Helium vs Ungoogled Chromium in 2026

These two are not rivals so much as the same idea at two levels of finish. Ungoogled Chromium removes Google from Chromium and stops there, on principle. Helium takes that base and puts the conveniences back — the ones that do not require letting Google in again. If you have been comparing privacy-focused Chromium browsers, this is the pairing that actually needs explaining, because everything else about them is identical.

What Helium adds

uBlock Origin and community filter lists ship enabled, so ads, trackers and third-party cookies are blocked from first launch with no setup. Ungoogled Chromium blocks nothing by default; it removes Google and leaves the rest of the web's tracking to you.

Extensions are the bigger practical difference. Helium scores 5 for extensions against Ungoogled's 2, because installs from the Chrome Web Store simply work — and Helium proxies those installs through its own services, so Google cannot correlate which extensions you installed with your IP or profile. On Ungoogled Chromium you install extension files by hand or add a community helper to restore the store. Helium also maintains real releases, so updating is normal rather than something you have to remember.

What Ungoogled Chromium keeps that Helium gives up

Thoroughness, and the ability to verify it. Ungoogled Chromium's whole purpose is maximal removal, which is why it scores 5 for privacy against Helium's 4 — every convenience Helium restores is a small surface Ungoogled does not have. It is also the reference implementation: the project other forks are measured against and built from, with a long history and a specific, narrow mandate.

Neither has AI, neither has crypto, and both are open source and desktop-only across Windows, macOS and Linux. Both score 5 for speed, because both are Chromium with nothing slowing them down.

Which should you choose?

Choose Helium. For nearly everyone who wants this category, it is the better daily browser: the same Google removal underneath, with blocking on by default, extensions that install normally and updates that arrive. Its 3 for ease against Ungoogled's 2 understates how much less friction there is in practice.

Choose Ungoogled Chromium if you want the most thorough removal available and prefer a project that adds nothing at all, or if you are building on it yourself. It is a purist's tool and makes no apology for that — but understand that choosing it over Helium means accepting manual updates and manual extensions for a privacy margin most people will never measure.