I Compared 8 Firefox New Tab Extensions So You Don't Have To

Why This Matters

The new tab page is the most-opened page in your browser. If you open 20 tabs a day, that's 7,300 times per year you interact with it. Getting it right matters.

I spent a week testing 8 popular Firefox new tab extensions. Here's what I found.

What I Evaluated

For each extension, I checked:

• Speed: How fast does it load on a fresh tab?
• Privacy: What data does it collect? What permissions does it need?
• Features: Does it do what it claims?
• Reliability: Does it break? Does weather update correctly?
• Bundle size: How heavy is it?

The Extensions Tested

1. Momentum (proprietary, freemium)
2. Infinity New Tab (proprietary, freemium)
3. New Tab by Tabliss (open source)
4. Nighttab (open source)
5. New Tab Redirect (simple, open source)
6. iChrome (discontinued)
7. Speed Dial (commercial)
8. Weather & Clock Dashboard (open source, MIT)

Results Summary

Privacy Score

Extension	Permissions Required	Data Collection
Momentum	tabs, history, bookmarks	Yes, account-linked
Infinity	tabs, history	Yes, account-linked
Tabliss	storage only	No
Nighttab	storage only	No
Weather & Clock	storage, optional geolocation	No
Speed Dial	bookmarks, sessions	Minimal

The clear winners on privacy: Tabliss, Nighttab, and Weather & Clock Dashboard — no accounts required, no data sent to servers.

Speed (Time to First Meaningful Paint)

Tested on a standard laptop, WiFi, 50 tabs already open:

• Tabliss: ~50ms (fastest — very minimal)
• Nighttab: ~80ms
• Weather & Clock: ~90ms (with cached weather)
• Speed Dial: ~150ms
• Momentum: ~400ms (loads image from CDN)
• Infinity: ~500ms (heavy JS bundle)

Extensions that load images from remote URLs are inherently slower because they depend on network requests.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Momentum	Tabliss	Weather & Clock
Clock	✓	✓	✓ (world clocks)
Weather	Paid	Plugin	✓ (free)
Search bar	✓	✓	✓
Background image	✓	✓	✗
Dark mode	Paid	✓	✓
No account needed	✗	✓	✓
Open source	✗	✓	✓ (MIT)

My Recommendations By Use Case

If You Want Maximum Simplicity

Tabliss. Minimal, fast, open source. No weather, but if you don't need it, it's excellent.

If You Want Weather + Clock

Weather & Clock Dashboard. Free, no account, privacy-friendly. Has the features you need without the bloat. Install it here.

If You Want Beautiful Backgrounds

Momentum (paid tier) or Infinity — but be aware they both require accounts and collect data.

If You Just Want Bookmarks on the New Tab

Speed Dial — well-designed bookmark management.

What I Wish More Extensions Would Do

1. Ship without requiring an account. The new tab is local — there's no reason to force a sign-in.
2. Cache weather data properly. Fetching on every single tab open is wasteful and slow.
3. List permissions and explain them. Most extensions ask for permissions without explaining why.
4. Go MIT or Apache licensed. Proprietary new tab extensions can be discontinued without warning (see: iChrome, which left thousands of users without their setup).

Conclusion

For most users, a good new tab extension should be fast, private, and do its job without fuss. You don't need a $3/month subscription for a clock and weather widget.

The open source options — especially Tabliss, Nighttab, and Weather & Clock Dashboard — are better than the commercial alternatives for most people.

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Have a favorite new tab extension I missed? Drop it in the comments.