Comparison of web browsers explained

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of web browsers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.

Web browser history

Web browsers by year

Historical web browsers

This table focuses on OS and browsers of the 1990s and turn of the century. The year listed for a version is usually the year of the first official release, with an end year being end of development, project change, or relevant termination. Releases of OS and browser from the early 1990s to before 2001-2002 time frame are the current focus.

Many early browsers can be made to run on later OS (and later browsers on early OS in some cases), however, most of these situations are avoided in the table. Terms are defined below

Browser	Years	MS 2000/XP	98/Me	NT	95	3.1	IBM OS/2	Mac OS X (Intel/PPC)	Mac OS 9	Mac OS 8	System 7 (PPC/68k)	Linux	BSD	Unix (HP-UX, Solaris)	Other
	Years (OS)	-	2000/2001	1998	1993	1995	1992	1988	2001	1999	1997	1991	'94(1.0)/'91	1993	(1990s)	-
	AWeb	1996-Now
	Cello	1993-1994	NA
	IBM Web Explorer	1994						(1.1h)
	ICab	1998-Now							(4.25)	(3.03)	(2.9.9)	(2.9.9)
	Internet Explorer 6 (Trident)	2001- 2004	(6.0 SP2) Included	(6.0 SP1)	(6.0 SP1)
	IE 5.0 IE 4.0	1998-2000 1997-1998											(5.01 SP1)		(5.01 SP1)
	IE 3.0	1996-1997
	IE 2.0 IE 1.0	1995			(2.0)							(2.0)
	IE Mac (IE4, Trident) (IE5, Tasman)	1996-2003							(5.2.3)	(5.1.7)	(5.1.7)
	MacWeb	1994-1996										(2.0)
	Mosaic	1993-1997	(3.0)							(3.0)			(2.6)	(2.6)	(2.6)
	Mozilla (restarted SeaMonkey)	2002-2006	(1.7.13)	(1.7.13)	(1.7.13)	(1.7.13)		(1.7.13)	(1.7.13)	(1.2.1)	(1.0.1)		(1.7.13)	(1.7.13)	(1.7.13)
	Netscape Navigator 9	2008							(Mac OS X v10.2)				(kernel 2.2.14)
	Netscape Browser	2004-2007
	Netscape 7 Netscape 6	2000-2004	(7.2)	(7.2)	(7.2)	(7.2)			(7.2)	(7.02)	(7.02)		(7.2)	(7.2)	(7.2)
	Netscape Communicator	1997-2002	(4.8)	(4.8)	(4.8)		(4.08)			(4.80)	(4.80)	(4.08)	(4.77)		(4.77)
	Netscape Navigator	1994-1998	(4.08)	(4.08)			(4.08)			(4.08)		3.0.4	(4.08)	(4.08)	(4.08)
	OmniWeb	1995-Now								(4.0)
	Opera	1996-Now					(3.62)	(5.12)		(7.54u2)	(6.03)
	ViolaWWW	1992
	WorldWideWeb	1991
Browser	Years	MS 2000/XP	98/Me	NT	95	3.1	IBM OS/2	Mac OS X (Intel/PPC)	Mac OS 9	Mac OS 8	System 7 (PPC/68k)	Linux	BSD	Unix (HP-UX, Solaris)	Other

^[1] ^[2]

Cell phones, Symbian, Wii, Windows Mobile; BeOS (Dropped 3.62), QNX (Dropped 6.01)

General information

Basic general information about the browsers: creator/company, license/price etc.

