Why I stick with Chrome and Safari

October 26, 2026 I was reading a forum thread the other day and noticed how many people are trying what I'll call third-party browsers: anything other than Chrome, Safari, or Firefox. The pitch is usually workflow: better tab management, split views, built-in notes. Sometimes it's privacy. It made me wonder: is the security of these browsers equal to Chrome, Safari, or Firefox, or do their users take on additional risk? So I asked Claude. Here's my summary. Short answer: generally yes, and the risk grows as the team behind the browser gets smaller. The first issue is patching delays. Most are built on Chromium or WebKit. When a zero-day hits, Google and Apple push a fix immediately. A smaller team has to pull that code, test it, and ship its own release. That gap is an open window, and AI can now turn a public fix into a working exploit in hours instead of weeks. Engine changes are another concern. Sidebars and split panes can require changes to the core engine, which can open holes…