Compare Humble New Tab and Weava: Which Extension is the Best?
Humble offers a simple and customizable interface for your browser's new tab. It’s open-source, lightweight, and focuses on functionality, making it ideal for users seeking efficiency over aesthetics. | Weava Highlighter was once a popular choice, but now it’s filled with ads and has a poor user experience. Better options like Web Highlights do the job better without the hassle. | |
| Key Features A summary of the most important features offered by each extension. |
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| Our Rating Tooltivity's expert review score for each extension, based on hands-on testing and research. | 8.5 Winner in this category | 7.0 |
| Total users Total active users across all major browsers: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari. | 20,993 | 200,000 Winner in this category |
| Total ratings Total number of user ratings received across all supported browsers. | 1,220 | 2,728 Winner in this category |
| Average rating Average user rating across all browsers, calculated from available store ratings. | 4.8 ⭐ Winner in this category | 4.1 ⭐ |
| Entry Level Price The minimum price required to start using the extension. "Free" means a free tier is available. | Free | Free |
| Chrome User rating and stats for the extension on Chrome browser. |  4.7 4.86 Average Chrome Web Store rating from the last 100 reviews 20.0K+Users Winner in this category | 4.1 3.01 Average Chrome Web Store rating from the last 100 reviews 200.0K+Users |
| Edge User rating and stats for the extension on Edge browser. | - | - |
| Firefox User rating and stats for the extension on Firefox browser. |  4.8 4.80 Average Mozilla Firefox Add-ons Store rating from the last 100 reviews 993Users Winner in this category | - |
| Safari User rating and stats for the extension on Safari browser. | - | - |
| Features Tooltivity's expert score for the 'Features' aspect of each extension. | 7.0 Humble New Tab Page shines in its simplicity and customization options. You can easily rearrange bookmarks, apps, and other elements using its intuitive drag-and-drop feature. It’s not overloaded with unnecessary bells and whistles, which keeps it fast and efficient. However, compared to other tools, it lacks more advanced features like integrated to-do lists or news feeds. If you’re looking for a straightforward way to manage your new tab content, it’s hard to beat. But for power users, the simplicity might feel like a limitation. | 8.5 Weava offers basic but functional features like web and PDF highlighting, annotations, and folder organization. The basic functionalities work great but the lack of innovative or advanced functionalities, especially compared to competitors, limits its appeal. Top 3 Features of Weava Highlighter1. Highlight Websites and PDFs  Similar to our favorite highlighter Web Highlights, you can highlight text on any website or PDF. Choose different colors to customize your highlights and make important information stand out. 2. Organize Research into Folders  Weava lets you save your highlights and organize them into folders, making it simple to keep your research organized and find what you need fast. 3. Collaborate with Your Team  Weava allows you to share folders with your team, making collaboration on research projects easy. Everyone can add and view highlights and notes all in one place. Winner in this category |
| Performance Tooltivity's expert score for the 'Performance' aspect of each extension. | 10 Performance is where Humble New Tab Page really excels. It’s incredibly lightweight, ensuring that your browser’s speed isn’t compromised. The extension loads quickly and doesn’t introduce any noticeable lag, even with multiple elements on the page. This efficiency makes it a great choice for users with older or less powerful computers. Winner in this category | 7.0 Weava performs adequately when it comes to basic highlighting and syncing. However, the overall performance is marred by the intrusive ads and occasional bugs that make the experience less smooth than it should be. |
| Design Tooltivity's expert score for the 'Design' aspect of each extension. | 7.0 The design of Humble New Tab Page is, well, humble. It’s clear that the focus is on function over form. While it’s not going to win any awards for aesthetics, the design is clean, uncluttered, and gets the job done. For users who value a visually rich experience, this might be a drawback. The minimalist design is fully customizable, allowing you to change the font style, background colors, and overall layout. You can even set your own background image. Here's a screenshot showing how easy it is to adjust the tool's appearance:  So, if you prefer a simple, distraction-free workspace, this tool might be the way to go. Winner in this category | 6.0 The design is where Weava really struggles. The interface is cluttered with ads, making it not only visually unappealing but also frustrating to use. Here's a screenshot showing one of their ads taking up nearly half the height of their sidebar:  The overall design feels outdated and lacks the intuitive flow found in other tools. This poor design significantly hampers the user experience. |
