Waterfox

Waterfox is a free, open source browser built on Mozilla's Gecko engine, which is why Waterfox says most sites and extensions work as they do in Firefox.

Waterfox adds built-in ad blocking, private and anonymised DNS through Oblivious HTTP, tree tabs for hierarchical browsing, a status bar with URL preview and private tabs inside a normal window. Downloads cover Windows 10 or later on x64 and ARM64, macOS 10.15 or later and Linux, with package repositories for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and Mageia and an Android version on Google Play. Waterfox 6.7.5 was released on 30 September 2026.

BrowserWorks Ltd operates Waterfox from Suite 140, 372 Old Street, London EC1V 9AU, registered at Companies House under number 14843353 and with the ICO under ZC079925.

Waterfox states that Alex Kontos founded the project in 2011 and that, since returning to independent ownership in 2023, BrowserWorks Ltd is wholly owned by him. The terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, so Waterfox sits outside the EU. The source is published under MPL 2.0. Waterfox states that it has no telemetry, crash reporting, studies, Safe Browsing or download reputation checks, and that DNS queries are routed through Waterfox and Cloudflare.

Waterfox costs nothing, has no premium tier and needs no account. Waterfox states that it is funded through search partnerships, optional Waterfox Private Search subscriptions and donations, and that the search provider can be changed at any time.

Waterfox suits people who want Firefox extension compatibility, a single named owner and the same browser on a laptop and an Android phone. Waterfox is a weaker fit for an organisation with an EU-only rule, for iPhone users, since no iOS version is listed on the download page, and for anyone who relies on Safe Browsing warnings.

What Waterfox does well

• Builds for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android from the same publisher
• BrowserWorks Ltd states that it is wholly owned by founder Alex Kontos
• Published under the Mozilla Public Licence 2.0
• No telemetry and no analytics pipeline, according to the Waterfox privacy policy
• Registered address, Companies House number and ICO registration are all published

Where Waterfox falls short

• United Kingdom company under the laws of England and Wales, so outside the EU
• Funded partly by search partnerships with revenue-sharing search engines
• Ships without Safe Browsing and download reputation checks
• DNS queries are routed through Waterfox and Cloudflare, a further party in the chain

Standout feature. Waterfox is the one browser here that covers Windows, macOS, Linux and Android under a single owner, and BrowserWorks Ltd lists in writing every connection the browser still makes.