ELinks
The comfortable terminal browser.
The most 'full-featured' of the text browsers: menus, tabs, colors, forms, background downloads, and Lua scripting — all in your terminal.
- Engine
- ELinks (own)
- License
- Open source
- Runs on
- Terminal, Linux, macOS, Windows
- Top marks
- Light on resources, Open source, Independence
- Updated
- September 2026
Why it shines
- Tabs and menus in a TUI
- Color rendering and mouse support
- Lua/Guile scripting
Worth knowing
- No JavaScript (or extremely limited)
- Development moves slowly
Origins
ELinks belongs to The independents — descended from Own engines.
Does well
Ranked in
Scorecard
- Tracking protection0/3
- Fingerprinting resistance0/3
- Anonymity0/3
- Built-in ad blocking0/3
- Customization1/3
- Keyboard control2/3
- Built-in tools1/3
- Minimal interface2/3
- Fresh design0/3
- Classic interface0/3
- Light on resources3/3
- Raw speed0/3
- Battery efficiency0/3
- Extension ecosystem0/3
- Cross-device sync0/3
- Site compatibility0/3
- Low maintenance1/3
- Open source3/3
- Independence3/3
- Built-in AI0/3
- Gaming features0/3
- Dev tooling0/3
0–3 on each of the 22 criteria the quiz and the guides rank by. How we score.
