Safari’s market share reaches 21%, Chrome at 63%

In 2023, one web browser has the runaway lead in market share.

Google Chrome now possesses a 63% market share in the web browser space. Its nearest competitor is Apple's browser Safari which only has 21% of the market. No other browser is in double digits.

However, in recent years Google's market share has stabilized as they also possessed 63% in 2019. Safari's market share has been slowly climbing for months.

It is remarkable that just a decade ago, the browser space was a great example of a market in perfect competition. Google Chrome had 34%, Microsofts Internet Explorer had 26%, Mozilla Firefox had a passionate fanbase of 17%, and Safari had 10% of the market.

Perhaps Google's most significant advantage in this space is its functionality across all ecosystems.

Windows users who prefer Safari were always a rarity, but now so more than ever. On the other hand, Chrome dominates Windows and Android users but also creates a compelling product for Apple users.

Even on iOS and MacOS devices, Safari has its challenges. Whether it be relative slowness or more crashes than Chrome.

Although the differences in speed and stability between Safari and Chrome may be minimal today, what is indisputable is that many websites perform better on Chrome simply because of how the website is designed, which is out of Apple's control.

Longtime Safari users, whether they use it because it is Apple's default or because they want ecosystem continuity, they are all too familiar with the message "this webpage is using significant memory."

Unless an unsuspecting tech company creates a marketing miracle with a new browser, it is hard to see Google having any potential competitor for first place other than the biggest company in the world, Apple.

Microsofts browser "Edge" currently has only about 5% market share and places third. With each passing year, Microsoft's chances of being first in software market shares generally are decreasing instead of increasing.

It may be more likely that Apple or Google will buy out Microsoft than have a top market share in browser software again. Such a thought seemed much more far-fetched in 2013.