Beacon

Browsers are the tools that probably get the most mileage on most systems, and understandably so. Mainstream solutions provide a smooth experience for anyone looking for a capable browser, but alternatives have always existed.

If you're looking for a newly-developed, open-source, privacy-focused alternative, then Beacon might be the one for you. It's been designed to respect the end user's privacy, whilst also offering a lightweight, yet sufficiently versatile package: extensions are supported via the Chrome Web Store, and users can freely surf the web without any fear of being tracked.

The Chromium project has brought about a light form of standardization when it comes to browsers: there's a tinge of familiarity in many of the available mainstream offerings, and Chromium is partly responsible for it. Beacon certainly feels familiar in many aspects: its interface is hardly different from Chrome's, and even the Settings menus coincide in many ways.

Where this solution seeks to deliver is in the privacy department: centralized certificate authorities are eliminated in its zero-trust HTTPS/TLS handling, in a way to move towards a more decentralized browsing experience. To further that, the decentralized peer-to-peer Handshake system used serves to improve page load times, while prioritizing the user's privacy.

The Settings menus allow users to more thoroughly tweak their web surfing experience, and the options are quite straightforward. In the Privacy and Security tab, the Safety Check can help ensure that your data is safe and secure: you can change your protection, configure a custom DNS, and manage your certificates. Your extensions and passwords are also checked in order to ascertain whether they've been compromised.

A boon of Chromium lies in extension support, and through the Chrome Web Store, users are free to download any add-ons relevant to them. This greatly enhances the versatility and viability of the browser.

Users are also free to customize the look of their browser: various colors and themes are available, but you can also make your own anytime.

Beacon doesn't exactly create new ground with its offering, but it's a solid, well-rounded browser that focuses on the end user's privacy, while still managing to provide a lightweight solution.