Comparison of browser synchronizers

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of web-based browser synchronizers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions.

Transmute is excluded because it is a Windows-based offline tool (which has privacy advantages). Xmarks also provides an option to avoid the Xmarks server, but this requires using a WebDAV or FTP server to store bookmarks, which assumes a higher level of technical support but is not OS-specific like Transmute. If any other tools offer a privacy advantage, list them in this paragraph or add a column to the tables.

Another aspect of synchronization not covered in this table is OPML import and export. Exporting OPML enables many other tools to read the feeds, bookmarks/favorites and other browser data. There may be significant differences in capability between multiple levels of subscription - some tools such as Transmute have three levels of subscription.

General

Client Creator Cost Software license Latest release
Arado Websearch Arado Team Free GPL 0.2.1
BookKit BookKit Team Free Proprietary 1.0.2, 1.2.1 (defunct)
Bookmark Bookmark Your Life Inc. Free Proprietary 1.0.3
Bookmark Base Bookmark Base team $29.95 Proprietary 3.0.0.4
BookmarkSync Jack Dean Free Proprietary 2.3.3(Windows) 1.0.4(Mac OS X)  (n/a)
Bookmark Sync and Sort rhaebuster Free ? 1.0.7
Chipmark University of Minnesota Undergraduates Free GPL 3.3 Beta 2
Network Menus Network Ltd. Free Proprietary 0.80
Opera Link Opera Software Free Proprietary Opera: 11.64  (May 18, 2012 (2012-05-18))
Opera Mini: 6.5  (November 3, 2011)
oSync Henrik Olsson Free GPL 1.0.1
Portable Bookmarks Resort Labs $24.95 Proprietary 2.1  (July 30, 2007 (2007-07-30))
Power Favorites Mark Stone $19.95 Proprietary 1.0.0
SiteBar Server Ondrej Brablc Free GPL 3.3.9
SyncBookmarks StellarFlare $14.95 Proprietary 1.02
SyncPlaces Andy Halford Free Mozilla Public License - LGPL 4.1.0
Firefox Sync Mozilla Foundation Free Mozilla Public License 1.8  (August 10, 2011 (2011-08-10))
xbelSync Tiberius Duluman Free GPL 0.7.5
Xmarks Xmarks Free (Premium: $12/yr) Proprietary Firefox: 4.1.0  (May 7, 2012 (2012-05-07))

IE: 1.3.4
Safari: 1.4.1
Chrome: 1.0.22  (February 16, 2012 (2012-02-16))
Zinkmo Michael Hardy, Robert Senoff Free Proprietary Beta
Client Creator Cost Software license Latest release

Operating system support

PC operating system Mobile operating system
Client Windows OS X Linux FreeBSD iOS Android BlackBerry OS Symbian Windows Mobile other
Arado Websearch Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No ?
BookKit Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Bookmark Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Bookmark Base Yes No No No No No No No No No
BookmarkSync Yes Yes No No No No No No No No
Bookmark Sync and Sort Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Chipmark Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Link Commander Yes No No No No No No No No No
Network Menus Yes No No No No No No No No No
Opera Link Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Solaris, Java ME, S60, UIQ3, BREW
oSync Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Portable Bookmarks Yes No No No No No No No No No
Power Favorites Yes No No No No No No No No No
SyncBookmarks Yes No No No No No No No No No
SyncPlaces Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Firefox Sync Yes Yes Yes Yes[1] Yes Yes No No Yes OpenSolaris[2]
xbelSync Yes No No No No No No No No No
Xmarks Yes Yes Yes No Xmarks Premium Xmarks Premium Xmarks Premium No No No
Zinkmo Yes No No No No No No No No No
Client Windows OS X Linux FreeBSD iOS Android BlackBerry OS Symbian Windows Mobile other

Syncable Browsers

Client Internet Explorer Mozilla Firefox Opera Safari Google Chrome other
Arado Websearch Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Netscape Navigator
BookKit Yes Yes No No No Netscape Navigator
Bookmark Yes Yes No Yes No No
Bookmark Base Yes ? Yes No No K-meleon, Maxthon, SeaMonkey
BookmarkSync Yes Yes Yes Yes (Mac Only) No SeaMonkey
Bookmark Sync and Sort No ? No No No No
Chipmark Yes Yes No No No No
Link Commander Yes Yes Yes Yes No ?
Network Menus Yes ? No No No No
Opera Link No No Yes No No Opera Mini, Opera Mobile
oSync No No Yes No No Opera Mini
Portable Bookmarks Yes ? Yes No No ?
Power Favorites Yes ? Yes No Yes No
SyncBookmarks Yes ? Yes No No SeaMonkey
SyncPlaces No Yes No No No SeaMonkey
Firefox Sync No Yes No No No Firefox for Mobile[3]SeaMonkey
xbelSync Yes Yes Yes No No ?
Xmarks Yes Yes No Yes (Mac Only) Yes No
Zinkmo Yes ? No No No No
Client Internet Explorer Mozilla Firefox Opera Safari Google Chrome other

