# A rough comparison of memory usage - Firefox4, Opera10, Chrome10



## jrm@ (Apr 26, 2011)

`% uname -a`
FreeBSD phe.ath.cx 8.2-RELEASE FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE #0: Fri Feb 18 02:24:46 UTC 2011     root@almeida.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386

www/firefox (4.0_1,1) with only the dbus configuration flag selected

First, I started firefox with no plugins or addons enabled on a blank page. `% top -o size` showed the size/res for the firefox process was
*101M/63504K*.

Next I loaded the following pages (each in its own tab): slashdot.org, cbc.ca, rt.com, abc.net.au, bbc.co.uk, speigel.de, gmail.  Size/res moved up to
*241M/194M*.

Next I enabled the flash (10.2r159) and Java (IcedTea 1.0.1) plugins and restarted the browser and loaded the same pages.  Size/res was now
*244M/198M*.

Finally I enabled the add-ons I have installed (AdBlock Plus 1.3.6, Beef Taco 1.3.3, Canadian English Dictionary 2.0.0, DownloadHelper 4.8.6, FlashBlock 1.5.14.2, It's all text! 1.5, User Agent Switcher 0.7.3, Web Developer 1.1.9), restarted the browser and loaded the same pages.  Size/Res reached
*259M/200M*.

I actually enabled the add-ons one at a time and the one that seemed to add most of the extra memory was AdBlock Plus.  Another interesting point was that even with FlashBlock and AdBlock a few npviewer.bin processes started.

www/opera (11.10) with the CUPS and VIDEO configuration flags enabled

I don't use opera on a daily basis so I don't have any extensions or plugins.  When I opened the browser with a blank page, the size/res was
*90768K/72072K*.

Opening the same pages as above gave
*252M/220M*.

www/chromium (10.0.648.205_1) with all three configuration flags selected (CODECS, GCONF, VPX)

When I first started chromium with no extensions or plugins enabled, four chrome processes were started using
*95756K/73496K,
83908K/58672K,
74124K/49520K,
71188K/48984K.*

After loading the pages above, ten processes were running with
*148M/98M,
148M/98M,
115M/89692K,
132M/77396K,
128M/74264K,
131M/73024K,
126M/72084K,
125M/70560K,
124M/69812K,
74252K/49552K,
71188K/49124K*.

When I enabled the browser plugins (same as firfox) and restarted the browser, four processes started again using
*101M/82004K,
92420K/67756K,
74124K/50076K,
71188K/49540K*.

Loading the pages gave eight processes using
*152M/104M,
115M/96000K,
136M/79864K,
133M/78548K,
129M/75968K,
130M/74872K,
126M/72376K,
124M/69024K*.

Finally, enabling the extensions (AutoScroll 2.7.5, Edit with Emacs 1.9, FlashBlock 0.9.31, Send using Gmail, 1.11.9.3) and restarting the browser and loading the pages gave 15 processes using
1*58M/113M,
120M/99M,
137M/90388K,
138M/83300K,
133M/81392K,
133M/78688K,
129M/78180K,
129M/73052K,
110M/55648K,
110M/55440K,
111M/55376K,
110M/55012K,
72364K/53516K,
74252K/50208K,
71188K/49780K*.

No npviewer.bin processes started with Chromium.


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