In practical terms, the latest version of the Chromium browser will be far buggier, much more prone to crashes, than even the rawest version of Chrome or Edge. Chromium is rough, and not just around the edges. The obvious differences lie in accompanying services that Google provides - like the automatic update mechanism - or built-in support for technologies such as digital rights management (DRM) components that let Chrome and Edge play copyrighted content.īut the biggest difference is not in the length of the two browsers' feature or support lists, but in their inherent stability (or instability). Everything in Chromium is in Chrome and in Edge, but not everything in Chrome or Edge is in Chromium. How does Chromium differ from Chrome?Ĭhromium is a subset of Chrome and of Edge, since Google and Microsoft bolt on other components and features to the former to craft their wares. Think of Chromium as an ancestor of Chrome and Edge - and not necessarily a close one - that shares its DNA with the polished browsers. Instead, Google and Microsoft add their own proprietary code to Chromium that build services like the browser's automated update mechanism and features such as its tab user experience (UX), to create the actual Chrome and Edge.

Chrome and Edge, on the other hand, begin with Chromium but do not end with it. The browser compiled from the current Chromium source code is called, not surprisingly, Chromium. company said its commits - changes made to the source code - had reached 3,700. Microsoft, for example, started providing serious input into Chromium in 2019 and regularly boasts about how many 'commits' its engineers have contributed to Chromium.

Google is the primary backer of Chromium - it kicked off the project when it launched Chrome in September 2008 - but because the code is open-source, others, including people not employed by Google, contribute to the Chromium project. Chromium is not only the name of a browser, but also of the open-source project that generates the source code used by Chrome, Edge and others.