Opera GX review – worth using in 2022?

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Opera GX review

Opera gx review Opera GX, the gaming browser, attempts to establish a name for its gaming-specific features. However, is Opera GX suitable for people who don’t play games for use as a driver on a daily basis? 

Do gamers need to use it in lieu of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or the normal Opera browser? Let’s discuss this with our Opera GX review. Before we begin with the basics, let’s talk about the basics of what Opera GX really is.

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Opera GX – what’s the draw?

Opera GX is in essence, an enhanced variant that is a gaming version of opera. It is essentially a gaming version of the Opera browser. Similar to Opera, the first Opera, Opera GX is built on Chromium. 

It comes with a unique look along with a variety of distinctive features that will be important to players, at the very least in principle. 

Opera GX targets gamers but after having used it for a few months we’re able to say that it is a good choice for those who don’t mind the design aesthetics, Opera GX could be an excellent choice for your primary driver. 

Let’s look at why that is when we look at our Oper GX review. The first thing we’ll look at is the design aesthetics and the experience for users.

Visual design

visually, Opera GX simply screams “gamers Look at me!” with its right corners, sharp edges, and vivid colors. It’s not for all. 

We personally don’t like the style, but in terms of the practicality aspect, Opera GX is pretty great. It looks as if it’s the brain of someone who envisions gamers as a group of characters from the 80’s SF movie, enhanced by various RGB body modifications. At least the UX is at par with the other major gamers in the world in web-based browsers.

The majority of options are accessible by just a couple of mouse clicks. The various elements are exactly where you’d think they would be, and it takes only two minutes to become familiar with Opera GX. 

Even the unusual elements, like the sidebar, don’t seem odd when you start Opera GX for the first time. Opera’s designers have developed an extremely intuitive browser for users to use.

The good news continues with an abundance of different themes to choose from. They will not alter the style of the different elements as they are only available in a variety of colors. 

However, the ability to pick a theme with black and other hues of gray is a great feature to have for those who don’t agree with the gaming-style design. 

It is also great that you can completely alter colors and even create a custom theme. If you choose the right style, Opera GX doesn’t look like it does. 

We do like Chrome as well as the standard Opera or Firefox more visually. But, all of them provide a fantastic user experience.

Options, features, and extensions

Opera GX comes with a variety of features built-in to the software. More than Chrome and Firefox. 

The sidebar is the one mentioned above which contains a myriad of useful shortcuts, like bookmarks, or settings for your browser. Its location renders it unnoticeable until you require it.

And we can say the same about a variety of features within Opera GX. For instance, there’s the amazing screen capture tool, which chills towards the end of your address bar, until you tap it.

After that, it is possible to open a brand new tab by clicking on any tab bar. A small enhancement over Chrome for instance, but a appreciated one that isn’t visible yet still doing its job. 

Additionally, there are several tools that will improve the performance of the browser while playing games. 

While their use is questioned (more on this later) They’re readily available and are residing on the right-hand sidebar.

It also has an integrated ads blocker which is quite effective at what it does. It stopped almost all ads websites attempted to throw at us. 

The exception is the YouTube home page advertisement (placed in the place of that video at the left of your feed). 

While blocking this one advertisement is a bit confusing, however, we’re not complaining because this is one of the few negative things we could be said about the built-in splitter.

Return to the bar. It allows you to add different messaging applications or other services such as Spotify as well as other streaming platforms. 

It’s great to have different chat apps integrated into the web browser, so it’s not too much of a problem if you’re okay with the privacy concerns associated with this change. 

Although having a distinct Spotify tab built within your browser may seem appealing but in actuality, we discovered that it’s much easier to keep Spotify running in a separate tab.

Opera GX also has hidden and optional features that don’t alter your browsing experience, however, are useful nevertheless. 

For example, you can switch to the current weather settings on the homepage page, or force dark pages on all websites you go to. 

The latter does not work as well It makes certain elements of certain websites inaccessible to anyone screaming in pain when they are greeted with white web backgrounds will be happy with it.

The options menu conceals additional potential useful options, such as the ability to enable browser sounds or background music. 

