How to Protect Yourself from Browser Fingerprinting

Your browser reveals more about you than you think. The good news: there are effective measures to minimize your digital fingerprint. In this guide, we show you the best strategies — from immediately actionable to advanced — and honestly assess their effectiveness.

Quick Overview: All Protection Measures Compared

Which measure offers how much protection? Here is an honest assessment:

1. Use Brave Browser (Recommendation #1)

Brave is the only major browser that actively protects against fingerprinting. It randomizes certain browser attributes on every page load, so websites cannot create a consistent fingerprint. Additionally, Brave blocks trackers and ads by default.

What Brave specifically does:

• Adds noise to Canvas operations — each page load generates a different Canvas fingerprint
• Randomizes WebGL parameters
• Blocks known fingerprinting scripts
• Standardizes certain API return values

The best part: Brave is based on Chromium, so it works exactly like Chrome. All Chrome extensions are compatible. You lose nothing in terms of convenience.

2. Use Browser Extensions

If you prefer to stick with Chrome or Firefox, extensions can help:

• uBlock Origin: Blocks not only ads but also many tracking scripts used for fingerprinting. The most important first step for any browser.
• Privacy Badger: Automatically detects and blocks trackers based on their behavior. A great complement to uBlock.
• CanvasBlocker (Firefox): Specifically targets Canvas fingerprinting. Adds noise to Canvas operations.

3. Use a VPN

A VPN masks your IP address and your approximate location. This alone does not prevent fingerprinting, but it removes an important data point from your profile.

Which VPN provider? Here is a quick comparison:

4. Restrict JavaScript

Most fingerprinting techniques — Canvas, WebGL, Audio, font detection — require JavaScript. Without JavaScript, fingerprinting barely works. Tools like NoScript or the restrictive settings of the Tor Browser disable JavaScript for unknown sites.

Downside: Many modern websites do not work or only work partially without JavaScript. This method is therefore only recommended for advanced users who are willing to whitelist sites individually.

5. Adjust Operating System Settings

These changes are less effective than the ones mentioned above but can slightly reduce your fingerprint:

• Minimize fonts: Do not install unnecessary fonts — each additional font makes your fingerprint more unique. Default fonts are sufficient for most tasks.
• Use a common resolution: 1920x1080 is the most widespread. Unusual resolutions stand out.
• Disable WebRTC: In Firefox, go to about:config and set media.peerconnection.enabled to false. This prevents IP leaks.
• Disable Do Not Track: It sounds paradoxical, but DNT makes you more identifiable because hardly anyone enables it.

The Ideal Combination for Everyday Use

Our recommendation for the best balance of protection and convenience:

• ✅ Brave Browser as your main browser
• ✅ Install uBlock Origin (also available in Brave)
• ✅ Use a VPN for sensitive activities
• ✅ Disable WebRTC in settings

Before and After: Test Your Measures

The best way to check whether your changes are working: test your fingerprint before and after the measures. With the TrakMe.net Fingerprint Test you can instantly see how your score changes. All analyses run locally — no data is transmitted.