Min: Bare-Bones Browser with Built-in Ad Blocking

Productivity Sauce

At first glance, Min may seem like a browser that is too minimalistic to be of any practical use. But behind its bare-bones facade lurks several handy features that make it a viable lightweight alternative to mainstream browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Chromium. For starters, Min supports tabs and you can perform searches by entering search queries directly into the address bar. In addition to regular search queries, the DuckDuckGo search engine that powers Min allows you to search Wikipedia articles and programming documentation as well as perform fuzzy searches and use the address bar as a simple calculator. As you would expect, Min features bookmarking functionality, and the browser also supports reading mode that reformats articles for a better reading experience. There is also the focus mode that hides all tabs except the current one.

Min's main attraction, though, is its built-in ad and tracker blocking functionality (it's disabled by default, so you need to enable it manually). Add to this the fact that Min is lightning fast, and you have a rather compelling alternative to established browsers. There is a tiny fly in the ointment, though: Min doesn't offer a lot in terms of customization. It's not possible to change the default search engine, so you are stuck with DuckDuckGo. And if you want to enable ads on individual websites to support your favorite publications, you are out of luck, as with Min's adblocker it's all or nothing.