Note: System is Debian 11, MATE desktop. Pretty standard install.
The Midori browser shows up on lists of suggestions every time I try to find out about browsers with smaller memory use than, say, Firefox. A couple of quick experiments show that it does use less memory, but that it eats up a fair bit as you open more tabs, but of course it depends what is in the tabs. Here, I am going to look at a real-world example, where I am using the browser as an interface to collaboration tools I use for work. For example, I have got open right now:
- Confluence
- Outlook web app light
- Gmail
- This WordPress editor
I should point out that all work well and reliably in Midori, though some features seem to work differently (when writing my WordPress post in Midori, the Preview button does not seem to do anything unless I right-click and choose ‘Open in new tab’, but then the preview renders fine). I have not used Midori much since some very early versions (like 0.X type versions), when it used to fall over quite a lot. I do not think it does that any more.
Total memory used (all processes, as shown by mate-system-monitor) is around 1.8 GiB; before I started Midori it was around 0.76 GiB, so we’re looking at about 1 GiB being used by the browser to have the 4 tabs open. That does not seem slim to me. What does Firefox give?
I’ll close Midori down and open the same tabs in Firefox. 1.9 to 2.0 GiB used, spiking to 2.1 GiB at times — but Firefox has loaded the full Outlook web app, not the light one. So the conclusion is that Midori is not, for this real-world case of opening working websites that I use for my job, a lot lighter than Firefox. (Memory leaks might affect this if both were used for hours; I don’t know which is better in that respect.) This is probably because these websites are ‘heavy’, and are basically programs running in the browser — all have editors and other tools built into them, and the browser can do very little to change that. It’s like a box with heavy things in it. Midori is a lighter box, but most of the weight is in the things inside.
How about Gnome Web/Epiphany?
Same sorts of numbers. Up to 2 GiB before I even log into WordPress.
OK, back in Midori. With these 4 tabs open, I am fluctuating between 1.7 and 1.8 GiB. What if we close down Gmail?
- 1.3 GiB — Gmail is using around 400 to 500 MiB! Quite a lot.
What if we close down Confluence?
- Another 300 MiB, down to about 1 GiB memory used.
Close down Outlook web app light…
- No apparent difference (maybe 50 MiB) — I guess it really is light.
What if I do the same thing in Firefox? No Gmail, but other tabs open: 1.6 GiB used. So heavier than Midori but still around 400 MiB better than running Gmail in the browser.
Another very light browser — surf — gave the same results as Midori. You can’t squeeze a quart into a pint bottle.
Conclusion
On a memory-constrained computer, use an email client for Gmail rather than the browser, and consider using Midori or surf (of the ones tested here) as your browser. For example, if I use Alpine to read my Gmail, while I have WordPress, Confluence and Outlook wep app light open in Midori (because the Outlook app is very light and Confluence cannot be accessed without a browser and WordPress must be open for me to write this), total memory use is 1.4 GiB, 400 MiB lighter than when running Gmail in the browser and 600 to 700 MiB lighter than when running Gmail and the same tabs in Firefox.
400 to 700 MiB is a useful amount of RAM, even in 2021.
I don’t use a graphical Gmail client (eg Thunderbird), so I cannot comment on their memory use.
Your mileage may vary wildly and erratically
DSPACE 