Every major browser vendor markets privacy features somewhere in its settings menu. The problem? Most of those protections ship turned off. PrivacyTests.org is an open-source project launched in 2021 by privacy engineer Arthur Edelstein — worth noting upfront, he later joined Brave, though he states the site has “no connection with Brave marketing efforts.” The tool runs automated tests against popular browsers using only their default configurations: no extensions, no tweaks, no expert-level hardening. The result is a brutally honest scorecard revealing what your browser actually does the moment you install it. For most people, that moment is the only configuration that ever matters.
One Table. No Spin.
An independent test suite strips away the marketing and shows which browsers leak your data straight out of the box.
The setup is straightforward. Edelstein’s tool checks dozens of privacy vectors across browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, LibreWolf, and Tor. Each test produces a green cell (protected) or a red cell (leaking). No ambiguity. No asterisks.
Here’s what gets tested:
- Whether tracking scripts from major ad networks are blocked by default
- Whether sites can fingerprint your device — building a stable ID from your hardware and software characteristics to follow you across the web without cookies
- Whether your DNS queries (the addresses of every site you visit) leak to third parties
- Whether the browser honors Global Privacy Control, a signal telling sites not to sell your data
As gHacks summarized after reviewing the results: “None protect users 100% against all privacy threats.” EFF’s Cover Your Tracks tool echoes that finding, independently confirming that most browsers allow some form of tracking to slip through even when users believe they’re protected.
The Scorecard Hurts
Chrome and most stock Chromium browsers rank worst at default settings, while privacy-focused alternatives dominate the green cells.
On desktop, Brave, LibreWolf, and Tor Browser consistently show the most green. Firefox and Safari land in the middle — better than stock Chromium, but not close to the privacy-first builds. Chrome and most default Chromium-based browsers light up red the way a fast-food menu hides calorie counts in a footnote nobody reads.
Android mirrors the pattern. Chrome scores worst. Brave, Firefox Focus, DuckDuckGo, and Tor rank meaningfully higher. Browser vendors reasonably argue that defaults must balance privacy with site compatibility — though that balance conveniently aligns with certain ad revenue interests. The same trade-off between utility and exposure appears in how a surveillance app can quietly collect data users never consented to share.
Check your own setup at PrivacyTests.org, EFF’s Cover Your Tracks, or BrowserLeaks. The data is free. The browser switch it might prompt is your call.
