The number of Firefox users has fallen below 200 million for the first time in years. Compared to three years ago, 46 million people turned to other browsers. The question is whether Mozilla can turn this tide.
At the beginning of 2019, the counter was still at about 245 million. There are now 196 million Firefox users left. Those numbers show Mozilla’s own public dashboard.
Between December 2018 and March 2012, the number of users fluctuated between 240 and 220 million, with dips due to holiday periods and holidays, Mozilla said. In recent months, however, a decline has started that will continue for the time being.
Where does it come from?
In May, the browser went through a major overhaul, with a refreshed menu layout and a more modern-looking interface. Loyal users may not be so pleased with this. In the month of July alone, the browser lost 10 million users.
Those who still surf the Internet with Firefox, do so on average five hours a day and 3.5 days a week. These numbers have remained stable over the same measured period.
Where are they going?
You may be wondering which browser former Firefox users turn to. Figures from StatCounter show that especially Microsoft’s renewed Edge browser is on the rise. Since it runs on Chromium, its market share is steadily increasing. From 1.9 percent in July 2020 to 3.4 percent in July 2021. That is almost as much as Firefox.
The number of Chrome users has also steadily increased over the past year, after a dip at the end of 2020. With a market share of about 65 percent, it still remains the undisputed number 1 in the browser market. After that, Apple’s Safari is the most popular, with a share of just 19 percent.
Critical
A significant (and growing) portion of all Internet traffic is driven by browsers running on Chromium, a browser engine developed by Google. Critics watch this looming monopoly with dismay.
No wonder, then, that Mozilla has been promoting its Firefox browser more than ever as a privacy-friendly alternative lately. For example, there is a built-in privacy dashboard and advanced anti-tracking was recently introduced to block online advertisers. However, the company does not seem to be reaching the intended general public with that strategy for the time being.
