Google Chrome is a fast, simple, and secure web browser, built for the modern web. Chrome combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

Is Chrome the fastest browser?

Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and other major browsers are updated every few weeks, so it's hard to compare them over time which is the fastest. Chrome is known to be a RAM hog, but when used heavily, other browsers are known to be just as resource-consuming.

In general, Chrome remains among the fastest browsers, especially for complex web apps and JavaScript-heavy sites. Web developers always optimize for Chrome's engine because it's the most used browser by far when you account for desktop use, Android phones, and all other browsers that also rely on the Chromium engine.

Is Google Chrome safe and private?

Google Chrome is generally considered safe in terms of protecting users from malicious websites, phishing, and malware, thanks to strong security features like sandboxing and phishing protection, but it's less private because it collects user data for Google services and ads.

Everything you do in Chrome, including every character you type into the address bar, is recorded by Google and linked to you. While using other Google services, all that data may be cross-referenced. More privacy-conscious users may prefer to use Firefox.

What are the best Chrome alternatives?

There are tons of good and free alternatives for browsing the web. If you want a more private browsing, you can opt for Firefox or Brave. If you don't want to use Google services, you can use Ungoogled Chromium.

Opera, Microsoft Edge and Vivaldi are other great options, all three are Chromium-based just like Google Chrome. While most browsers have started to add AI tools, there are newcomers like ChatGPT Atlas and Comet that have free built-in assistants that offer to summarize content or automate tasks.

Why is Chrome using so much CPU and memory, even with only a few tabs open?

Many users notice that Chrome consumes a significant amount of resources, even when only a few tabs are open. This is often due to certain tabs, extensions, or accumulated cache and cookies. To resolve this, open Chrome's Task Manager through the "More Tools" menu to identify and close tabs or extensions that are using the most resources. Disabling unnecessary extensions and regularly clearing your browsing data can also help improve performance and reduce memory usage.

How can I prevent Chrome from automatically translating web pages?

Chrome's automatic translation feature can be frustrating. To stop this behavior, go to the Settings menu, select "Languages," and turn off the option that offers to translate pages not in a language you read. You can also manage individual language preferences there.

Features

Speed

Chrome is designed to be fast in every possible way: It's quick to start up from your desktop, loads web pages in a snap, and runs complex web applications fast. Learn more about Chrome and speed.

Stay organized with tabs

Tabs help you stay organized, keep track of multiple pages, and multi-task. You can group tabs together for better organization or pin tabs to automatically open websites you use the most.

Have Chrome read pages aloud

Chrome can now read web pages aloud. Words on the page are highlighted to help you follow along. Read aloud is best for content like news stories, articles, or even PDFs.

  • To use read aloud, right-click on a page, and select Open in reading mode. This opens the side panel, which has controls you can use for read aloud.
  • Click the Play button.
  • You can adjust the voice , speed, and highlight style in the toolbar next to the Play button.

View two pages in one tab

Split view puts two pages side-by-side in the same tab so you can easily compare options, watch a video while taking notes, and more.

Ways to open a split view:

  • Drag another tab or link to the left or right edge of your browser window.
  • You can also right-click a link and select Open link in split view.

Sign and annotate your PDFs

Skip downloading and printing when it's time to sign a PDF. Use the annotation tool to hand-draw your personal signature, complete forms, and highlight lines.

  • Open a PDF and click Annotations.
  • Choose your pen or highlighter style and color.
  • Draw your annotation or signature, and click Save .

Tip: To make it easier to draw on a small line, Zoom the PDF.

Get your tab groups on the go

Just like your bookmarks and passwords, your tab groups are now available across all your devices. Get started on one device and pick up your project on another device.

To start seeing your tab groups across devices:

  • Sign in and create a tab group on your computer or phone.
  • Your tab group will automatically save to your account.
  • Open your group on a different device.
  • Mobile: go to your open tabs, click the tab group section .
  • Desktop: click the tab group icon in your bookmarks bar (if open) or the Chrome menu.