Browser	Creator	Cost (USD)	Open Source?	Software license	Current layout engine
	Amaya	W3C, INRIA			W3C
	AOL Explorer	America Online, Inc				Trident
	Avant	Avant Force				Trident
	Camino	The Camino Project			MPL, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license	Gecko
	Chromium	Google			BSD	WebKit
	Dillo	Jorge Arellano Cid, Geerken, Rota, et al.			GPL	Dillo
	ELinks	Baudis, Fonseca, et al.			GPL
	Epiphany	GNOME			GPL	Gecko, WebKit
	Flock	Flock Inc			MPL	Gecko
	Galeon	Marco Pesenti Gritti			GPL	Gecko
	Google Chrome	Google			Google Chrome EULA	WebKit
	GNU IceCat	GNU			GPL,MPL/LGPL tri-license	Gecko
	iCab	Alexander Clauss				iCab (Version 1-3), WebKit (Version 4+)
	Internet Explorer	Microsoft, Spyglass	^[3]			Trident
	Internet Explorer for Mac (Terminated)	Microsoft				Tasman
	K-Meleon	Dorian, KKO, et al.			GPL	Gecko
	Konqueror	KDE			GPL	KHTML
	Links	Patocka, et al.			GPL
	Lynx	Montulli, Grobe, Rezac, et al.			GPL	built-in
	Maxthon	Maxthon International Limited				Trident, Gecko
	Mosaic	Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina, NCSA	(non-commercial)			built-in
	Mozilla	Mozilla Foundation			MPL, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license	Gecko
	Mozilla Firefox	Mozilla Foundation			MPL, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license, Mozilla EULA	Gecko
	Netscape (v.6-7)	Netscape Communications Corporation, AOL			???, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license	Gecko
	Netscape Browser (v.8)	Mercurial Communications for AOL			???, MPL, GPL/LGPL tri-license	Trident, Gecko
	Netscape Communicator (v.4)	Netscape Communications
	Netscape Navigator (v.1-4)	Netscape Communications
	Netscape Navigator 9	Netscape Communications (division of AOL)			???, MPL, GPL/LGPL tri-license	Gecko
	NetSurf	The NetSurf Developers			GPL	NetSurf built-in
	OmniWeb	The Omni Group			???, LGPL	WebKit
	Opera	Opera Software				Presto
	Opera Mobile	Opera Software	$19.00			Presto
	Safari	Apple Inc.			???, LGPL	WebKit
	SeaMonkey	SeaMonkey Council			MPL, MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license	Gecko
	Shiira	Happy Macintosh Developing Team			BSD	WebKit
	Sleipnir	Fenrir Inc.				Trident, Gecko
	WorldWideWeb (Later renamed Nexus)	Tim Berners-Lee			Public domain	NeXTSTEP built-in
	w3m	Akinori Ito			MIT License
Browser	Creator	Cost (USD)	open source	Software license	Current layout engine

There are five different products which all carry the name Netscape: Netscape versions 1 to 4, properly called Netscape Navigator, was a browser based on the original Netscape engine. Netscape 4 also was available as an Internet suite, properly called Netscape Communicator. Netscape 6 and 7 was a new Internet suite based on the Gecko engine and the Mozilla Application Suite user interface. Netscape 8, properly called Netscape Browser, was a distinct browser based on Firefox that could use either the Gecko (Firefox) or Trident (Internet Explorer) engine. Netscape resumed use of the Navigator name from Netscape Navigator 9.0 beta 1. See Netscape for more info.

Release history

A brief overview of the release history.

Browser	First public release		First stable release		Latest stable release version date	Latest testing release version date
Browser	Date	Version	Date	Version	Latest stable release version date	Latest testing release version date
	Amaya	November 14, 1996	0.9	November 14, 1996	0.9	-->
	AOL Explorer	June, 2005	1.0	July, 2005	1.1	-->
	Avant	August, 2004		August, 2004		-->
	Camino	February 13, 2002	0.1	February 14, 2006	1.0	-->
	Dillo	December, 1999	0.0.0	December, 1999	0.0.0	-->
	ELinks	December, 2001		December, 2001		-->
	Epiphany	December 22, 2002	0.4	September 8, 2003	1.0	-->
	Flock	October 24, 2005	0.4.9	November 2, 2007	1.0	-->
	Galeon	June, 2000	0.6	June, 2000	0.6	-->
	Google Chrome	September 2, 2008	0.2.149.27	December 11, 2008	1.0.154.36	-->
	iCab	February 17, 1999	Preview 1.0	February 17, 1999	Preview 1.0	-->
	Internet Explorer	August, 1995	1.0	August, 1995	1.0	-->
	Internet Explorer for Mac	January 23, 1996	2.0b	April 23, 1996	2.0	-->
	K-Meleon	November 26, 2000	0.2	November 26, 2000	0.2	-->
	Konqueror	October, 2000		October, 2000		-->
	Links	November 24, 1999	0.8	November 24, 1999	0.8	-->
	Lynx	July 8, 1993	2.0.10	July 8, 1993	2.0.10	-->
	Maxthon	July 11, 2002	0.1 (as MyIE2)	September 8, 2005	1.0.0250	-->
	Mosaic	April 22, 1993	1.0	April 22, 1993	1.0	-->
	Mozilla	December 7, 1998	"Preview"	March 19, 1999	M3	-->
	Mozilla Firefox	September 23, 2002	0.1	November 9, 2004	1.0	-->
	Netscape	April 5, 2000	6 Preview Release 1	November 14, 2000	6.0	-->
	Netscape Browser	November 30, 2004	0.5.6+	May 19, 2005	8.0	-->
	Netscape Communicator	June, 1997	4.0	June, 1997	4.0	-->
	Netscape Navigator	October 13, 1994	0.9	October 13, 1994	0.9	-->
	Netscape Navigator 9	June 5, 2007	9.0 Beta 1	October 15, 2007	9.0	-->
	NetSurf	June, 2002	0.00	May 19, 2007	1.0	-->
	OmniWeb	1994	0.5	March 17, 1995	1.0	-->
	Opera	September, 1996	2.1b1	December, 1996	2.1	-->
	Safari	January 7, 2003	0.8	June 23, 2003	1.0	-->
	SeaMonkey	September 15, 2005	1.0a	January 30, 2006	1.0	-->
	Shiira	May 28, 2004	9.1.1	May 28, 2004	9.1.1	-->
	Sleipnir	June, 2005	2.00 alpha	Oct, 2005	2.00	-->
	WorldWideWeb	December, 1990		February 26, 1991		-->
	w3m	1995				-->
Browser	Date	Version	Date	Version	Latest stable release version date	Latest testing release version date
Browser	First public release		First stable release		Latest stable release version date	Latest testing release version date

