Browsers For Every Need: 8 Specialized Browsers Worth Exploring

Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, etc., are the go-to browsers for most people, and rightly so; they do cover the essentials very well. However, what if you have specific needs like, cloud isolation, gaming, multitasking, or offline access?

This is where a specialized browser can take care of those specific needs while providing necessary browsing features for day-to-day browsing. You don’t necessarily have to jump ship either; just use them as a secondary browser when needed.

Below I am listing some powerful specialized web browsers that will help you browse the web with a focus on your particular need.

Is It Worth Switching?

I know you might be reluctant to use or switch to a browser that isn’t mainstream, but I assure you most of them offer all the essential features to not be a hindrance to your daily browsing. Just like Chrome or Edge, these browsers have common features like history, bookmarks, tabs, download manager, cookie manager, and other essential features.

Furthermore, many of these are based on Chromium, so you can use Chrome extensions in them as well. Overall, you won’t miss out much if you do decide to jump ship.

Opera GX

Whether you like playing browser-based games or keeping the browser open while gaming on your PC, a dedicated gaming browser will greatly enhance your experience. Opera GX is my favorite gaming browser as it’s built on the already powerful Opera browser.

Its interface is the first thing that will please gamers using red/black combinations by default with browser sounds for pages, tabs, keys, etc. The sidebar lets you quickly access important features and services, like Twitch, ChatGPT, media player, history, extension, etc.

You’ll find GX Corner in the tab bar, where you can learn about upcoming and newly launched games and get recommendations for free games as well. You can even get exclusive deals on your favorite games here.

More importantly, GX Control is a hardware-limiting feature residing in the sidebar that will let you control your browser’s impact on your PC. Here you can limit the browser’s RAM, network, and CPU utilization so it doesn’t affect your games on the PC or inside the browser. You can also automatically close tabs that are taking up too many resources.

Overall, Opera GX offers amazing control over your games and gives easier access to all your gaming needs. Not to mention, you can use hundreds of mods to completely change the look and sound of the browser.

HTTrack

If you are away from the internet for a while or simply don’t want to put a load on your limited mobile data while on the move, you can download websites using an offline browser. I found HTTrack to be the most complete in features for this purpose.

The app helps you download web pages or whole websites to your local storage. You can then browse those websites using any browser without the internet. It will download the web content along with all the scripts and media to let you browse the website with all navigation features. It can even download internal/external links content to let you browse the links.

To download, start a new project and give it a name to easily access later. Afterward, add the website or page URLs in the Web Addresses section; you can add multiple URLs. You can also choose whether you want to download the website, update existing data, or download links along with the website.

Now just hit Next and then Finish to start downloading. HTTrack will make multiple connections to download all the data as fast as possible. Once downloaded, it will show a button to open the website in your browser, and you can also access it on your local storage.

Avast Secure Browser

Avast Secure Browser is based on Chromium, and its interface is very similar to Chrome. You probably already know about Avast antivirus; this is a browser by Avast that incorporates similar protection and additional features to secure your online activities.

If you are a Chrome user, you won’t have trouble adjusting, and the additional security features don’t get in the way either.

In the toolbar, click on the Security & Privacy Center to open all the security features of the browser. Here some features are enabled by default, and the rest are either needed to be enabled or you need to download additional software to use them. The basic security features include ad/tracker protection, phishing protection, extension guard, and hack check.

Since Avast is a security company, these security features are bound to work better than other browsers. For example, its phishing protection feature topped anti-phishing tests. Furthermore, its Bank mode can help protect your account details by hiding them from other websites.

It even has a built-in VPN for an even more secure connection. The VPN has a free trial available for you to test the waters before buying a pro subscription.

Opera

Honestly, Opera checks multiple boxes for specialized browsers since it pioneered or at least popularized many features that other browser use as a core for marketing, such as battery efficiency, AI prompts, or built-in VPN. However, here I am introducing it for its ad-blocker feature.

I think Opera is still the best browser with a built-in ad blocker, even though many are now in the market. I have been using Opera with ad-blocker enabled since they introduced it, and I personally never had any trouble with it or felt the need to install an ad-blocker extension. In very rare cases, some of the Google Search ads do slip by, but it works fine in most cases.