What's New

The Stable channel has been updated to 146.0.7680.177/178 for Windows/Mac and 146.0.7680.177 for Linux, which will roll out over the coming days/weeks. A full list of changes in this build is available in the Log.

Security Fixes and Rewards

Note: Access to bug details and links may be kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with a fix. We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven't yet fixed.

This update includes 8 security fixes. Please see the Chrome Security Page for more information.

  • [$7000][485397284] High CVE-2026-4673: Heap buffer overflow in WebAudio. Reported by c6eed09fc8b174b0f3eebedcceb1e792 on 2026-02-18
  • [TBD][488188166] High CVE-2026-4674: Out of bounds read in CSS. Reported by Syn4pse on 2026-02-27
  • [TBD][488270257] High CVE-2026-4675: Heap buffer overflow in WebGL. Reported by 86ac1f1587b71893ed2ad792cd7dde32 on 2026-02-27
  • [TBD][488613135] High CVE-2026-4676: Use after free in Dawn. Reported by 86ac1f1587b71893ed2ad792cd7dde32 on 2026-03-01
  • [TBD][490533968] High CVE-2026-4677: Out of bounds read in WebAudio. Reported by c6eed09fc8b174b0f3eebedcceb1e792 on 2026-03-07
  • [TBD][491164019] High CVE-2026-4678: Use after free in WebGPU. Reported by Google on 2026-03-10
  • [TBD][491516670] High CVE-2026-4679: Integer overflow in Fonts. Reported by GF, Un3xploitable Of DeadSec on 2026-03-11
  • [TBD][491869946] High CVE-2026-4680: Use after free in FedCM. Reported by Shaheen Fazim on 2026-03-12

We would also like to thank all security researchers that worked with us during the development cycle to prevent security bugs from ever reaching the stable channel.

Google Chrome adds split view, PDF annotations, and Drive saves

Google is making Chrome a little more work-friendly with a trio of productivity upgrades that are now rolling out on the desktop. The browser's new built-in split view lets you run two tabs side by side without juggling windows, while its PDF viewer can now handle highlights, notes, and even signatures.

There's also a smarter Save to Google Drive option that sends PDFs straight into a dedicated "Saved from Chrome" folder, cutting out the download-and-reupload dance. If you live in your browser all day, the latest Chrome update is worth grabbing.

The Stable channel has been updated to 145.0.7632.109/110 for Windows/Mac and 144.0.7559.109 for Linux, which will roll out over the coming days/weeks. A full list of changes in this build is available in the Log.

Security Fixes and Rewards

Note: Access to bug details and links may be kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with a fix. We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven't yet fixed.

This update includes 3 security fixes. Please see the Chrome Security Page for more information.

  • [TBD][477033835] High CVE-2026-2648: Heap buffer overflow in PDFium. Reported by soiax on 2026-01-19
  • [TBD][481074858] High CVE-2026-2649: Integer overflow in V8. Reported by JunYoung Park(@candymate) of KAIST Hacking Lab on 2026-02-03
  • [N/A][476461867] Medium CVE-2026-2650: Heap buffer overflow in Media. Reported by Google on 2026-01-18

We would also like to thank all security researchers that worked with us during the development cycle to prevent security bugs from ever reaching the stable channel.

Many of our security bugs are detected using AddressSanitizer, MemorySanitizer, UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer, Control Flow Integrity, libFuzzer, or AFL.

Features

Chrome 144 is rolling out now, and this post shares some of the key features from the release. Highlights from this release:

  • Highlight find-in-page search text with a new pseudo-element.
  • Request permission to use location date with the geolocation element
  • The Temporal API brings a modern date and time API to the web.

The ::search-text pseudo-element

Exposes find-in-page search result styling as the ::search-text pseudo-element, which is a highlight pseudo-element like those used for selection and spelling errors. This lets you change the foreground and background colors or add text decorations. This is especially useful if the browser defaults have insufficient contrast with the page colors or are otherwise unsuitable.