Syncable Items

Client Bookmarks Favicons Browsing history Form history Web feed subscriptions Search engine plugins Passwords Dictionary Other
Arado Websearch Yes No No No Yes No No No Template:Php webinterface
BookKit Yes No No No No No No No No
Bookmark Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No Typed browser history
Bookmark Base Yes No No No No No No No No
BookmarkSync Yes No No No No No No No No
Bookmark Sync and Sort Yes No No No No No No No No
Chipmark Yes No No No No No No No No
Link Commander Yes No No No No No No No No
Network Menus Yes No No No No No No No No
Opera Link Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes in 11.50 No Personal bar, speed dial, notes, typed browser history, content blocker list
oSync Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Portable Bookmarks Yes No No No No No No No No
Power Favorites Yes No No No No No No No No
SyncBookmarks Yes No No No No No No No No
SyncPlaces Yes No No No No No Yes No No
Firefox Sync Yes No but planned to be added in future Last 60 days[4] Yes Yes No Yes No open tabs, tab groups, personas, preferences, add-ons (up to 25MB by default)[4]
xbelSync Yes No No No No No No No No
Xmarks Yes Yes Yes (Firefox) No Yes Yes Yes (deprecated) No open tabs
Zinkmo Yes No No No No No No No No
Client Bookmarks Favicons Browsing history Form history Web feed subscriptions Search engine plugins Passwords Dictionary Other

Features

Client Encrypted transfer Encrypted storage Server changing Web-based UI Exporting Link verification Duplicate link checker Notes
Arado Websearch ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes It doesn't provide any server for built-in internet based sync.
BookKit ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Official site doesn't longer exist: http://www.bookkit.com/
Bookmark Yes Yes No Yes No No No Server-side backup, restore of bookmarks, sync profiles so that only certain bookmarks sync to certain browsers. Feb 12, 2012: Doesn't work properly with IE9 (bookmarks don't appear on web UI).
Bookmark Base ? Yes ? ? XBEL Yes Yes Bookmark editor, different browsers. It doesn't provide any server for built-in internet based sync: its portability is based on USB drives. Official site doesn't longer exist: http://www.bookmarkbase.com/
BookmarkSync Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Feb 12, 2012: Sync doesn't work properly.
Bookmark Sync and Sort ? No ? ? ? ? ?
Chipmark ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Provides IE plug-in and Firefox extension. Feb 12, 2012: Registration process in official site https://www.chipmark.com fails with the following message: "There was an error communicating with our mail server, or the email address entered was not valid. Registration was not successful. Please try again at a later time.".
Link Commander ? No ? ? XBEL ? ? It doesn't provide any server for built-in internet based sync.
Network Menus ? No ? ? ? ? ? Feb 12, 2012: Stops IE9 from loading when trying to install the plug-in.
Opera Link Yes[5] ? No Yes Yes No Yes (only webbased)
oSync ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Portable Bookmarks ? Yes ? ? XBEL ? ? It doesn't provide any server for built-in internet based sync: its portability is based on USB drives.
Power Favorites ? Yes ? ? XBEL Yes Yes Extensions for Firefox and Opera. http://www.desksware.com/bookmark-manager.htm. Feb 12, 2012: It doesn't automaticly sync with IE9 (export/import based).
SyncBookmarks ? No ? ? XBEL ? ? Feb 12, 2012: Last modified timestamp on official download site (http://syncbkmk.sourceforge.net/download/index.html) is 01/02/2007 04:28:512012.
SyncPlaces Yes Yes[1] Yes No XBEL ? ? It doesn't provide any server for built-in internet based sync. You must use your own one.
Firefox Sync Yes Yes Yes No No No No Data is encrypted on the client and not accessible even to Mozilla server operators.[6]
xbelSync ? No ? ? XBEL ? ? It doesn't provide any server for built-in internet based sync.
Xmarks Yes[2] Partial[7] Yes Yes Yes No No Server-side backup, restore of bookmarks, sync profiles so that only certain bookmarks sync to certain browsers; password storage is deprecated, Xmarks recommends using LastPass instead.
Zinkmo ? No ? Yes ? Yes Yes IE plug-in. Feb 12, 2012: Official site http://www.zinkmo.com/ is down.
Client Encrypted transfer Encrypted storage server changing webbased UI exporting Link Verification Duplicate Link Checker Notes

References

  1. ^ "weave port". FreshPorts. 2009-10-09. http://www.freshports.org/www/weave/. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
  2. ^ mconnor (2009-07-29). "Weave 0.5 Released". Mozilla. http://labs.mozilla.com/2009/07/weave-0-5-released/. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 
  3. ^ mconnor (2009-06-27). "Weave 0.4.0 Released". Mozilla. https://labs.mozilla.com/2009/06/weave-0-4-0-released/. Retrieved 2009-06-30. 
  4. ^ a b "What is Firefox Sync?". Firefox Help. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/what-firefox-sync#w_how-much-of-my-data-is-synced. Retrieved 11 April 2012. 
  5. ^ "Opera Link explained". Opera Software. 7. September 2007. http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/my-opera-synchronization-explained. Retrieved 2009-06-06. 
  6. ^ "How secure is my Sync data?". Firefox Help. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-secure-is-my-sync-data. Retrieved 11 April 2012. 
  7. ^ Encrypted password storage is supported
Features
Web standards
Related topics
  • Software no longer in development shown in italics