Why people switch from Chrome
The most common reasons.
Manifest V3 broke ad blocking
Chrome's new extension rules (called Manifest V3) quietly limited what ad blockers can do. The full version of uBlock Origin was removed from Chrome because it couldn't keep working under the new rules; the "Lite" version that replaced it blocks fewer things. Dazr has a full-strength ad blocker built into the browser itself, so it isn't bound by Manifest V3 in the first place.
"Privacy Sandbox" still tracks you
Google's "Privacy Sandbox" — the umbrella name for the Topics API, FLEDGE / Protected Audience, Attribution Reporting, and Shared Storage — is its replacement for third-party cookies. The marketing says privacy; the reality is it still builds a behavioural profile of you (just on your device instead of on Google's servers) so advertisers can keep targeting. Dazr turns the whole thing off.
Constant data sent to Google
Chrome sends usage data, crash reports, search suggestions, "Safe Browsing" checks, sync data, and feature experiments back to Google by default. Even with most settings turned off, the browser keeps making background requests to Google services. Dazr doesn't send anything to Google.
Google account lock-in
The moment you sign into Gmail in Chrome, you're often signed into Chrome too. Your bookmarks, history, and saved passwords start flowing into your Google account profile, sometimes without an obvious prompt. Dazr has no account system at all, there's nothing to sign into, and nothing to leak into a profile.
It's a US company
Chrome is made by Google, and Google is American. US laws like the CLOUD Act and FISA Section 702 can require American companies to hand over user data to government agencies, sometimes with orders the company may not be allowed to disclose. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, sending personal data to US-based services is on shaky legal ground under European privacy law. A European browser isn't subject to any of that.
You can't fully turn the tracking off
Chrome's privacy settings are spread across deep menus, and many of the toggles don't do what they sound like ("Do Not Track" sends a polite request that websites are free to ignore, and most do). Dazr starts with the safe settings already on. There's no "privacy mode" to enable, because privacy isn't a mode.
Dazr vs Chrome at a glance
What each browser does, side by side.
| Feature | Google Chrome | Dazr |
|---|---|---|
| Sends usage data to vendor | Yes (by default) | None |
| Country / jurisdiction | USA (Google) | EU |
| Built-in ad blocker | No | Yes, full strength |
| Full uBlock Origin works | No (limited by new rules) | Built-in equivalent |
| Anti-fingerprinting (stops sites identifying your device) | No | Yes, by default |
| Strips tracking codes from links (utm, fbclid, gclid) | No | Yes |
| Unwraps Google AMP back to the original site | No | Yes |
| Skips tracking redirect URLs | No | Yes |
| WebRTC IP-leak protection | Manual | On by default |
| Encrypted DNS (DoH / DoT) | Manual | European non-profit DNS, on by default |
| Google "Privacy Sandbox" APIs (Topics, FLEDGE, etc.) | On | All disabled |
| Phishing protection | Google Safe Browsing | European/open-source feeds, no Google |
| Account required for sync | No account, no sync | |
| Free | Yes | Yes |
What you actually get when you switch
An ad blocker that actually blocks ads
Chrome changed its rules in 2024 in a way that quietly broke the best ad blockers. The full version of uBlock Origin was pulled from Chrome because the new rules wouldn't let it work properly. The "Lite" version that replaced it can't block as many things.
Dazr has its own ad blocker built into the browser, same blocklists as uBlock Origin (EasyList, EasyPrivacy, and the community-maintained "quick fixes"), refreshed every week. It runs at the network layer, before any extension would even see the request.
- Full-strength blocking, not the watered-down Chrome version
- Login flows (CAPTCHAs, payment, sign-in) are allowlisted so they don't break
- One-click per-site toggle if you ever need to disable it
Anti-fingerprinting that doesn't break the web
Browser fingerprinting is when a website builds a unique ID for your computer based on tiny details: screen size, installed fonts, graphics card, audio hardware. Even with cookies blocked, fingerprinting can track you across sites. Most browsers don't try to stop it. Tor Browser tries so hard it breaks websites. Dazr is in between: enough randomness on canvas, WebGL, audio, and font measurements that you blend into the crowd, not so much that anything stops working.
Three settings, strict, standard (the default), and off, plus per-site overrides if a particular bank or login flow needs the standard setting.
- Defends against the most common fingerprinting tricks
- Login flows (banks, payment, sign-in) keep working
- One-click per-site override
European, all the way down
Every service Dazr connects to runs on European servers and follows European privacy law. DNS lookups go to a French/German non-profit instead of Google or Cloudflare. Update checks go to dazr.eu, which is in Europe too. No Google services anywhere, not Maps, not Fonts, not Safe Browsing.
For European users (and especially European businesses), this matters: your data stays under European privacy rules, not US ones.
- No US cloud anywhere in the path
- No Google services anywhere
- European data protection rules apply by default