Brave vs Vivaldi: Complete 2026 Comparison

Both browsers have strong privacy features, but they differ in approach. Brave has more aggressive defaults: fingerprint randomization, bounce tracking protection, and automatic URL parameter stripping. Vivaldi has solid tracker/ad blocking but lacks native fingerprint randomization and requires extensions for some privacy features. Crucially, Brave is fully open source and can be audited, while Vivaldi's UI layer is proprietary. Both have opt-out telemetry (Brave's is opt-in only, Vivaldi's mandatory telemetry is limited).

Vivaldi's CEO Jon von Tetzchner believes AI in browsers "turns the joy of exploring into inactive spectatorship." The company argues that AI summaries funnel traffic away from content creators (Pew Research shows 50% fewer clicks when AI summaries appear), misrepresent news 45% of the time (according to BBC/EBU study), and primarily serve to harvest user data. Vivaldi's position is that users who want AI can access it separately without it being built into the browser.

Yes, Vivaldi launched on iOS in late 2023. It includes desktop-style tabs, Speed Dials, panels, Notes, Reading List, tracker/ad blocking, and sync. However, the iOS version lacks some features available on Android (like Tab Stacking and built-in translation) due to Apple's platform restrictions. Brave is also available on iOS with full Brave Sync support.

Workspaces are like virtual desktops within a single browser window. You can create separate workspaces for "Work," "Personal," "Research," etc., and switch between them with one click. Each workspace maintains its own set of tabs. Tab Stacks let you group related tabs together by dragging one onto another. You can then view stacked tabs in a second row, tile them side-by-side, or collapse them. Since version 7.5, you can assign colors to tab stacks for visual organization. Brave doesn't have either feature natively.

Yes, Brave Rewards lets you earn Basic Attention Token (BAT) cryptocurrency for viewing privacy-respecting ads (new tab images, push notifications). 70% of ad revenue goes to users. You can accumulate BAT, tip content creators, exchange it for other crypto, or withdraw it. With Rewards 3.0 (2025), you have self-custody via Solana. Brave has over 101 million monthly users and handles 1.6 billion search queries per month. Vivaldi has no rewards or crypto features.

Vivaldi can be more memory-efficient due to tab hibernation (suspending inactive tabs) and tab stacking. In tests, Vivaldi used around 960MB for 10 tabs. Brave uses slightly more RAM (around 2.3GB for 10 tabs) but has recently optimized its ad-blocking engine to use 75% less memory. Both are more efficient than Chrome. If you're a heavy tab user (50+ tabs), Vivaldi's hibernation features give it an advantage.