It’s great to listen to at 3 amand lose your mind trying to understand where the strange, muffled sound effects come from.

We like the fact that you can access nearly every option in just two or three mouse clicks. The sidebar can be arranged according to your preferences by simply pressing the bottom. 

You will be able to access all of the settings with just one click of the easy set-up menu. The entire options menu is just one click away when you use the sidebar. Another feature we love regarding Opera GX is that most of the features are not required.

You can make use of these, but nobody is obligated to use them. Use a sidebar, or choose not to. Make use of the extra features or just remove them altogether. 

While many extra features are helpful but one feature does not make sense. It’s built into Opera VPN. Yes, it’s completely free but it’s not an actual VPN and is accompanied by a host of privacy concerns. 

The main point is you should not be using Opera GX VPN. If you’re interested in finding more information, take a look at our in-depth analysis of the topic.

In the case of extensions, Opera GX has access to the most well-known ones like uBlock Origin or Return YouTube Dislike. 

However, when you install Opera GX, Opera GX lacks access to the many extensions available on Chrome. This may sound a bit bleak, but don’t worry, because Opera owns their own extension to enable Chrome extensions. 

Install it and you’ll be able to utilize the majority of the extensions that are designed specifically for Google Chrome. We’ve tested it and discovered that all three extensions that we’re regularly using in Google Chrome the three extensions – Bitwarden, Checker Plus for Gmail along with Zoom to fill Ultrawide Video – work perfectly with Opera GX.

Note it is not the case that all Chrome extensions will work with Opera GX. For instance, you should not use themes. Additionally, extensions that alter things like the layout or design of the homepage aren’t working. 

We’ve been using Earth View from Google Earth for over a decade in Chrome however, although you can install it on Opera GX, the extension isn’t working since it changes the default layout of the home screen. 

When you install the Chrome Extensions extension, you’ll have access to the vast variety of Chrome extensions, greatly making it easier to use Opera GX.

Performance

Opera GX is a snappy browser that can open new tabs extremely fast. It’s about the same speed as other popular browsers like Chrome as well as Firefox. 

It uses slightly greater memory than Chrome when there are a lot of tabs open, however, this shouldn’t hinder its overall speed. 

The one thing we do not like is that you must undergo a half-second-long white screen when you boot up cold this isn’t something we’ve experienced on other web browsers. It’s not a major issue however, it’s there and some users could be quite annoyed by it.

Overall performance is very good. It doesn’t experience any slowdowns when we open more than 50 tabs. YouTube videos run smoothly even when there are 50 tabs open. 

Opera GX will not slow your system, no matter the number of tabs you have running in the background or what number of instances of Opera GX you have running simultaneously. 

However, Opera GX won’t magically improve performance in games as the browser isn’t a cloned version that can be used when playing games. Further details on that are below.

Opera GX review – gaming-specific features

The entire Opera GX shtick is that it’s designed specifically for gamers, and can be utilized by gamers. We can conclude this is just a marketing untruth and not much more. 

Yes, there are times when the GX Corner is useful. When you click it (you will find it on the sidebar) will take you to an individual page with gaming-related content. 

There’s the video game release calendar which is nice to keep. It also shows lesser-known games and games for platforms that are coming out on. This isn’t necessarily an essential feature for gamers.

Then the GX Corner features things such as new video game trailers as well as the most up-to-date games newsfeed. 

This is also nice to have however, it’s far from being considered a must-have. It’s the same about the games tab that is free. The other elements within GX Corner are of dubious importance. 

For example the deals aggregator an obvious pay-to-be-featured ploy that promotes two fraudulent deal websites, including the notorious G2A in addition to Inaba.

Why not include discounts that are available on Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, or important reseller websites like Fanatical and GreenManGaming? 

Then there’s the store tab which contains Steam, EGS, GOG, Humble Store, and yes, G2A and Inaba. They’re not in any way worth your time. 

Go to There’s AnyDeal (PC) as well as the DekuDeals (gaming consoles) for a chance to find the best bargains.

There’s also GX Control, another gaming-related feature that comes with a collection of tools designed to aid you in optimizing Opera GX performance and decrease the use of system resources. Some of these tools are truly beneficial. 

