Skip to main content TechRadar the technology experts Search TechRadar View Profile België (Nederlands) Deutschland North America US (English) Australasia New Zealand Tech Radar Pro Tech Radar Gaming World Password Day Nintendo Switch 2 Best laptop NYT Wordle today Edge’s doomed challenge to Chrome is embarrassing for Microsoft – is it time to stop forcing the browser on us in Windows 11? Darren Allan Edge has gone stale, despite Microsoft’s best efforts to promote the browser – or perhaps because of this When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Tada Images / Shutterstock) Microsoft Edge slipped slightly to 13.29% according to Statcounter’s latest figures for the browser market in April 2025 Edge has been stuck around the 13% mark for over a year now To make progress, Microsoft needs to rethink its strategy, and stop overzealously promoting Edge in Windows 11 Microsoft’s Edge browser appears to be facing a distinctly uphill battle in the browser wars, with its market share having clearly stalled over the past year. Granted, that percentage share of the browser market has been bobbling up and down a bit as time has passed, going by analytics firm Statcounter’s global figures. But the upshot is Edge doesn’t seem to be making any real headway against Google’s Chrome browser. As Neowin noticed, with April’s browser stats, Edge is on 13.29% which is a slight loss of 0.08% on March 2025. If we rewind a year, it’s actually up a little bit, but the increase is marginal with a 0.32% gain. You may like I've used Edge, Firefox, and Opera, and yet after ten years in tech journalism, I still come back to Chrome Sorry, you're not getting Microsoft Edge off of your PC, at least according to its new 'uninstall' document Microsoft Edge browser could put Copilot AI front and center – but that might just be a good thing Essentially, Edge has been stuck around the 13% mark for over a year now, and has been unable to break free of the shackles of that particular number. At the start of 2024, it crept over 13%, then hit 13.8% in August 2024, seeming to make some decent progress – except it dropped back down under 13% towards the end of last year. Then it rose like a phoenix (ahem) to reach 13.9% in February 2025, again a solid uptick, before dropping back down (like a phoenix somebody turned a fire hose on) to 13.29% this past month. In short, whenever there’s an increase that makes it look like Edge could get over 14%, the browser appears to shed users again. And given how far away Microsoft’s app is from Chrome – which is way in the lead on 65% – it’s not looking good for the overall campaign to dethrone Google here. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. (Image credit: Shutterstock / monticello) Analysis: Drop the promos, Microsoft – or, erm, just buy Chrome Actually, looking at the entire browser market in recent history, nothing is really doing much – it’s a very static overall picture. All the major browsers have pretty much flatlined, and are maintaining a strict balance of power, with only minor fluctuations from month-to-month. Chrome holds most of that power, as noted, and Edge is a very distant second, ahead of Safari and Firefox which are a good way behind it (relatively speaking at the low-end). Opera is the other minor player bringing up the rear, but whichever graph you look at, it’s pretty much a straight line through the months for all these browsers, with very slight bobbles. What is Microsoft getting wrong? Well, I know it’s a well-beaten drum, but I’m convinced part of the problem is the overzealous promotion of Edge in Windows 11 (and 10). These kind of exercises – which have been numerous in recent history – only smack of desperation, and will likely turn off people, rather than persuade them to give Edge a chance. I know that repeated prompts to make Edge my default browser have annoyed me quite a number of times, cropping up here and there, and I’m sure I am not alone (a quick rifle through some online posts on typical forums like Reddit underlines this). The crying shame is that Edge is actually a good product. Indeed, it’s rated as the top pick in our roundup of the best web browsers, so it deserves to be a meaningful rival to Chrome, even if it’s not perfect. And Microsoft is working to iron out some of those imperfections, like bloat, slowly but surely. What does Microsoft need to do to stand a chance of breaking through the 15% barrier, then? Well, keep on the path of streamlining by all means, but just shut up about Edge in Windows 11 (or elsewhere), and try to get a turnaround in the public perception of the browser being overly promoted. Because that only leads to suspicion that Edge needs to be promoted because it’s not all that great – which isn’t true. Microsoft positioning itself to gain favor and more goodwill from the computing public in this way could stand Edge in good stead, given that the top dog browser is currently navigating some unsteady waters, with Google currently under fire regarding selling off Chrome. Or there’s an idea: just buy Chrome, Microsoft. Of course, that remote prospect would be highly unlikely to fly with regulators as it’s rather an ‘out of the fire and into the frying pan’ solution. You might also like Don’t panic – Microsoft’s Edge browser isn’t about to subject you to a flood of unblocked adverts (not yet, anyway) Microsoft gets rid of ‘Edge uninstall’ advice page after facing criticism over it having nothing to do with removing the app, and just promoting the browser instead How to use Microsoft Edge See more Computing News Microsoft Edge Darren Allan Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013). 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I've used Edge, Firefox, and Opera, and yet after ten years in tech journalism, I still come back to Chrome Sorry, you're not getting Microsoft Edge off of your PC, at least according to its new 'uninstall' document Microsoft Edge browser could put Copilot AI front and center – but that might just be a good thing The end is nigh for Windows 10 – here are 5 things Microsoft must do to get people to love Windows 11 Microsoft is digging its own grave with Windows 11, and it has to stop Microsoft just gave Edge a great new feature to ensure the browser doesn’t slow down the PC, and it’s tempting me to switch from Google Chrome Latest in Edge Microsoft Edge browser could put Copilot AI front and center – but that might just be a good thing Don’t panic – Microsoft’s Edge browser isn’t about to subject you to a flood of unblocked adverts (not yet, anyway) Microsoft just gave Edge a great new feature to ensure the browser doesn’t slow down the PC, and it’s tempting me to switch from Google Chrome Microsoft gets rid of ‘Edge uninstall’ advice page after facing criticism over it having nothing to do with removing the app, and just promoting the browser instead Sorry, you're not getting Microsoft Edge off of your PC, at least according to its new 'uninstall' document Latest in News Grand Theft Auto 6 release date confirmed, but it's been delayed - here's why Warning: check your PC’s Windows 11 encryption feature to make sure your data is not at risk Three massive UK retailers have been hit by cyber attacks this week – so what's going on? 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