Web 2.0 applications use Ajax and complex JavaScript libraries. It is important to have a browser with fast JavaScript engine in order for JavaScript to be executed faster. In this post, you will find 15 web browsers for Windows JavaScript benchmark scores. You will get the rough view which web browser has a faster JavaScript engine. I will use 2 JavaScript benchmarks, the first is V8 Benchmark Suite v4 and the second one is SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark. V8 Benchmark Suite is used by the developer of Google Chrome to tune the V8 JavaScript engine. The test was ran on Windows XP SP3 on AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2Ghz) with 1.75GB of RAM. The web browsers and their versions that being used in this test:

Arora is a simple cross platform web browser. It is based on WebKit rendering engine.

User agent string: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/527+ (KHTML, like Gecko, Safari/419.3) Arora/0.6 (Change: )

[Website]

Avant is a freeware web browser that uses the Trident layout engine.

User agent string: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; Avant Browser; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[Website]

Flock is a social web browser based on Mozilla Firefox (Gecko rendering engine).

User agent string: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009051221 Firefox/3.0.10

[Website]

Google Chrome is a minimal design web browser based on WebKit, developed by Google.

User agent string: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/530.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/2.0.181.1 Safari/530.11

[Website]

Internet Explorer

Internet Explore is a web browser developed by Microsoft. Internet Explorer uses Trident rendering engine.

User agent string: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[Website]

K-Meleon

K-Meleon is a web browser for Windows. K-Meleon uses the same Gecko rendering engine like Mozilla Firefox.

User agent string: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.21) Gecko/20090331 K-Meleon/1.5.3

[Website]

Lunascape is a freeware web browser for Windows. Lunascape can use Gecko, Trident and WebKit rendering engine.

Lunascape5 (Trident) - Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; Lunascape 5.0.3.
Lunascape5 (Gecko) - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1b4pre) Gecko/20090312 Firefox/3.1b4pre Lunascape/5.0.3.0
Lunascape5 (Webkit) - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/528+ (KHTML, like Gecko, Safari/528. Lunascape/5.0.3.0

[Website]

Maxthon2

Maxthon is a freeware web browser for Windows. Maxthon2 uses Trident rendering engine.

User agent string: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; MAXTHON 2.

[Website]

Mozilla Firefox is the second most popular browser. Mozilla Firefox uses Gecko rendering engine.

Mozilla Firefox 3.0.10 - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Mozilla Firefox 3.5 beta 4 - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1b4) Gecko/20090423 Firefox/3.5b4 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[Website]

Opera is a freeware web browser and Internet suite. Opera uses Presto rendering engine.

Opera 9.64 - Opera/9.64 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en) Presto/2.1.1
Opera 10 alpha build 1535 - Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en) Presto/2.2.15 Version/10.00

[Website]

Orca Browser

Orca Browser is the sister project of Avant Browser. Orca Browser uses Gecko rendering engine.

User agent string: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.8) Gecko/2009032609 Firefox/3.0.8 Orca/1.1 build 3

[Website]

Safari

Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. Safari uses WebKit rendering engine.

User agent string: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Safari/528.17

[Website]

SeaMonkey

SeaMonkey is a free and open source Internet suite. SeaMonkey uses Gecko rendering engine.

User agent string: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.21) Gecko/20090403 SeaMonkey/1.1.16

[Website]

Sleipnir is a Japanese tabbed web browser. Sleipnir can use Trident and Gecko rendering engine.

Sleipnir (Trident) - Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729) Sleipnir/2.8.3
Sleipnir (Gecko) - Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20051002

[Website]

SRWare Iron

SRWare Iron is a web browser based on Chromium, the project used to develop Google Chrome. SRWare Iron uses WebKit rendering engine.

User agent string: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/530.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Iron/2.0.178.0 Safari/530.9 

[Website]

Test results 

Notes: For V8 Benchmark Suite, the test is ran 5 times and average score is taken. As for Sleipnir (Gecko), the result is not available because the browser cannot finish the test. Scores for Trident engine might not be very accurate Internet Explorer limits the number of JavaScript statements that can be executed in case of too long running scripts and popped up a warning dialog.

Arora - 295
Avant - 48.2
Flock - 135
Google Chrome - 2019
Internet Explorer - 46.3
K-Meleon - 58.5
Lunascape5 (Trident) - 46.8
Lunascape5 (Gecko) - 229
Lunascape5 (Webkit) - 708
Maxthon2 - 42.9
Firefox 3.0.10 - 144
Firefox 3.5 beta 4 - 237
Opera 9.64 - 120
Opera 10 alpha build 1535 - 133
Orca Browser - 135
Safari - 928
Seamonkey - 39
Sleipnir (Trident) - 47.3
Sleipnir (Gecko) - NA
SRWare Iron - 1933

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SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark (lower score, better):

Arora - 3769.2ms
Avant - 10386.8ms
Flock - 5636.8ms
Google Chrome - 964.2ms
Internet Explorer - 8958.2ms
K-Meleon - 20102.4ms
Lunascape5 (Trident) - 10239.6ms
Lunascape5 (Gecko) - 1597.0ms
Lunascape5 (Webkit) - 2395.4ms
Maxthon2 - 11629.6ms
Mozilla Firefox 3.0.10 - 5505.6ms
Mozilla Firefox 3.5 beta 4 - 1761.6ms
Opera 9.64 - 7533.6ms
Opera 10 alpha build 1535 - 6845.8ms
Orca Browser - 5708.2ms
Safari - 1598.6ms
Seamonkey - 25779.0ms
Sleipnir (Trident) - 10144.6ms
Sleipnir (Gecko) - 20885.0ms
SRWare Iron - 994.6ms

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As we can see, most of the web browsers that uses WebKit rendering engine perform better in both JavaScript test. Mozilla Firefox 3.5 beta 4 also have some improvement compared with Mozilla Firefox 3.0.10. Sleipnir actually performs better in SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark when it use Trident engine.