Browse the web in a secure environment with built-in ad-blocker, secure VPN connections and website compression for faster web page loading. It supports customization using extensions and themes, as well as Opera Turbo.
Browsing the Web does not need to be a dangerous activity in terms of privacy, it does not need to be slow, and it certainly should not require you to fight all kinds of ads to reach the content you were looking for. Opera offers you, among many other features, a free VPN solution to protect your privacy, an ad blocker to get rid of annoying ads, and a Chrome-based architecture to guarantee high-speed browsing.
Though the number of Opera users seems to have remained stable (and in the lower ranks) for the last few years, the Norwegian company hasn’t stopped innovating to offer you (us, actually) a lightning-fast and secure browser to make the most of our browsing experience. Why such a comprehensive and free browser does not seem to take off for good is (in terms of functionality alone) beyond me – it is just as fast as Chrome (the most widely used browser in the market), it includes a free VPN solution, private browsing, two workspaces, a search-in-tabs function, a built-in snapshot tool, etc. All of these features can only be found in this browser, together with many others that I’ll leave for you to discover, and still it struggles to go over the 5% of the market share.
If not the most popular browser, Opera can be surely labelled as the most innovative one, even though it’s the oldest of the top five. Opera developers brought us the “dark & light mode”, now available in Chrome as well; the pop-out video feature, that can also be found now in Chrome and Firefox, and some other innovative utilities that are still exclusive to this browser – i.e., the Ad Blocker and the customizable speed dials. Opera’s pop-up blocking is by far superior to whatever similar solution you may find in its closest competitors. However, while blocking pop-up windows and ads does not seem to be a problem, blocking suspicious or malicious websites is actually one of its few cons (its lack of parental control features is just another one).
Opera remains the most customizable browser among the most widely used ones, it’s been a source of inspiration for more popular browsers, it has invented things we now take for granted (such as multi-tab browsing), it is as fast as any other Chrome-based browser, it consumes less resources (including RAM memory) than all of its competitors, and it is just as intuitive – if not more – than any of the four browsers with a higher market share. Still, this excellent browser hasn’t managed to convince software developers or users of its many advantages. I cannot but recommend that you download, install, and enjoy using this browser.
v36.0 [Feb 9, 2016]
With Opera 36, we are giving you even more enhancements for your favorite browser :). Highlights include better support for Windows 10, more customization on the start page and nicer handling of extensions in the toolbar, for those of you who use a lot of them.
Refreshed start page
We’ve updated the style of our top UI. The start-page navigation panel has been moved to the left, to optimize the horizontal space on popular widescreen monitors. We’re also responding to your requests for more customization power over Speed Dial – in the top-right corner, you will find the “Customize start page” cogwheel option, which allows you to change themes and customize the news section in one place. If you select “Show advanced options” from opera://settings, the start-page configuration will show even more settings – give it a try! Of course, this is not the end of our customization enhancements, more are coming in Opera 37.
Modern-app-like browsing on Windows 10
The UI has changed even more for our Windows 10 users. Opera now blends with the system, changing colors across the application to match its style.
To see it in action, make sure you have recent OS updates (Windows 10, Threshold 2) and then go to in opera://settings ->Browsing -> User interface and select “Show system color on top bar”.
Opera now adapts to your input method to make life easier for those of you using touch. With touch input, it will automatically increase the size of toolbar items and all context menus, plus it will give you a new icon for the fullscreen move, exactly like modern apps do.
We’ve also added some cool-looking graphics to make our style blend better with the native Windows 10 style.
Opera vs other browsers
Unlike other browsers, we try to keep Opera’s UI as close to the platform as possible.
Unlike Firefox, for example, we offer Windows 10 users native notifications, touch-mode support, the fullscreen icon and bigger context menus for touchscreens, as well as an option to switch to system colors.
And, unlike Edge, Opera allows you to enhance and customize your browsing experience through extensions, including sidebar and Speed Dial extensions. To handle many extensions, using toolbar icons in Opera 36, we’ve added an expander.
Plus, we have animated themes that look just great on Windows 10.
Mall Creeps
