Microsoft Edge Gained On Chrome In October

Years ago, the most popular Internet browser out there was Internet Explorer from Microsoft. In recent years, Internet Explorer lost many of its users as people migrated to Google Chrome. Eventually, Microsoft switched to the Chromium engine for Microsoft Edge, and Edge is faring much better against its competition. The latest numbers for browser market share for October 2020 are in, and Chrome lost market share as Edge saw a significant surge in users.The data comes from NetMarketShare, a company that tracks what Internet browser users are using to browse websites. The caveat to the company's data is that it records devices that access only certain websites, but the sample size is large and gives a good idea of market share. According to the latest numbers, Edge has a 10.22 percent desktop market share. That's a decent gain compared to September when Edge had an 8.84 percent market share.

Edge has nearly doubled its market share compared to the 5.60 percent it held in Q4 2019. That equates to a 4.62 percent year-over-year increase. Chrome still has a massive lead over all other browsers on the market, but Edge is now in second place. As of October, Chrome held 69.25 percent of the market.

The browser sitting directly beneath Edge is Firefox with 7.22 percent of the market, Internet Explorer is fourth with 5.57 percent of the market, and Safari is fifth with 3.40 percent of the market. Chrome does have a bit of an edge on some of the other browsers out there since Google encourages users of its extremely popular search engine to use Chrome and Android devices come with Chrome preinstalled.

Google also used questionable tactics to scare Edge users by targeting messages at those users recommending Chrome for security. At the same time, Microsoft is certainly hammering Windows users with attempts to get them to use the Edge browser.