Chrome extensions may slow down browsing significantly

[harlan4096]

Extensions are one of the greatest strengths of web browsers. They allow users to extend functionality, but this comes at a cost. A test of the 5000 most popular Chrome extensions showed that extensions may slow down the browsing experience significantly, with one notable exception.

The team at Debugbear analyzed the performance impact of Chrome extensions in various ways, including impact on CPU processing and website load time.

Here are the key findings:

• Even on basic websites, some Chrome extensions added 500ms or more to the processing time.
  
• 86% of tested extensions have minimal impact on simple websites.
  
• 1.7% of extensions add 500ms or more to the processing of simple websites.
  
• On complex websites, processing time reached 2000ms.
  
• The impact may be cumulative, which means that multiple extensions may impact the experience more.
  
• Popular extensions with high processing times: Honey Automatic Coupons, Klarna Pay Later, Monica - Your AI Copilot, Capital One Shopping, Popup Blocker, Dark Theme, Malwarebytes, Dark Reader, DDG Privacy Essentials.
  
• One type of extension reduces website processing: content blockers
  

Impact on website load time



Browser extensions may slow down the website load time, especially if they are designed to run as the page starts loading instead of when the page content is displayed to the user.

• Extensions may add up to 1000ms to the loading of simple websites.
  
• Chrome extensions may also delay interactions after a website has loaded, but these are less common and the impact is less than 50ms for all but a select few extensions.
  

This delay is noticeable to the user, as it takes longer before website content is displayed by the browser.
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