HACKER Q&A
📣 jazzdev

Alternatives to Chrome Extensions


The new Chrome Web Store spam policy makes my extension that links our internal Jenkins install with our internal Github install illegal. Super useful to be able to click on stack traces in Jenkins and open the code in Github. But extensions with the sole purpose of launching another app are not allowed. Should I:

- Switch to Chromium? - Just load packaged extensions every time I restart Chrome? - Switch to Firefox - Switch to Safari

  👤 bjornstar Accepted Answer ✓
With the way the Chrome Web Store has been behaving recently, I'm also planning on moving away from publicly distributing my extensions on the Chrome Web Store.

I've been impressed with how quickly the Mozilla Add-On site approves extensions. I also like how it sends me an e-mail when my extension is approved and published. But the best part of the Mozilla Add-On site is that users can install old versions of your extension.

I've already dropped Safari support for my extensions. The fact that you have to pay the Apple developer tax to package your free web extension is bad enough, but now you need to use xcode which means you need to buy a Mac.

With the upcoming Manifest v3 changes, it's time to switch to using Firefox and stop enabling Google.