It’s the first option in Settings, and it’s enabled by default. You can also configure it to allow nonintrusive ads or completely block all. Furthermore, you can disable or allow ads on a website right from the address bar using the ad-block icon there.

Polypane

For web developers mainly, Polypane offers a plethora of tools to test websites in different conditions at the same time. By default, it opens URLs in 3 panels, including mobile, tablet, and laptop. You can interact with all the panels simultaneously, and anything you do is replicated in all the panels.

It’s not a replacement for your current browser since it only lets you browse the web and lack all other essential features. However, developers can test and apply changes to multiple websites at the same time. You can change user agents from a preset list and even manually set resolutions for each panel.

Some of its debugging tools and accessibility features include a color picker, contrast checker, show z-index, show ARIA attributes, debug layout, ruler, and screenshot tool. Overall, it’s a great way to test your website in dozens of resolutions at the same time.

The browser has a 14-day free trial, after which you’ll have to get one of the pro subscriptions.

Sidekick

Sidekick is a great browser when productivity is your priority. It lets you handle multiple tasks at the same time by offering easier access to apps and opening them in a dedicated panel.

Its sidebar has many built-in apps to quickly open, and you can even add your own websites. You can either open an app in a tab or hold the Alt key to open it in its own panel.

You can also create sessions to categorize tabs letting you easily save and manage multiple workspaces. For the opened tabs and apps, you can enable the split view to show them side by side.

Best of all, it lets you focus on the work by muting all notifications with a single click and even blocks distracting tabs or apps on demand. Most of its features are free, but you’ll need the pro version if you want to log in to multiple app accounts at the same time or unlimited apps in the sidebar.

Ghost Browser

A simple Chromium-based browser that lets you open multiple app accounts at the same time with conflicts. Ghost Browser lets you open isolated tabs with their own identifiers to let you log in to multiple accounts at the same time. These tabs will have their own cookies, so you can manage different accounts without any conflicts.

You can create temporary or permanent tabs based on whether you want to log in once or have a permanent workspace with different accounts. If you want a permanent workspace, Ghost Browser lets you manage multiple workspaces as well and continue where you left off.

Other than isolated tabs and workspaces, the browser is very similar to Chrome, and I didn’t find any other different features. The free version is limited to 3 isolated tabs at a time; you’ll need a pro subscription for unlimited tabs and workspaces.

Puffin Secure Browser

A cloud-based browser or isolated browser loads webpages on its own servers and then sends the loaded page to your devices. This process adds an extra layer of security and boosts performance as well. Puffin Secure Browser is one of the best cloud-based browsers that is worth the $2/month subscription it requires for cloud-based protection.

It is also based on Chromium, but it’s very bare bone with only essential features. This also makes it very light and fast. Since there isn’t much to say about the browser, below I am listing some benefits of cloud-based browsing.

• The cloud server usually loads and compresses data before sending it to you, so it offers faster loading.
• Since the data is compressed, it also uses less bandwidth.
• The webpages are rendered by the server, so it also requires less hardware resources.
• As the webpage is rendered on the server side, any malicious code/script won’t affect your device.
• Security updates are applied faster as they don’t depend on updating the browser and can go live on the server directly.

If you want better online protection or use an old device with limited resources, getting a cloud-based browser like Puffin is worth it.

Availability: Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

Bonus

Vivaldi is worth a try as well if you are looking for some unique browsers. However, I am not adding it with the other browsers since it doesn’t have a clear specialty. It does everything other major browsers can do, but its tab management and customizable theme make it stand out.

You can stack unlimited tabs in it to easily group tabs, and you can create custom themes by selecting custom colors, styles, and wallpapers. Definitely give it a go if you are a power user and want more control.

Ending Thoughts

On my PC, I have Chrome, Opera, and Opera GX installed. I use Opera as my main browser and use the rest when I need them. HTTrack and Ghost Browser also look worth keeping for when I need offline access or don’t want to use the temporary incognito mode for secondary accounts. I am sure you’ll also find one of these browsers useful to keep as a backup.