Opera vs. Chrome

Phishing is when online criminals attempt to steal personal information by impersonating authority figures from your bank or other institutions you frequent. They usually send you a link to a fake website and encourage you to log in and “verify” your customer information - your password, credit card number, or other private data.

It’s important to be aware of the problem and to stay alert when transacting business online. For further protection, both Opera and Chrome web browsers check web pages you visit against up-to-date databases of known security risks, and immediately warn you when a web page is a known threat or is known to contain malware.

Both Opera and Chrome's popular web browsers enable you to autofill passwords, addresses, payment information and other data. You can choose to autofill the data you want, and you can opt-out or delete previously stored data at any time. The data you choose to autofill is securely stored in your browser and is only available to you.

Safety check is a Chrome feature that shows you if your browser is up to date, if any third-party extensions you use are flagged as dangerous, and if your passwords are known to be compromised.

*Opera Browser also has safety features in place, but it’s automatic and not in one location:

• Opera Browser notifies you in the browser UI when it’s not up to date.
• For extensions, Opera verifies every extension you download through the Opera Addons Store. If you download a third-party extension elsewhere, like through the Chrome Web Store, Opera warns you that it can’t immediately be verified. For further protection, Opera checks extensions against blacklists, notifying you about any malicious extension you’ve installed and deactivating it by default.

Unlike Chrome, Opera Browser includes a Tracker Blocker that blocks analytic scripts, cryptojacking, tracking pixels and other methods of data collection. Opera’s tracker blocking feature is accessible through the ad blocking shield icon in its address bar, and you can customize lists and exceptions. In settings, you can choose to auto-clear cookies and site data when closing Opera as well as block third-party cookies.

In Chrome, third-party cookies can also be blocked in settings, though it doesn't apply to Google itself. Google collects a lot of user data from Chrome by default, and privacy settings are in a separate section (You and Google), where most of the sync features are enabled by default. This includes address bar autocomplete cookies, browsing history, Google Drive content sharing, statistics and crash reports sending.

With its Ad blocker enabled, Opera Browser protects you from crypto mining scripts by default, ensuring that your device’s resources are not used for cryptocurrency mining without your consent. This feature safeguards your device against intrusion, as well as saves your device’s processing power, battery-life and speed. Chrome does not have such a feature.

When copying and pasting information in any browser, there’s a risk of your clipboard being hijacked by malware to change sensitive data. By changing your crypto wallet identifier or bank account number, hackers could redirect and receive money transfers, for example.

Opera’s Paste Protection feature monitors information that you copy for a short time or until you paste it, and displays a warning if the data is changed by an external application. This feature is not available in Chrome.

A VPN (virtual private network) is the most important feature for your online privacy. Opera includes a free browser VPN that provides privacy and security for your browser traffic when activated. It’s free, built right into the Opera web browser, and doesn’t require any subscription or login.

Chrome does not have any built-in VPN.

In addition to its free browser VPN, Opera has its own premium VPN Pro service for your entire device, which protects up to six devices at once. With over 3,000 fast VPN servers worldwide, you get serious privacy and security anywhere for just $3.99 per month with a year subscription.

Chrome does not include any VPN service.

Tests show that the Opera web browser uses less memory than its competitors, and Opera GX has RAM/CPU limiters built right in.

Chrome on the other hand is well-known for using a lot of your memory and CPU capacity by running a large amount of background processes.

Opera lets you sync your choice of data (tabs, bookmarks, passwords, history and more) across multiple devices, both mobile browser and desktop. This can be done using your Opera account, and your passwords are encrypted. Syncing data with Opera is only about browsing.

With Chrome, Google sync is on by default, syncing apps, bookmarks, extensions, history, settings, themes, reading lists, open tabs, passwords, addresses, payment information and more. Google sync is connected to your Google account and all its related services.

Opera’s Video pop-out feature lets you detach a video from a webpage so you can watch it in the background while working in another tab. The minimized video can be scaled or moved, and stays on top when you switch tabs. It also works for video conferencing.

Chrome’s picture-in-picture feature works the same way and is managed by its media player. It can handle multiple videos, allows live captions, but doesn’t work with video calls and can’t be turned off.

Chrome has a smart address bar that can give you answers and calculations when you type, before hitting enter. This includes unit and currency conversions, math calculations, translations, weather, stock prices and dictionary definitions. It will also preload answers to common search requests.

Opera’s smart address-bar functions include currency, time-zone and unit conversions, as well as a calculator. In Opera, these functions work locally and do not communicate with Google, whereas Chrome’s results are calculated remotely and sent to the browser.

