With over a thousand extensions available on the Chrome Web Store, it’s time for a roundup of our favorites. So in this list, we’ll show you the absolute best free google chrome extensions in several categories; including the adblocker, we like the most. All of these can be used with google chrome and other chromium-based browsers; like Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, Opera, and the Brave browser.
If you’re an existing Google Chrome user, we hope you have the best Chrome theme installed in your web browser. But for newbies, there is a lot to learn before browsing like security, importance, and more.
What are Google Chrome Extensions?
Google Chrome is one of the multi-platform web browsers founded in 2008. Developed by Google, Chrome is a free Chromium-based browser available for Microsoft Windows, Linus, MacOS, IOS, and Android.
Google Chrome Extensions are small programs to modify the experiences or add functionalities to the chrome browser. Extensions are built using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
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An extension should have a minimal interface or it can extend to a web page also but the main focus is to provide good functionality with less overhead.
Extensions come with zipped into an in .crx package and to use it, users need to download the package and install it. Every Chrome extensions are available in the Chrome web store.
The best Google Chrome Extensions to use in 2022
After a lot of research and hunting on the internet, we have created a list of the 10 best Free Google Chrome Extensions that will help you boost your overall browsing experience.
From easy-adjust screens to enhancing reading, capturing any web pages, and many more productivity extensions are available in this article. Follow the article to get a suitable extension according to your need.
01. Dark Reader
Dark Reader is an awesome open-source extension, that enables a dark theme inverting the colors on the websites you visit, making them easier to read, especially at night. While some browsers and websites do have a built-in dark mode nothing tops used in this extension.
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For example, when you’re on a website with a lot of white space, selecting the dark reader icon gives you the option to turn it on or off for each side.
After turning this Google Chrome Extention on, you can see with the bright colors inverted it’s easier to look at without blinding your eyes. If you need more control throw the filters below to switch the mode. The light mode will be less bright than the typical website with Dark Reader Night Mode turned off.
You can also adjust the brightness, contrast, sepia and grayscale Dark Reader like most in this article is Free. If you end up liking this extension there’s a handy donate button to contribute to the developer.
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02. DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials
If you’re familiar with the DuckDuckGo search engine that doesn’t track your activity, their privacy essentials extension is also quite useful. It blocks trackers that follow you online, keeping your personal information from exposing when visiting websites, and will change your browser’s default search engine to DuckDuckGo.
On any website, when you click the privacy essentials icon, you’ll see a privacy grade for that site. With the enhancements forced by this extension, the site’s grid has been upgraded from C+ plus to B.
Below that DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials will show you if the connection is encrypted and the number of trackers being blocked. Even this company that touts privacy in their marketing is tracking you. If you’re feeling adventurous living the crazy life you can even turn off protection for individual sites.
03. Wikiwand: Wikipedia Modernized
If you use Wikipedia, Wiki Wand is an award-winning google chrome extension that optimizes Wikipedia’s content, giving you a much-improved reading experience. It has a cleaner layout with modern typography, and its fixed table of contents makes it easier to find what you’re looking for.
Normally when you go to Wikipedia you get this outdated look because the content is not laid out well. It can sometimes be difficult to find the information that you’re looking for. After installing the Wikiwand: Wikipedia Modernized, all Wikipedia pages will automatically load into the new lot cleaner-looking layout with a fixed table of contents on the left.
This makes it a lot quicker and easier to navigate the page. When you click the settings icon in the upper right corner, you can change the font used switch between a light and dark mode the size of the text, and the width of the layout.
04. Grammarly: Grammar Checker and Writing App
Grammarly is a fantastic google chrome extension that will help to eliminate spelling and other writing errors. It’s better than just using those built into other services and can use on those sites where you write on the web including google docs, Gmail, Twitter, and Facebook.
It’s so easy to use that a caveman could use it. Just look for the errors underlined in red, then hover your cursor over those errors to see the suggested fixes. To correct those issues, click the corrected text in green to fix the problem.
05. Awesome screenshot and Screen Recorder
Awesome screenshot and Screen Recorder is another one recently featured on our list. It’s great for browsers like chrome that lack a proper screenshot tool with the ability to record both audio and video within your browser.
To take a screenshot of any web page, click the icon to the right of the address bar. Make sure the capture tab is selected. You have three choices Visible part, Full page, and Selected area.
Awesome screenshot and Screen Recorder have a pro version available with additional features. For free, you can crop your image, there’s a pen tool to mark it up with a highlighter, and to the right, there’s a button to copy it to your clipboard and paste it wherever you want. You also have the option to save to your computer as an image or a pdf print it out or share it with others.
In addition, if you plan to record your screen, First click their icon and select the record tab. To choose whether you want to save your video to the cloud or locally to your computer.
If you plan to use a microphone or camera you’ll need to grant access and then choose your max resolution. The max for free in HD 720p and you’ll limit it up to five minutes per video. When you’re okay with that click start recording.
06. Extensity
You may listen that having too many google chrome extensions enable can slow down your browser. This is especially true if you have a computer with low system specs. Extensity makes it quicker and easier to enable the extensions you need and disables the ones you don’t need at that moment.
To enable or disable any extension, select the extensity icon. This will show you a list of all the extensions you have installed. You’ll notice that those that are not enabled are grayed out. To disable any extension simply click on the active one and to enable any extension that is disabled, click on it to activate it If you have a lot of extensions installed, extensity is a must-have that will save you a lot of time.
07. Keepa – Amazon Price Tracker
‘Keepa’ is a useful google chrome extension and one of the best extensions on our list. If you shop on Amazon, it lets you take a look at the price history charts to make sure that you’re getting the best deal. It also lets you set up alerts to notify you if the price ever drops.
Once Keepa – Amazon Price Tracker is installed when on a product page on Amazon, scroll down below the description to see the price history chart. You can add or remove filters to the graph on the right by clicking on them. If you’d like to get alerts from ‘keepa’ if or when the price drops, select the track product tab to the right of price history then enter the desired price in one of the fields, or after clicking the field select the price showing the discount in the window that you want.
After selecting, click outside the window to close it. Click the drop-down to select how long you want this item to be tracked. let’s choose according to ourselves and then click on start tracking.
08. Mercury Reader
Mercury Reader is great for those chromium-based browsers that have yet to add a reader mode. This google chrome extension cleans up a web page removing all the clutter and making an article easier to read with fewer distractions when looking at an article.
To activate Mercury Reader, Click the icon to the right of the address bar. With the clutter removed, the article is more readable than before. In the upper right of the article, after clicking the settings icon, you can change the size of the text to either small, medium, or large.
Your choices for typography are serif and sans and you can choose between a light or a dark theme. For those of you that own a Kindle device, there’s a button to send that article to your kindle if you want.
09. I don’t care about cookies
Moving on you’ve all seen those cookie warning banners that pop up on websites asking you to accept before using their site. This all came about due to European Union Data Regulations four years back that have not had the intended effect except just to annoy us.
The I don’t care about cookies extension will remove those warning banners that pop up on almost all websites so you don’t even have to see them again. Just install the extension and forget about it. There’s nothing more that you need to do.
10. uBlock Origin
Without any doubt, if you need an Efficient ad blocker to use on overly aggressive websites Ublock origin is the absolute best. Not only does it block ads, but it also blocks other content to help improve the efficiency of the CPU and memory.
uBlock Origin is enabled by default and is not paid off like some of its competitors to let ads slip through. If you’re on a site you’d like to support and would like to see the ads, click the uBlock Origin icon then click the power button to allow ads for that site. After doing that click the refresh icon.
