Mullvad Browser
The Tor Browser without Tor — a hardened, anti-fingerprint Firefox meant to sit behind any decent VPN.
TL;DR verdict
A genuinely novel thing. Mullvad Browser strips Firefox down to the Tor Browser's anti-fingerprint posture and hands it to anyone with a VPN, no onion required. It breaks a lot of sites, and that is the point.
What we like
- Ships with Tor Browser's fingerprinting defences without needing the Tor network
- Free, open source, no account, no telemetry
- Sensible defaults — private mode always on, no history, no third-party cookies
- Built jointly with the Tor Project, which is the credible team to build this
- Works cleanly behind any VPN or none, unlike Tor Browser
Where it falls short
- Breaks many sites that fingerprint-check for anti-fraud, especially banks
- No sync, no extensions store beyond a small allowlist, by design
- Cannot be your only browser for most people
- Mobile version does not exist yet
TL;DR verdict
Mullvad Browser is Tor Browser's anti-fingerprinting posture without the Tor network attached. Run it behind any VPN and you look identical to every other Mullvad Browser user at the fingerprint level. It breaks banking, streaming logins and anything that fingerprint-checks. As a second browser for research, filing and account creation, it is quietly excellent.
What it does well
The fingerprint surface is the whole point. Canvas rendering, font enumeration, WebGL, timezone, screen size — all the vectors that let ad networks and fraud systems build a stable hardware ID — are normalised or spoofed to look like every other instance of the browser. The result, in practice, is that fingerprint tests return a generic profile rather than a personal one. Any VPN sitting underneath handles the IP layer; the browser handles the endpoint layer.
Defaults are sensible in the way Firefox's are not. Private browsing is always on. History is not written to disk. Third-party cookies are blocked. Telemetry is off, no account exists to sign into, and the only extensions available are the vetted subset the Tor Project allows for Tor Browser. This is a browser that has decided what it is and does not negotiate.
The provenance is the reassuring part. The Tor Project has been working on browser-level fingerprint resistance longer than anyone else, and Mullvad's role is essentially to fund and distribute a version of that work uncoupled from the onion network. Two known-good teams, one focused product.
What it doesn't
It breaks things. Banks that use device fingerprinting for fraud detection will treat every Mullvad Browser session as a suspicious new device. Some airline booking flows misbehave. Google Docs works but occasionally throws captcha loops. There is no sync, no password manager tie-in beyond what a good external manager provides, and no mobile version at all.
This is not a general-purpose browser and does not pretend to be one. Use it as the second browser, alongside Firefox or Safari for logged-in daily work, and it earns its keep.
Who it's for
Journalists opening tips, activists creating throwaway accounts, researchers who need their browsing to look uninteresting to trackers. Anyone who wants the Tor Browser experience without the Tor speed penalty and is willing to keep a second browser for the sites that punish anonymity.
Frequently asked
Is Mullvad Browser the same as Tor Browser?
No. It shares the anti-fingerprinting patches and the hardened Firefox base, but it does not route traffic through the Tor network. You bring your own network, ideally a VPN. This makes it much faster than Tor Browser and much less anonymous in the strict sense — the point is to be un-fingerprintable, not un-routable.
Do I need Mullvad VPN to use Mullvad Browser?
No. The browser works behind any VPN, or none at all, though a VPN is the intended pairing. The two products are independent and either can be used without the other.
Will this break my banking?
Probably. Anti-fraud systems at banks and some airline sites rely on fingerprint continuity to spot account takeovers, and Mullvad Browser deliberately looks like everyone else. Use a second browser for those sites and keep this one for the browsing where being generic is the goal.