Offline mode in Google Chrome is enabled automatically when you lose your connection to the internet, allowing you to browse cached web pages. Chrome also allows you to use your Gmail account and Google Drive when offline, once you enable it in settings. Changes you make offline are uploaded to the cloud once you’re back online.

Gmail can also be used offline in Opera after enabling it, but not Google Drive.

Like most popular web browsers, Opera and Chrome browsers both allow you to easily search through tabs so that you don’t have to click through all your open tabs or dig through your history. You can search by keyword or scroll through the list of open and recent tabs to find the one you want. However, Chrome only searches tabs using the title and URL, while Opera also searches tab contents, ensuring that you find the tab you need.

In addition, Opera Browser highlights duplicate tabs for easy reference when you hover your cursor over one of them. You can also right-click and close all the duplicates easily.

Opera's custom Flow file-sharing feature lets you securely send files, pictures, links and notes between any of your desktop or mobile devices. Rather than signing in, you just scan a QR code to connect devices. Everything you transfer is encrypted, and is instantly available on any device you’ve connected.

Chrome does not have a feature like this.

Opera has an integrated Battery saver feature so you can browse up to 35% longer when unplugged with no change in performance for the user. When your laptop’s unplugged, this feature reduces activity in background tabs, pauses unused plug-ins and animations, reschedules JavaScript timers, and tunes video-playback parameters.

Chrome now includes an energy saver feature. When your battery reaches 20%, Chrome limits background activity and website visual effects. You can enable this under the three-dot menu.

Opera Browser makes it easy to group multiple tabs into separate workspaces and keep related tabs together. You can create and customize new tab groups for different contexts - like travel, work, gaming, school. These workspaces are present on the top of your sidebar, so switching contexts can be done in a single click.

Chrome has recently added a similar feature that involves creating groups and manually adding each tab to them. It lets you collapse groups, but does not provide a way to switch between the groups like you can in Opera, since Opera’s workspaces solution is a more permanent home for browsing contexts, rather than just a way to highlight them.

Opera and Chrome browsers both let you change the default search engine in your address bar, as well as switch between search engines using shortcuts. Both browsers have Google as the default search engine, but you can switch to Bing, Yahoo!, Wikipedia or DuckDuckGo.

Extensions and addons are small programs you can add to Opera or Chrome browsers to personalize your online experience. Popular extensions include wallpapers, games, translators, weather apps and coupon finders for shopping.

The Opera Addons Store and the Chrome Web Store have thousands of extensions for customizing your browser. And since Google Chrome extensions also work in Opera, they can be installed in either browser, except for themes. Also, the extensions in the Opera Addons Store are reviewed for security issues, making them much safer than extensions found elsewhere.

Both Opera and Chrome browsers let you customize themes and wallpapers to personalize your browser, though Chrome doesn’t differentiate themes from wallpapers - wallpapers are part of the themes in Chrome. In either Google Chrome or Opera, you can use the themes and wallpapers that are already part of your browser or download new ones from the extension and addon stores.

Chrome and Opera both have ways for you to share content with others. Chrome has a Share this page icon in the address bar, which lets users share the page on Facebook, Linkedin, WhatsApp or Twitter, as well as copy the link, create a QR code, save the page as HTML or cast it to a Chromecast device or smart TV.

Along with the Flow file-sharing feature, built-in messengers and integrated social media, Opera has Pinboards. It’s a blank page on which you can collect web content like pictures, links, music, files and notes, and share them with others who can react to them with emojis. Pinboards and more features are quickly accessed from Opera’s sidebar.

Both the Opera Account and Chrome account allow you to sync bookmarks, history, passwords, and other settings across devices in their respective browsers.

*The Chrome account is integrated with Google account and services, while the Opera account is not.

Opera Browser has an integrated music player available in its sidebar. Player lets you sign into and play music and podcasts from the most popular streaming services, like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal and Deezer, and switch between them as needed. Music in Player automatically pauses when other audio plays in the browser (like when you start a video), and automatically resumes when the other audio ends. Chrome does not have this feature.

Chrome player is basically a pop-up video/audio manager that helps control what is playing in the web browser. It does not have integrated music streaming services, but can manage them when you sign in via a web page.

Opera is making sure that its web browser is ready for the decentralized Web3, and the Opera Wallet is a unique example. The Opera Wallet is integrated with Opera Browser so you can access, manage and store your cryptocurrencies, tokens and collectibles securely.

Google Chrome has no crypto-related features available.

Opera has the most popular messengers built right into the web browser. This lets you chat using Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram and more directly from your sidebar, no matter which tab you’re using. Chrome does not have integrated messengers.