If your devices are all Apple and you want tracking protection that's working from the first page you load, Safari is the easy pick. If you're on Windows or juggle a mix of devices, Microsoft Edge gives you Copilot, tab management and sync of passwords, favourites and settings in one place. Your devices decide more than any feature list does.
Your hardware will settle this faster than any feature list. Safari is Apple's browser for Apple devices. Microsoft Edge leans on an assistant, tab tools and sync of passwords, favourites and settings across devices. If you split your week between a Windows PC and an iPhone, that difference matters before any single feature does.
Safari's privacy chart doesn't mention Edge
It's easy to read Apple's page and assume its privacy claims settle the matter. Look closely, though: the comparison chart there sets Safari against Chrome, not against Edge. Whatever it says about how trackers are handled, it says nothing direct about how Edge compares.
That doesn't make the claims wrong. Intelligent Tracking Prevention is built in, and a Privacy Report gives you a snapshot of the trackers it has stopped. It just means you shouldn't decide on the strength of a chart built for a different contest. If privacy is your deciding factor, compare the two on your own sites, with your own settings.
Microsoft's own pitch leans somewhere else entirely: an assistant that works across your tabs, performance features with names like Energy saver, Startup boost and Sleeping tabs, and sync that follows you between devices. The two companies are answering different questions, which is why a straight feature tally rarely helps.
Feature by feature
| What you'll notice | Microsoft Edge | Safari |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in assistant | Copilot | - |
| Tracker blocking | - | Intelligent Tracking Prevention |
| Blocked-tracker summary | - | Privacy Report |
| Performance tools | Sleeping tabs, Startup boost, Energy saver | - |
| Sync | Passwords, favourites, settings | - |
| Gaming | Game Bar edition | - |
| Made by | Microsoft | Apple |
Who should make Edge their main browser
Edge makes sense if your working day happens on a Windows PC, or if you move between a PC and other devices and want passwords, favourites and settings to follow you. Copilot sits inside the browser and works across your open tabs, so comparing options from several pages, such as three suppliers' terms, doesn't mean pasting text into a separate tool.
Heavy tab users get some help as well. Sleeping tabs, Startup boost and Energy saver are all named on Microsoft's own page as performance features, so a browser that's left open all day with dozens of tabs has tools aimed at that habit.
Those are Microsoft's own descriptions, so treat them as things to try rather than a verdict. Pick the one promise that matches your week and test that first. If none of them would change how you work, the browser that's already on your device is probably fine.
If you settle on it, look at Edge extensions worth installing before you rebuild your setup from memory.
Who's better off staying with Safari
On a Mac, iPhone and iPad, it's already installed and its tracker blocking is already part of the package, so there's nothing to set up before your first search and nothing new to learn, which counts for a lot on a busy week. If you've used it for years, there's nothing to migrate either: your bookmarks, logins and habits are already where you left them.
Its Privacy Report is a nice touch. It turns protection you'd otherwise have to take on faith into a list you can read for yourself, which is reassuring if you've ever wondered whether a privacy setting does anything at all.
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To make it work harder, browse a list of Safari extensions, and if Chrome is also on your shortlist, there's a separate look at how Chrome and Safari compare.
Three common set-ups and where each lands
Most readers fall into one of three camps, and the camp usually decides the answer before any feature does.
- Everything you own is Apple. Stay where you are unless an Edge feature, such as Copilot across tabs, is something you'd use every day. Switching for the sake of it adds work and gains you little.
- Your main machine runs Windows. Edge is the natural home, and its sync of passwords, favourites and settings means your logins come with you when you replace the PC.
- You mix a Windows laptop with an iPhone or iPad. This is the tricky one. Decide which device you browse on most, then check whether your chosen browser is available on the other before you depend on sync between them.
What each one asks of you day to day
Edge asks for a little setup. Sign in if you want passwords, favourites and settings to follow you, then decide which of the performance features to leave switched on. Copilot sits in the browser either way; whether it becomes part of your routine depends on how often your work means comparing several pages at once.
Stay on a Mac or iPhone and there's almost nothing to do. Tracker blocking is already working, and the Privacy Report is there whenever you want to look. The one habit worth adopting is glancing at that report every few weeks, so you know which of your everyday sites are doing the most tracking and can decide whether you still want to visit them.
Testing each pitch before you switch
- Copilot: open three or four tabs you'd normally compare by hand, such as product pages or suppliers' terms, and ask it to weigh them up. If it saves you the copying and pasting, that's a real gain.
- Sleeping tabs and Energy saver: run an ordinary heavy-tab day in Edge and notice whether the machine feels any different by late afternoon.
- Sync: sign in on a second device and check your passwords, favourites and settings have arrived before you lean on them.
- Privacy Report: after a week of normal browsing, open it from the browser menu and see which of your regular sites carried the most trackers.
- Logins: sign in to work tools, including anything with two-step login, while the old browser is still there to fall back on.
- Shared computers: if family or colleagues use the same machine, make sure their logins aren't caught up in the move.
Frequently asked questions
Will my extensions come with me?
Not automatically. List the add-ons you rely on and check each one has a version for the new browser before you switch.
Do I have to pick one forever?
No. You can keep both installed and switch your default back at any time if the new one doesn't suit you.
Is there a version of Edge for PC gaming?
Yes. Edge for Game Bar is an in-game browser built for PC gaming, so you can look something up without leaving the game.
What does Intelligent Tracking Prevention target?
Trackers that work across sites, following your visits from one website to another. Apple names it as its defence against that kind of tracking.
Is Apple's privacy claim an independent finding?
No. 'Powerful privacy protections' is how Apple describes it on its own page, so treat it as Apple's claim and judge it on the sites you use.
