-10
IE 26.60% 27.50% 28.60% 29.70% 31.10% 30.70% 30.40% 31.00% 32.20% 33.40% 34.90% 35.30% 36.20%
Firefox 42.80% 43.50% 44.00% 44.10% 45.10% 45.80% 46.40% 46.60% 46.90% 46.40% 46.20% 46.50% 46.30%
Chrome 23.80% 22.40% 20.50% 19.20% 17.30% 17.00% 16.70% 15.90% 14.50% 13.60% 12.30% 11.60% 10.80%
Safari 4.00% 3.80% 4.00% 3.90% 3.70% 3.50% 3.40% 3.60% 3.50% 3.70% 3.70% 3.80% 3.70%
Opera 2.50% 2.20% 2.30% 2.20% 2.20% 2.30% 2.30% 2.10% 2.20% 2.20% 2.20% 2.10% 2.20%

*Statistics came from W3C.

Summary

Overall, Chrome is the clear winner of these benchmarks. Opera and Safari come close behind. At this time, Firefox and Internet Explorer have a few issues they need to address.

Browser Cld Strt Wrm Strt CSS JavaScript Acid 3 Peacekeeper Popularity
Opera 11.01 6.21629 1.72553 231.0 579.4 100% 3347 2.50%
Firefox 3.6.13 20.83649 5.78357 339.5 1976.3 94% 1349 42.80%
Safari 5.0.3 3.80044 1.39409 N/A 751.0 100% 2289 4.00%
Chrome 9.0.597.94 1.89351 0.29142 N/A 595.2 100% 3911 23.80%
Internet Explorer 8 3.02381 1.99457 714.2 11653.8 20% 366 26.60%