Additional features known as extensions enhance web browsers with supplementary capabilities, yet they can also have adverse consequences on performance. A detailed examination of the leading 5000 Chrome add-ons discovered that these extensions could notably decrease the speed of browsing, except for those designed to block content.
Analysis by the team at Debugbear assessed how Chrome add-ons affect benchmarks like CPU activity and the duration needed to load websites. Here are some principal observations from this examination:
- Certain add-ons led to a rise in processing time over 500ms on even the simplest of web domains.
- A vast majority, 86%, of the extensions tested, had a trivial influence on straightforward websites.
- A paltry 1.7% of the add-ons were responsible for at least a 500ms increment in processing times on elementary websites.
- Processing intervals could elevate as much as 2000ms on intricate web domains.
- The deceleration could intensify when numerous add-ons are employed at once.
Extensions such as Honey Automatic Coupons, Klarna Pay Later, Monica – Your AI Copilot were particularly identified for causing pronounced holdups. Conversely, blockers like uBlock Origin, ScriptSafe, and Privacy Badger stood out as they decreased the time spent on processing web pages.
Influence on Web Domain Load Duration
In addition to CPU strain, Chrome add-ons may also extend the load times for websites, especially when they activate during the webpage’s load sequence as opposed to after the visual content is already presented. The examination noted that:
- Add-ons could raise the load time of simple web domains by as much as 1000ms.
- They might provoke setbacks in user engagements post-page load, while most add-ons contributed to delays lesser than 50ms.
Such postponements could lead to palpable idle periods since users find themselves waiting extended durations for web content to manifest.
Content Blockers Augment Browsing Experience
Content-blocking mechanisms notably boost CPU procedure and the rapidity of website loads, especially on domains overwhelmed with advertisements. They achieve this by:
- Trimming down processing intervals from more than 50 seconds to mere seconds.
- Minimizing web page dimensions from in excess of 40MB to underneath 5MB.
- Decreasing the memory required.
While effective blockers like uBlock Origin and ScriptSafe exhibited commendable performance, others such as AdBlock Plus encountered issues due to elements like permissible ads that, if deactivated, might augment speed.
Further Insights
The inquiry further investigated storage consumption and the ramifications on browser operations, unveiling that a large percentage of 86.6% of Chrome add-ons employed storage below 10MB. Nonetheless, certain add-ons like LastPass Password Manager and Avast Online Security, which went beyond the 50MB mark, disrupted the efficiency of the back/forward cache feature.
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