For example, this tool called Hot Tabs Killer could help to identify and block websites that were humming and now cause a lot of trouble on your computer. 

The network limiter may be helpful for gaming, but if you’re streaming YouTube or Twitch when playing, it won’t assist you, since you’ll need this bandwidth for streaming video. 

Also, you have access to GX Cleaner. GX Cleaner. It serves as an ordinary cache as well as cleaning cookies. It’s handy but not a “GX gaming feature designed for gamers.”

There’s also the RAM limiter which could assist gamers who play on their computer while gaming and are low on RAM. 

The browser can be restricted to running at a maximum of 1GB or less. This could be beneficial if you’re running eight GB of memory, and you want to play a game while your browser is running in the background. 

In the end, the CPU limiter is ineffective. If you see that one tab is going to kick your CPU then you’ll likely close it. Normal websites don’t load the CPU unless they’re doing anything that’s CPU-heavy. Like playing videos even if you’ve got the hardware Acceleration option off.

In the final analysis, the features that are gaming-specific aren’t really specific to gaming. Certain of them, such as Hot Tabs Killer is definitely beneficial to gamers who are not. 

Other features, like the CPU limiter, are generally ineffective. We can only say that you shouldn’t purchase Opera GX based on its gaming logo and “gaming advantages or features.”

It may look different, but it functions similarly to other browsers. The “gaming” features aren’t essential for those who play.

Privacy and security

In terms of security, Opera GX is an excellent browser. It’s built on Chromium and comes with numerous internet security options that make the browser extremely secure and safe to use. 

On the other hand, however, it’s far from perfect in terms of internet privacy. Opera GX has multiple privacy problems, and it’s not the most reliable browser when you are concerned about your privacy on the internet. 

Learn more in our post in which we review Opera GX’s privacy and security options and concerns.

Conclusion

So do you think Opera GX is a good browser? First of all, this isn’t an indispensable gaming application that can change the way you play. 

A majority of its features geared towards gaming are just a bunch of nonsense and won’t aid in improving performance or increase the stability of framerates for your games of choice. 

The GX Corner offers some interesting features (that gaming release schedule is great) however, once again it’s far from an essential tool for gamers.

If we leave the absurd gaming aspects put aside Opera GX is a quite good browser. You can choose from the original designs that may not suit everyone, but they do offer an original choice in a world that is dominated by pastel colors and rounded corners. 

Additionally, you can take advantage of many features that come in the browser, and a huge range of options to modify. 

The adblocker feature is great to start with We also love little things such as an integrated snapshot feature. Additionally, the sidebar gives you a shortcut to your browsing history or Opera GX options. It also hosts your messaging applications.

Opera GX is snappy and doesn’t require greater resources than the other ones. It is compatible with all Chrome extensions and has many themes, and you’ll likely find one that you like. 

Yes, it does have privacy problems, but these issues aren’t just limited to Opera GX. Chrome, which is the most popular browser on the planet is plagued by privacy issues. 

We also don’t like Chrome’s built-in VPN. It’s not anything worthwhile it could be employed to collect data.

In the final analysis, Opera GX is a good choice for a regular driver. If you love its style and don’t mind privacy concerns, Opera GX is as excellent as Chrome and Firefox. We suggest it, but not as the primary browser for gamers.

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Opera GX review FAQs

Is Opera GX trustworthy?

As far as security is concerned, Opera GX is fairly secure. Much like the normal Opera browser, it’s built on Chromium which means it’s just as secure as the majority of Chromium browsers. Don’t mix Chromium and Chrome. Chrome is a particular browser, which, like Opera is built on Chromium the open-source browser developed and created by Google.

Is Opera GX better than Chrome?

Opera GX provides better navigation speed as compared to Chrome. It lets you choose between standard navigation or it has the Fast Navigation Button (FNB). In contrast to Chrome, Opera GX comes with a no-cost VPN to enhance security and privacy while surfing.

Does Opera GX steal your data?

Certain opt-in services and features do will collect your personal information. Opera does not sell the information directly. But, the company does use the data to generate revenue. If you’re using Opera GX on mobile, Opera GX, Opera most likely sells your personal data.

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