| Value for Money Tooltivity's expert score for the 'Value for Money' aspect of each extension. | 9.5 It’s hard to argue with the value provided by a free, open-source tool that does exactly what it promises. Humble New Tab Page delivers solid performance without any hidden costs or premium upgrades. It’s a fantastic option for users who want a customizable new tab experience without spending a dime. The only reason it doesn’t get a perfect score is that there are other free options with more features, albeit at the cost of simplicity and speed. Winner in this category | 6.8 The free version of Weava offers basic features, and their premium plan at $3.99/month is priced similarly to competitors. However, given the ads in the free version and the overall user experience, you can find better value in alternatives that provide more features and a cleaner interface for the same or even lower cost. |
| Ease of Use Tooltivity's expert score for the 'Ease of Use' aspect of each extension. | 7.5 Setting up and using Humble New Tab Page is simple. There's no need to sign up, and it provides a lightweight bookmark manager right in your new tab. The options menu is easy to navigate, making it intuitive to customize things like fonts, colors, and spacing. That said, it might take a bit of time to discover that you can drag and drop everything around, and not everyone may realize that you can adjust columns by right-clicking. Once you figure this out, the drag-and-drop interface makes customization easy, even for those who aren’t tech-savvy. However, advanced features like injecting custom CSS may be more suited for developers. Overall, though, the experience is very user-friendly. Winner in this category | 6.5 Weava’s basic highlighting functionality is straightforward, but the poor design and mandatory account creation add unnecessary friction. The ads make navigation cumbersome, and while it’s not difficult to learn, using the tool effectively can be a challenge due to these barriers. |
| Security & Privacy Tooltivity's expert score for the 'Security & Privacy' aspect of each extension. | 10 Humble New Tab Page respects your privacy by not collecting or storing any user data, which is a significant plus in today’s digital age. As it is open-source you can always double-check. Winner in this category | 7.0 Weava does take steps to protect user data, and their privacy policy is clear about not selling personal information. However, the requirement to create an account and the potential for data collection through ads could be a concern for privacy-conscious users. |
| Conclusion A summary of our findings and final thoughts for each extension. | Humble New Tab Page is a fantastic choice for users who value simplicity, speed, and customization. While it may not offer the rich visuals or advanced features of other new tab extensions, its focus on functionality and user control makes it a standout tool. If you’re looking for a no-frills extension that just works, and you appreciate the transparency of open-source software, Humble New Tab Page is definitely worth considering. It’s not the flashiest option, but it gets the job done. | Weava Highlighter may still be a popular choice, but its current state leaves much to be desired. The overwhelming presence of ads and a clunky design significantly detract from the user experience, making it hard to justify its use when other tools offer a more polished and ad-free environment. If you’re serious about your productivity, it’s worth exploring alternatives like Web Highlights, which delivers all the benefits of Weava without the downsides. |
| Our Recommendation | In our comparison between Humble New Tab and Weava, Humble New Tab came out on top, scoring 8.5. Weava is the most widely used, with over 200k users and 3k+ reviews, but Humble New Tab outperformed it in our review. We rate Humble New Tab and Weava lower than users do. Notably, Humble New Tab has the highest user rating in the Chrome Web Store at 4.76, which is even higher than our rating of 8.5. There are some noticeable differences between these extensions, so it's worth considering your priorities and the details below.
If you want a quick recommendation, Humble New Tab is our top pick. But as always, the best choice depends on what matters most to you. | |
