Should I still be using Firefox?

I’ve been using Firefox ever since I got my first laptop back in 2017, mostly since it comes with most Linux distributions’ own package repositories. It was around the same time that I decided that I wouldn’t use Chrome because of all the ways in which it collects and abuses personal data¹. Recent events with Mozilla that have changed the way Firefox handles data have left me concerned about whether the browser is still “better” than Chrome in that regard. My doubts started with actually a meme that was circling around on Twitter that a friend had retweeted about a diff in the source code for Firefox.

This is one of the wildest git diffs I've ever seen pic.twitter.com/MJjzyZ8WUn

— Theo - t3.gg (@theo) March 1, 2025

This was followed by allegedly, various changes in their terms of use regarding how they use personal data entered on websites while using the browser amongst which they basically admit to selling personal data in some form or the other² which is something I could never stand for. This, along with a bunch of features I don’t really use — their obsession with AI, which is quite obvious in their release notes with recent releases — have made me increasingly uncomfortable with the whole idea of continuing to use Firefox. I don’t actually know what changes they’ve made off-late and I obviously don’t have the time to go through the changes at the source level (if I could even understand what was happening.)

I’ve basically gotten so used to using most of the other features on the browser such as syncing and migrating to a new device by just logging into the browser that I’m not sure I can find a new browser that will really work for me the same way.

Firefox forks? Chrome forks?

I have no qualms using forks of Firefox itself that have better privacy. Librewolf is a privacy focused fork that I’ve seen mentioned in a lot of places. Void Linux doesn’t offer a package for this although there is a repo with a build template for it. I actually tried to run this build on my laptop but it ended up freezing up everything. It has sync disabled by default which I think I’m okay with anyway since it’s a Firefox service, although they apparently encrypt data. But then I’m not sure whether it’s really any better than Firefox. I’m sure there are more such forks for both Android (I remember using Mull which is apparently orphaned now, there was also Fennec and some others I tried) and Linux.

Arc Browser seems like a good choice for Windows and I’ve been using it instead of Chrome for various work-related stuff. It’s not a Firefox fork, clearly, and they don’t have Linux packages either and I believe this is a fork of Chrome.

Are there really any alternatives that work as well as Firefox did, without the AI bloat and everything else that’s wrong with it?