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Comment by wsgeorge | Hacker News Reader

Firefox was my go-to 3 years ago because it was just lighter than Chrome (and easier on my battery).

I still hate the fact that different browser profiles and profile switching aren't surfaced like they are in Chrome. I think it's such a major use case for modern web browsing, I find it hard to believe they aren't prioritizing it. (FWIW this isn't even supported in Safari, which I would have preferred using)

I still keep it around because I love it's download manager, but I tend to use a lot of Google services, and out of habit, I stick to Chrome.

(ps. I was an early Chrome adopter, so it's quite sticky with me)

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Multi-Account Containers are like profiles, but in tabs instead of other windows. They're pretty great.

It's an official Mozilla Firefox extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...

If I understand correctly, these only compartmentalise cookies and browsing history, whereas full profiles (via the -ProfileManager switch in Firefox) compartmentalise the whole browser config (add-ons, permissions, etc.) as well, which I think is much more useful.

To me it's the opposite. I'd like the same browser config, use the same window, keep my bookmarks, history etc., just want different logins and website contexts. I love Firefox's implementation of containers, and find Chrome's way of doing profiles useless.

But Firefox supports profiles as well if that's what you want, as you say. So best of both worlds.

If you want to open 5 of the same website but with different accounts, containers are the way to go.

The AWS console comes to mind.

I don't want separate configs, just separate accounts.

I have also used it as a proxy manager. Different proxy config in a different container.

Both have their merits, in my opinion.

Given that Firefox already has multi-profile support internally, it would only be a matter of adding a GUI similar to Chrome's to make it the best of both worlds.

Yes, containers compartmentalise the web-facing side of the browser, not the user-facing side.

This fits with my use case for profiles.

Depends on usage.

I use distinct profiles for testing, but during the day, I open versions of the site for personal and work for example. Or at work for different clients.

It depends on workflow IMO. There are uses for both.

Yes, perhaps I should have said 'more powerful'. Utility is definitely relative to usage.

I've been using a multi-profile setup in firefox for years, just by launching it with

    firefox --new-instance -ProfileManager %u

which lets me pick a profile at startup, each with its own settings, cookies, history, and add-ons, etc.. This works fine for me, I don't really feel the need to launch into a different profile from the browser's own menu, if that's what you're referring to?

Can you run multiple profiles at the same time using this approach?

Firefox doesn’t restrict how many profiles you run at the same time. You can start them either via -ProfileManager, or by going to about:profiles.

The --new-instance flag lets you run multiple copies of even the same profile.

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/CommandLineOptions#-new-ins...

IME, starting Firefox with this flag, then (from the profile manager) picking an already-running profile, I get the fatal error:

> Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To use Firefox, you must first close the existing Firefox process, restart your device, or use a different profile.

So I guess it allows multiple instances but only with different profiles, at least on my system.

If that's true (I haven't tested), then --no-remote is what you're looking for.

I think Container Tabs are a better fit for the way most people use multiple accounts online.

Plus it enables the Facebook Container extension, which sandboxes all facebook-directed network requests so they can't track you across the web.

And the third party Container Proxy extension lets you set different proxy setting for different containers. So your work tabs can use a different network route.

Container Tabs are not a replacement for profiles though. It doesn't let you have different bookmarks, extensions, theme, etc, which doesn't work when you want to have a separation between work and personal stuff.

Firefox already supports profiles, all it needs it's a simple UI to switch between them. Profiles + Containers (and everything that comes with them) would be perfect.

What's wrong with using about:profiles?

Edit: you even can set it as bookmark into the toolbar.

Nothing really, it just feels like I'm "breaking glass" whenever I do it, so I end up using Chrome for the multi-profile use case.

If Firefox was to add a similar GUI, I'd probably get by completely without Chrome.

2 clicks instead of one. There’s an extension to make it one click, but it requires a helper app installed, which is not great.

This addon[1] is very, very close to the way chrome handles having different profiles. That is what I'm using to separate my work vs personal browsing.

[1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/profile-switc...

I use Firefox as my daily driver but I really miss user profiles and tab groups from Chrome. None of the tab related extensions for Firefox give quite the same ease of use as the built in tab groups do in Chrome.

As noted by others in this thread, you want the -ProfileManager flag when you start it. You should be able to either have it remember you always want the profile manager on startup, or change the application shortcut to always use the flag.

It would be great if they made this more easily available though. It was the default once upon a time.

Out of curiosity, what do you need different profiles for? Kids/SO?

I have separate profiles for personal/work.

Work. I count 5 profiles on my current laptop. I like to compartmentalize my work/external projects, so I don't mix things like search histories, multiple Google accounts, etc.

These are the profiles I currently have:

1. Default, personal. My personal Gmail and other sites.

2. Non-profit that I run, signed in to its Gmail and other email account, etc

3. 3 profiles for different volunteer/contract roles, each signed in to their Gmail and other accounts.

I use it when I need to log into multiple AWS accounts.

The official Container Tabs extension on Firefox seems to be perfect for that. You can login to different accounts on the same profile.

One example - my shopping profile runs the extensions Rakuten/Honey to find coupon codes. I don't want those running on every single page I load outside of the shopping intent, so I use a separate profile.

Firefox's containers don't allow for limiting extensions, so you have to use profiles. Chrome only has profiles.

Open new tab, type: "about:profiles" create as many profiles as you want. Or as others have said you can use tab containers or the profile manager switch.

I hear you on profiles. My go-to for this is to use firejail or podman to keep truly separate browsers on all my alternate profiles.

I don't think profiles are that important when most users have their own account these days.

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