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This post goes over each open source and recently updated web browser available for each Windows version. This excludes (partially) closed source browsers and browsers that have gone without updates for years. I do not recommend using any closed source browser unless it is absolutely necessary for your use case. I will not be going into Windows 2000 or older since they require extensive modifications to get a recently updated browser working. If I have missed any browsers please let me know.

XP+:

• Firefox based:
  • MyPal 68:
    This is a fork of Firefox 68 ported to XP with an updated engine, about on par with Firefox version (I'm not really sure anymore, but it's advanced far past 68) as of posting. This does have some weird changes that can be somewhat easily reverted though. It also has some bugs too, but it's a better choice than UXP if you don't need older extensions.

• Dactyloidae/Lun3r/Hydra:
  These are based off of roytam1's fork of UXP, or Goanna, the engine powering Pale Moon. Unless you need them for some specific reason, use the above.
  
  • Dactyloidae:
    Dactyloidae is a fork of Lun3r/Hydra, which is a fork of roytam1's New Moon 28, which is a fork of Pale Moon. Currently this is the best and fastest browser based off of Lun3r. It comes with a theme styled after older releases of Microsoft Edge. I intend to update Lun3r/Hydra to include the improvements from Dactyloidae and the newer engine of later Pale Moon releases, but I haven't had the time for it. It's also possible our forks could combine.
  • Lun3r:
    Lun3r is a fork of roytam1's New Moon 28, which is a fork of Pale Moon. The 28 is symbolic, roytam1's fork and therefore Lun3r are on par with current Pale Moon. For this reason Lun3r reports as being version 33 like current Pale Moon. It doesn't support webextensions and e10s is very broken, so I don't recommend it unless you really like Pale Moon. I'd consider the speed improvements from e10s a requirement for the modern web.
  • Hydra:
    Lun3r but with the Australis UI. This has some webextensions and e10s support, however I'm not sure how stable or how well they work.

• RT1 UXP Platfom:
  These are based off of UXP, or Goanna, the engine powering Pale Moon. There are multiple variants of it maintained by Roytam1. There are more UXP based browsers than the three below, but I don't recommend using them outside of very specific cases. You can check this page for more if you want to try them.
  
  • New Moon 28:
    Don't let the 28 fool you, this is basically the master branch of UXP/Pale Moon but compatible with XP. Because of this some versions can be unstable, but you can always try a few releases to see which work the best. It doesn't support webextensions or e10s, so I don't recommend it unless you really like Pale Moon or have a CPU without SSE2 or SSE. I'd consider the speed improvements from e10s a requirement for the modern web.
  • Serpent 52:
    New Moon if it had the Firefox 52 UI. This should have some webextensions and e10s support, however I haven't tested it in a while.
  • Serpent 55:
    A still maintained version of what was the original Basilisk browser. This has better (still albeit poor) webextension compatibility and better e10s than Serpent 52. Needs testing though.

• Chromium based:
  • e3kskoy7wqk's (Ungoogled) Chromium builds:
    The name only mentions 7, but it also works on XP too, and it's the latest Chromium. It's the newest working browser engine for XP. They even have canary builds ported too. It's so cool, but it's still Chromium though. The source code delivery method is a bit different, being .patch files instead of a full repo, but the browser is still open source.

• XP One Core API:
  This allows XP to run modern browsers like r3dfox. It can also allow you to run some other modern stuff, but it can also be buggy. It's a try at your own risk.

Vista+
On top of XP+

• Firefox based:
  • r3dfox:
    r3dfox is release Firefox if it never dropped Windows 7 or Vista and still had native elements like the scroll bar. Also ncluded are multiple tweaks from Librewolf, other browsers, and our own tweaks. Our browser even has a custom theme. You can disable any of this at will for a more stock experience if you want to.
  • e3kskoy7wqk's Firefox builds:
    This is what r3dfox bases it's Vista/7 support off of. If you want a more stock experience, or want a feature that r3dfox disables/removes at compile time, it's also an option. The source code delivery method is a bit different, being .patch files instead of a full repo, but the browser is still open source.

I've removed the Vista Extended Kernel and 7+ section due to there basically being no point anymore. Mypal and e3k Chromium has XP+ covered, and r3dfox + e3k Firefox has Vista+ covered. There's nothing else to really consider. There's not really any 7+ specific browser that exists and is worth mentioning. (afaik at the time of editing) Maybe Firefox 115 ESR could be mentioned since they're still updating it all these years later. However it's getting a bit old for the modern internet.

Thank you, K4sum1 and My default browser is indeed Mypalo68 nowadays and I report very good success rate overall.

I updated this list since some of the stuff is outdated. Remind me to add Supermium for XP when that releases.

Huh what about K-Meleon? If i recall correctly it also supports older versions of Windows and it is open source.

K-Meleon is basically New Moon 27 with a different GUI.

Mypal68 v68.14.6b:
https://codeberg.org/Theodor2/Mypal68/releases/tag/68.14.6b

I edited the post to add e3kskoy7wqk's Firefox and Chromium builds. I'm not going to add Blaukovitch's builds due to them being closed source in nature, patching already built binaries.

Also I want to share this, but it doesn't really fit in this post. It's like r3dfox but for OS X 10.7+
https://github.com/i3roly/firefox-dynasty/releases

K4sum1 wrote: ↑04 Nov 2023, 22:48

• Chromium based:
  • e3kskoy7wqk's (Ungoogled) Chromium builds:
    The source code delivery method is a bit different, being .patch files instead of a full repo

well since ungoogled chromiums repo is a set of patches managed with quilt i wouldnt mind

Mypal 68 is working for 2k with bwk extended kernel too if u spoof os version to xp, so it can get category "2000+" or kinda like that

Adeii's builds (for example LibreWolf for W7 [137, 141, 142]): https://github.com/adeii/supermium-portable/releases