As of February 2007, at least Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 SP1 is required to install the latest version (v7) of Internet Explorer for Windows. Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 is the last version that supports Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0 SP6a, and Windows 2000. Internet Explorer 7 is bundled with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008
Safari is included with Mac OS X and the latest version is always available only from the OS install or OS updates.

Operating system support

The operating systems the browsers have been compiled to run on without emulation; for the given browser/OS combination, there are seven possibilities:

No indicates that it does not exist or was never released.
Partial indicates that while the browser works, it lacks important functionality or is extremely unstable compared to versions for other OSs (that is to say it has roughly alpha or pre-alpha quality). It is still being developed however.
Beta indicates that while a version of the browser is fully functional and has been released, it is still in development (e.g. for stability).
Yes indicates that the browser has been officially released in a fully functional, stable version.
Dropped indicates that the latest stable version of the browser does not work on the operating system, although an older version is available that does. The number in parentheses is the last known stable version which was officially released for that OS.
Included indicates that the browser comes pre-packaged as part of or has been integrated into the operating system.

Please note that the list is not exhaustive, but rather reflects the most common OSs today (e.g. Netscape Navigator was also developed for OS/2 at a time when Mac OS X did not yet exist) but does not include the growing appliance segment (for example, the Opera web browser has gained a leading role for use in mobile phones, smartphones, the Nintendo DS and Wii, and Personal Digital Assistants, and is also used in Interactive televisions).

Browser	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix
	Amaya
	AOL Explorer
	Avant
	Camino
	Dillo
	ELinks
	Epiphany
	Flock
	Galeon
	Google Chrome
	iCab
	Internet Explorer					(5.0)
	K-Meleon
	Konqueror
	Links
	Lynx
	Maxthon
	Mozilla Firefox
	NetSurf
	OmniWeb
	Opera
	Safari
	SeaMonkey
	Shiira
	Sleipnir
	WorldWideWeb (NEXTSTEP only)
	w3m
Browser	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix

Firefox is included in some Linux distributions.
Dillo is included in some Linux distributions, i.e. Damn Small Linux and Feather Linux.

Browser features

Information about what common browser features are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons).

Browser	Bookmark managing	Download managing	Password managing	Form managing	Spell checking	Search engine toolbar	Per-site security configuration	Privacy mode	Auto-updater
	Amaya
	AOL Explorer
	Avant
	Camino
	Dillo
	ELinks
	Epiphany
	Flock
	Galeon
	Google Chrome
	iCab
	Internet Explorer
	Internet Explorer for Mac
	K-Meleon
	Konqueror
	Links
	Lynx
	Maxthon
	Mosaic
	Mozilla
	Mozilla Firefox
	Netscape
	Netscape Browser
	Netscape Navigator
	Netscape Navigator 9
	NetSurf
	OmniWeb

Notes and References

Article ID : 164539; Section Internet Explorer for Macintosh or Windows 3.1

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/164539 Accessed March 1, 2007
http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/download/archive47x.jsp Netscape Browser Archive :: Netscape Navigator Web Browser
License Terms for Internet Explorer 7