I have installed Maxthon 2 and Firefox 3 multiple times on my computer. What browser do you use as your main browser? In this post I take Maxthon 2.1.1 and Firefox 3 to the challenge to see which one has more features and what not. Of course the choice remains for you to decide which one works best for you. All of the comparisons below use fresh installed browsers, no new installed plug-ins, themes, and so on.

This is all based on my personal preference. Meaning to other people their pros and cons list might be different based on an average user or their preferences.

“Maxthon User” responded:

Thanks for the comparison. But it looks like below Cons about Maxthon is not really problems but your personal browsing style.

The spell checker isn’t very useful, you have to press a key or right-click on a menu to get to the spell checker tool
I personally don’t like the spell check to appear whenever I write something.

Still uses pop-up dialogs for remember password and magic fill instead of streamlined
I think popup dialog is more visible to Internet average users.

You have to keep Internet explorer installed.
You don’t have to keep IE installed as long as Trident render dll is there.

Favorites does not use the favorite folder used by IE7
I see it as one of the great leap of Maxthon. Why shall it use slow, bulky IE’s favorite system.

You hold the image/link/text instead of dragging it to drop it.
I don’t know what you refer to. But Maxthon can drag and drop text,link or whatever you do with IE.

Download manager is in a page, you can set a dialog box but it doesn’t stay open at times.
What’s wrong to have the download manager in a tab page? Actually it’s used widely in a lot of software, like Opera, uTorrent web admin etc. A popup download manager is just ‘old style’ UI.

Should have a clear download history task(s) button in the dialog.
All download history is in the download manager tab… Hey, you said you don’t like popup dialog with spell check and now you like it? What a double standard.

Doesn’t have a good RSS page where it asks you which program you want to send the RSS subscription to.
Yes. Maxthon does not have such feature. But if you call it Cons just because Firefox has this feature and Maxthon does not have. You can find really a lot of Cons in Firefox. Just name a few: Screen Capture feature, Advanced Ads blocker, Advanced Proxy, CPU saving mode, File sniffer, Translations, External tools, Boss Key…

Maxthon 2.1.1.171

• Pros
  • Faster boot up then Firefox – warm-start = 2 seconds
  • Has a Maxthon download manager.
  • Uses less memory than Firefox 3. Both browsers were installed without plug-ins or any changes, both viewing the same Google Image search page.
    
  • Features a online account by default where you can save your favorites and login to the forum with. You can also use a local account instead of an online one.
  • Since it uses IE7 but has more features you can still view Windows Updates and web sites that use ActiveX.
  • Has encountered less security exploits than Firefox. Although it also uses IE updates from your system.
  • Split screen browsing.
  • Super MSA
  • Advanced ad blocking. Includes pop-up blocker, web content ads filter, and a floats ad filter.
  • More customizable keyboard and mouse shortcuts.
  • Mouse gestures.
  • Screen capture tool.
  • Possible to detach tab into window.
  • Group Tabs
  • File Sniffer
  • Favorite icon and dead favorite link checker.
  • Float buttons while hovering images and flash items.
  • Possible to combine refresh and stop button.
  • Change theme and install plug-ins without restarting program.
  • When closing browser with multiple tabs open it doesn’t tell you if you want to save them for next time. You can enable a dialog to popup and ask you, but it slowly gets annoying at times with the drop down box.
  • If browser crashes, it opens up with a “recently browsed” page and it allows you to reopen them again.
  • Boss key - Hide the browser by pressing a key combination.
  • Has it’s own RSS Subscription tool.
  • Super drag-and-drop feature
• Cons
  • Windows Only
  • Currently uses the IE7 rendering system. = Does not pass web standards (Acid2)
  • The spell checker isn’t very useful, you have to press a key or right-click on a menu to get to the spell checker tool.
  • Not open source.
  • Not a lot of plug-ins and themes, some are only in Chinese. The Add-ons page will most of the time be very slow.
  • Still uses pop-up dialogs for remember password and magic fill instead of streamlined.
  • You have to keep Internet explorer installed.
  • Most pages render slower (not speed but render).
  • Favorites does not use the favorite folder used by IE7.
  • You hold the image/link/text instead of dragging it to drop it.
  • Download manager is in a page, you can set a dialog box but it doesn’t stay open at times.
  • Should have a clear download history task(s) button in the dialog.
  • Doesn’t have a good RSS page where it asks you which program you want to send the RSS subscription to.

Firefox 3.0 (final release)

• Pros
  • Native styles for every system.
  • If browser crashes, it just loads them up again after asking if you want it to.
  • Uses ‘Gecko’ for rendering system. = Passes web standards (Acid2)
  • Available for most popular operating systems
  • Very useful download manager, much better than Firefox 2.
  • The spell checker already works when typing in a text-area box. You’ll see a red squiggly line. Very useful.
  • Has a big active user community (forums, bug reporting, development).
  • A wide range of very useful plug-ins and themes.
  • Streamlined remember password bar.
  • Smart location bar.
  • Most pages render faster (shows up faster).
  • Better keyboard shortcuts than Maxthon.
  • Can drag and drop tabs into bookmarks bar.
  • Set bookmark by selecting the star icon in address bar.
  • Drag (yes drag, not hold) and drop images, links, and text.
  • New add-ons and plug-ins manager.
  • Includes a “get more search engines page” link.
  • Better viewing RSS page.
  • Fixed width tabs (seems like fixed width) changes size when the tab bar is almost full.
  • Includes an advanced configuration page.
  • Stronger malware and phishing protection.
  • Supports most newer CSS, JS, and HTML adjustments (round cornered buttons for example).
  • Has a very strong pop-up blocker.
• Cons
  • Slower boot up than Maxthon – warm-start = 3 seconds
  • Uses more memory than Maxthon.
  • Has encountered many security exploits in the past.
  • Just includes a strong pop-up blocker.
  • Screen Capture feature
  • Advanced Ads blocker
  • Advanced Proxy
  • CPU saving mode
  • File sniffer
  • Translations
  • External tools
  • Boss Key

What are your thoughts on Firefox 3 and Maxthon 2? In conclusion I still prefer Firefox 3 as my main browser. Just remember that this is based on my personal preference.