The new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser has grown by over 1,300% in the past 12 months, while the Firefox browser is slowly losing its market share.
In January 2020, Microsoft released the first stable version of the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser and announced that they would slowly release it to Windows 10 users. Unless users created special Windows Registry values, the new Edge would replace Microsoft Edge Legacy when installed.
As the new Microsoft Edge uses the same engine as Google Chrome, the browser quickly grew in popularity as it provides excellent performance, features. and can use all of Chrome's existing extensions.
As first reported by WindowsLatest, StatCounter shows that Microsoft Edge has grown from a 0.57% market share in March 2020 to 8.03% by March 2021. This is an impressive 1,308% growth in market share in just twelve months.
The largest single-month increase for Microsoft Edge was in June 2020, most likely fueled by Microsoft's increasing rolling out of the new browser via Windows Update.
Source: WindowsLatest
While we expected that Microsoft Edge's increased usage would take away from Chrome's market share, in reality, Chrome's usage was only chipped away by less than a percentage point, 68.11 to 67.14%, over the past year.
On the other hand, Firefox has seen a steady decrease, with it having a 9.25% share in March 2020 and falling to 7.95% by March 2021. This makes it slightly less used than Microsoft Edge.
With Microsoft Edge Legacy being replaced by the new Microsoft Edge, its market share dropped from 4.56% in March 2020 to only 0.44% in March 2021.
As Microsoft will be forcibly replacing Microsoft Edge Legacy with the new Microsoft Edge as part of the upcoming April 2021 Patch Tuesday updates, Edge Legacy's market share will drop even further. At the same time, we should see a continued boost to the new Microsoft Edge's usage.
Regardless of which browser you use, the increased Microsoft Edge usage should be seen as a good thing as it is better to have competition in the market rather than one utterly dominant browser.
For a complete breakdown of market share over the past twelve months for Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge Legacy, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Safari, you can consult the following table.
| Date | Chrome | Safari | Firefox | Edge | Edge Legacy |
| 2020-03 | 68.11 | 8.93 | 9.25 | 0.57 | 4.56 |
| 2020-04 | 67.15 | 9.7 | 9.18 | 1.01 | 4.86 |
| 2020-05 | 68.33 | 9.4 | 8.91 | 1.24 | 4.41 |
| 2020-06 | 69.42 | 8.74 | 8.48 | 2.37 | 3.45 |
| 2020-07 | 69.55 | 8.36 | 8.61 | 4.12 | 1.93 |
| 2020-08 | 69.87 | 8.27 | 8.34 | 5.02 | 1.3 |
| 2020-09 | 69.71 | 8.73 | 8.15 | 5.54 | 0.94 |
| 2020-10 | 70.33 | 8.87 | 7.69 | 5.83 | 0.77 |
| 2020-11 | 67.71 | 9.83 | 7.95 | 6.82 | 0.69 |
| 2020-12 | 65.96 | 10.43 | 8.39 | 7.43 | 0.57 |
| 2021-01 | 66.59 | 10.38 | 8.1 | 7.81 | 0.52 |
| 2021-02 | 66.47 | 10.27 | 8.17 | 8.01 | 0.48 |
| 2021-03 | 67.14 | 10.11 | 7.95 | 8.03 | 0.44 |
Comments
NoneRain - 3 years ago
Edge is better than Chrome, IMO.
That said, Firefox will always have a place for many users. Vivaldi and Brave are also great options.
Mike_Walsh - 3 years ago
Mmm.....so? Doesn't PROVE anything. Developers are utterly obsessed with statistics & 'one-upmanship', often to the exclusion of everything else. You'd EXPECT a big leap in Chromium-Edge usage, given that it's now being pushed as the default browser, OOTB.....and Windows IS still the dominant desktop 'player'. So, in all honesty, this ISN'T really 'news'......is it?
The big plus point for all concerned is that the 'new' Edge is SO much better than anything Windows users have ever been used to before. It'll be WAY more stable, too.
(*shrug*)
The 'faithful' will stick with what they like, though. And others, like me, have NO preferences at all, and will give anything a try....
ShadowNinja - 3 years ago
After years of hating Edge I have to agree that Microsoft has really stepped it up. The vertical tab functionality in the new Edge has nearly gotten me to switch to it. I'm always keeping 10+ tabs open at once, and so many sites just have wasted white space on the sides, so it makes a lot of sense. It amazes me that Firefox and Chrome don't have this already, outside of third party extensions.
Mike_Walsh - 3 years ago
@ ShadowNinja:-
I've been re-packaging Chromium-based 'clones' for years; trust me, nothing surprises me any longer. What one implements, all the others will, sooner or later, follow suit.....like a pack of lemmings.
NoneRain - 3 years ago
@Mike_Walsh
Yeah...just like any other kind of tech product or service.... They see a feature well accepted by the users, and try to implement their own...
Wolverine 7 - 3 years ago
I think Firefox still has more features,overall,..Edge had improved though,..especially since i disabled it,..big improvement,.heh,heh..
Boalive - 3 years ago
I use firefox before, but I uninstalled it after the mozilla CEO publishing an unintelligent article about white supremacy and proud boys group
buddy215 - 3 years ago
Which article are you upset with? Is it this one.....https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2021/01/08/we-need-more-than-deplatforming/
QUOTE A BIT.... Mitchell Baker January 8, 2021
There is no question that social media played a role in the siege and take-over of the US Capitol on January 6.
Since then there has been significant focus on the deplatforming of President Donald Trump. By all means the question of when to deplatform a head of state is a critical one, among many that must be addressed. When should platforms make these decisions? Is that decision-making power theirs alone?
But as reprehensible as the actions of Donald Trump are, the rampant use of the internet to foment violence and hate, and reinforce white supremacy is about more than any one personality. Donald Trump is certainly not the first politician to exploit the architecture of the internet in this way, and he won’t be the last. We need solutions that don’t start after untold damage has been done.
Changing these dangerous dynamics requires more than just the temporary silencing or permanent removal of bad actors from social media platforms.