Popular Browser Statistics

One of the most asked questions among web developers (and arguably the most dreaded) is "which browsers are the most commonly used today?" This question usually branches off directly to "which browsers should we code for?" And the nightmares begin from that point forward.

If you search google for the most common browsers, you'll find many websites showing off their visitor statistics, which usually means web developer communities are heavier in Firefox use while general websites are heavier in Internet Explorer use.

What we decided to do is post up our sites browser statistics as well as a few other websites that differ greatly in content and target audiences from one to the other (we wont share which sites those are). What we also want to do is accumulate statistics from other websites doing the same thing as us, and come up with a cumulative statistic for the most commonly used browsers today, and which browsers are the most important to code for and test in.

So let us start with the browser stats from our site and a select few other websites:

Ok, and now a compilation of statistics from W3 Schools, Market Share and The Counter.

So do these statistics help? Only a little really. What they show is that there is no definitive answer to which browser is more popular. The reason for this is that different websites have different audiences who use different browsers depending on what type of computer user they are. A gaming website might receive higher traffic from firefox users while Amazon.com might get a larger majority from internet explorer.

The most important thing to remember is that the two engines you should most definitely test in are Trident and Gecko. A general rule-of-thumb is that if a site performs well in both Trident and Gecko, then the remaining engines will also render that site properly (with minor differences from one browser to another).

NOTE: These "most common browser" statistics will be updated periodically.