Browser comparison
Brave vs Sill: maximum blocking, or maximum quiet
Brave is the privacy heavyweight of the mainstream: open-source, Chromium-compatible, with Shields blocking that's the benchmark for built-in ad blocking. Sill is smaller and quieter — native WebKit, hibernating workspaces, and literally zero network calls of its own. Both are honest choices; here's the real difference.
Full disclosure: this studio builds Sill. This is written as the comparison worth reading anyway — Brave's genuine strengths included, its details drawn from its own public documentation.
Brave took the pragmatic road to privacy: keep Chromium's compatibility and extension support, build aggressive ad and tracker blocking (Shields) into the core, open-source the whole thing, and add encrypted sync with no account. It runs everywhere, it's mature, and its blocking genuinely changes how the web feels. For many people it's the correct answer, and Sill — the browser I build — won't beat it on reach.
Where the two part ways is surface area and philosophy. Brave ships an ecosystem: Rewards and its BAT token, Leo the AI assistant, Brave Search promotion, crypto wallet — all optional and documented, but present, and some of it needs switching off if you want quiet. Sill ships an absence: no assistant, no token, no sponsored anything, and no telemetry of any kind.
The quick answer
Choose Brave if…
- You want Chromium compatibility and Chrome Web Store extensions with privacy built in
- You need Windows, Linux and mobile, with encrypted sync across them
- Shields-grade blocking — configurable, battle-tested — is your priority
- You want extras like Tor windows for sensitive sessions
- Open source matters to you
Choose Sill if…
- You want a browser with no Rewards, no assistant, no wallet — nothing to switch off
- You want hibernating workspaces and Panel view for how you actually organize a day
- You want zero network calls of the browser’s own, not opt-out analytics
- You want native WebKit on macOS rather than another Chromium build
- You want glanceable favorites and built-in API/MCP tools
Brave vs Sill: core features
| Feature | Sill | Brave |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | WebKit (native macOS) | Chromium |
| Platforms | macOS 14+ (Apple Silicon & Intel) | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Price | Free (early access) | Free |
| Account required | No | No |
| Open source | Source on GitHub | Yes |
| Workspaces | Yes — hibernating workspaces | Tab groups & vertical tabs — no true workspaces |
| Memory model | Whole workspaces hibernate and release their memory; favorites stay loaded | Chromium tab freezing/discarding |
| Ad & tracker blocking | Built in — ad networks blocked natively; videos never autoplay | Yes — Shields, the benchmark for built-in blocking |
| AI features | None — routine detection is deterministic, local, and off by default | Leo — optional assistant (cloud; bring-your-own-model supported) |
| Browser's own network calls | Zero of its own — no telemetry, no analytics, no account | Update pings and opt-out privacy-preserving analytics (documented) |
| Developer tools | API client, MCP explorer, Web Inspector, JSON tree viewer | Chromium DevTools |
| Sync & mobile | None — single Mac, fully local | Encrypted sync chain (no account); iOS & Android apps |
| Extensions | No extension store (blocking & dev tools are built in) | Yes — Chrome Web Store |
Accurate to the best of our knowledge as of 13 July 2026; Brave's details come from its public documentation.
Where Brave shines
- Shields is the real deal. Brave's built-in blocking is aggressive, configurable, and unaffected by Manifest V3 extension limits because it lives in the browser core. It's the strongest default blocking of any mainstream browser.
- Privacy without leaving the mainstream. Chromium compatibility, the full Chrome extension catalogue, every platform, encrypted sync with no account — Brave asks for almost no compatibility sacrifice.
- Depth for hard cases. Private windows with Tor, fingerprint randomization, and an open-source codebase anyone can audit.
See it for yourself: visit Brave’s official site ↗ (opens in a new tab).
Where Sill shines
- Nothing to turn off. Brave’s Rewards, Leo, wallet and search promotion are optional — but they’re there, and quiet takes settings. Sill has no ecosystem to decline; calm is the factory state.
- Organization Brave doesn’t attempt. Hibernating workspaces that free memory entirely and wake with scroll position, Panel view, Dock-like favorites — Brave organizes tabs; Sill organizes your day.
- Zero beats opt-out. Brave’s analytics are privacy-preserving and can be disabled; Sill simply makes no calls of its own at all — the stricter posture, and the easier one to verify.
- The local glance layer. Mail counts and meeting nudges read locally from your signed-in pages, off by default, never transmitted — useful in a way blocking alone can’t be.
The privacy picture
Both browsers are on the right side of this fight. Brave blocks trackers harder than almost anything, is fully open source, and documents its remaining telemetry (opt-out, privacy-preserving) honestly. Sill's posture is stricter and narrower: zero network calls of its own, no analytics of any kind, and a routine engine that is local, deterministic, opt-in, metadata-only, and blind to banking, health and government sites. Brave protects you from the web; Sill also removes itself from the list of things to be protected from.
Verdict
Frequently asked questions
Is Brave actually private?
Yes — among mainstream browsers, Brave is the strongest on privacy: built-in Shields blocking, fingerprinting defenses, open-source code, and encrypted sync with no account. Its remaining analytics are documented and can be disabled.
Does Sill block ads as well as Brave?
Both block natively, in the browser core. Brave's Shields are more configurable and more battle-tested across edge cases; Sill blocks ad networks natively with no setup and never autoplays video. If granular blocking control is your hobby, Brave wins; if good blocking with zero fiddling is the goal, both deliver.
Do I have to use the crypto features in Brave?
No — Rewards, the BAT token and the wallet are optional and can be ignored or hidden. They're part of Brave's business model but not a requirement. Sill has no equivalent layer and no business model attached to your attention.
Why choose Sill over Brave on a Mac?
Three reasons people do: hibernating workspaces (Brave has tab groups, not memory-freeing workspaces), the local glance layer (mail counts, meeting nudges), and the strictest network posture — zero calls of the browser’s own versus documented opt-out analytics.
Try it yourself:Sill is free early access for macOS 14+ — no account, nothing leaves your Mac.
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