Best Browser Extensions for Productivity
Most browser extensions promise to improve your workflow and end up being more overhead than they save. These five actually earn a permanent place in the toolbar.
The five extensions compared
| Extension | What it does | Cost | Browser support | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| uBlock Origin | Ad and tracker blocking | Free | Chrome, Firefox, Edge | 9/10 |
| 1Password | Password management | ~£3/month | All major browsers | 9/10 |
| Raindrop.io | Bookmark management | Freemium | Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge | 8/10 |
| Vimium | Keyboard-only browsing | Free | Chrome, Firefox | 8/10 |
| Dark Reader | Dark mode for all websites | Free | Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge | 8/10 |
Each extension in detail
uBlock Origin — the one everyone should have
Free, open source, and the most effective ad and tracker blocker available. It blocks ads, removes tracking scripts, and makes most pages load noticeably faster. We've used it for years. There is no reason not to install it. The one caveat: Manifest V3 in Chrome has limited its capability on that browser — the Firefox version is currently more powerful. If you're on Chrome and care about this, it's worth knowing.
1Password — the password manager that actually works well
Password managers are one of those things where the right tool removes a consistent daily friction you've stopped noticing. 1Password's browser extension fills passwords reliably, handles two-factor authentication codes, and works across all major browsers. It costs money — around £3/month — but if you have more than 20 accounts online (you do), it's worth it. Alternatives like Bitwarden are free and also good, but 1Password's interface and reliability edge them out in daily use.
Raindrop.io — bookmarks that don't get lost
Browser bookmarks are a graveyard of things you meant to come back to. Raindrop replaces them with a proper bookmark manager — visual cards, searchable, taggable, accessible on any device. The free tier is genuinely enough for most users. The Pro tier adds full-text search, duplicate detection, and nested collections if you bookmark heavily. Install it, spend 20 minutes moving your most-used bookmarks across, and the browser bar becomes less cluttered immediately.
Vimium — keyboard shortcuts for everything
Vimium adds keyboard shortcuts to your browser so you can navigate most pages, follow links, scroll, and open new tabs without touching your mouse. It's listed as beginner in cost but intermediate in practice — the learning curve for the shortcuts takes a few days. After that, people who use it find it hard to browse without it. This one is for people who spend a lot of time in the browser and want to reduce hand-movement between mouse and keyboard. Not for everyone, but genuinely good for those it suits.
Dark Reader — dark mode for websites that don't have it
Some websites don't support dark mode, or their dark mode is poor. Dark Reader applies a consistently good dark mode across all sites. The filter is configurable — you can adjust brightness, contrast, and grayscale per site if defaults don't work. It's not perfect on every site (image-heavy pages sometimes look odd), but across text-heavy content it's a genuine quality-of-life improvement. Free and well maintained.
Our recommendation
Install uBlock Origin first. It's the single highest-value browser extension available and there's no trade-off. Then add a password manager — 1Password is our preference, Bitwarden if you want free.
The other three are quality-of-life additions worth installing if the specific problem they solve is one you have. Raindrop if your bookmarks are a mess. Vimium if you're a power browser user. Dark Reader if bright websites bother you at night.