Switching from Chrome to Vivaldi as a power user (without breaking Google Workspace)

I’m a power user of Gmail, Drive, Docs and Google Apps Script. For years, that made Chrome the obvious choice. It’s tightly integrated, predictable, and guaranteed to work well with that stack.

I also rely heavily on fully separated browser profiles to keep my private life, company work and client projects cleanly apart. That setup isn’t a preference. It’s how I stay focused and sane.

For a long time, I never questioned this arrangement.

Why Chrome stopped being a neutral choice

For a long time, I never thought twice about using American software. The most capable tools reliably came out of California, and for years I never looked back.

That has changed. Growing geopolitical tension, increasingly erratic US behaviour, and the far-reaching scope of US jurisdiction make reliance on US technology harder to justify. Laws such as the CLOUD Act make it clear that these tools are not just technical choices but legal and political ones.

At some point, Chrome stopped being a neutral default and became a dependency worth examining.

What I actually need from a browser

Before switching, I forced myself to write down what mattered in practice.

Non-negotiable

• Fully separated browser profiles with isolated logins, cookies, extensions and bookmarks
• No forced account or cloud dependency
• A strong extension ecosystem
• European legal jurisdiction
• Privacy as a product decision, not a marketing layer
• Power-user ergonomics
• Solid support across macOS and Linux
• An active community to ensure continuity
• An advertisement-free business model

Nice-to-haves

• Built-in tools that reduce extension sprawl
• UI features that improve focus
• Optional sync with sensible defaults
• A clear long-term product direction

Why I chose Vivaldi over Mullvad

With those criteria in mind, I switched my default browser to Vivaldi.

What tipped the balance wasn’t a single feature, but the fact that it met all non-negotiables without forcing me to change how I actually work. Fully separated profiles, extensions, and daily workflows carried over without breakage.

I briefly considered Mullvad Browser for privacy reasons, but the lack of fully separated user profiles makes it impractical for anyone juggling multiple professional contexts.

The Chromium compromise

It’s worth being explicit about one limitation: Vivaldi is built on Chromium.

This is not a clean break from Google’s influence on the web engine itself. Chromium still reflects Google’s architectural priorities and decisions.

What has changed is the control plane. Google no longer controls browser behaviour, defaults, sync models, or business incentives. For now, that feels like a deliberate and acceptable trade-off rather than an accidental dependency.

What changed in daily use

The switch itself was straightforward, though I’m still tuning things. All core Google Workspace tools continue to work reliably, including Gmail, Drive, Docs and Apps Script, across multiple isolated profiles.

I’m experimenting with the balance between Vivaldi’s built-in functionality and my existing password manager, particularly around daily flow and ergonomics. Some dependencies remain for now, but nothing has broken my workflow.

What surprised me most is that this wasn’t a downgrade or even a like-for-like replacement. Vivaldi adds features I didn’t expect to use, such as panels, which turned out to be immediately useful.

I’m not done optimising yet, but the direction feels right: more deliberate control, clearer separation of contexts, and fewer invisible assumptions.

This already feels like a net improvement in control and focus.
Cloud storage is next, and I expect that to be a harder trade-off.