The 14 Best Plugins (Extensions) for Chrome in 2024

Protect your privacy, make Gmail work the way you want, and make sure you always get the best prices when shopping

We've gathered a list of some of the most useful Chrome plugins available from the Chrome web store. Check them out and see which ones can make your life easier and more productive.

You can install free items from the Chrome Web Store. For any paid plugins, apps, or extensions, you'll need a Google Payments account

01
of 14

Best Chrome Extension to Stop Online Tracking: Privacy Badger

Chrome browser showing Privacy Badger extension
What We Like
  • User-friendly interface is easy for even novices to use.

  • Clear indications of what content is being blocked.

What We Don't Like
  • Often over-zealous in blocking content.

  • Users can't import custom blocking lists.

Many companies love tracking your online activity and are quite good at it. Gain more privacy and security with Privacy Badger. With a variety of tools, Privacy Badger disables tracking tools or obfuscates the data. Toggle blocking on and off for specific sites and trackers to ensure the plugin doesn't break your favorite website.

02
of 14

Best Chrome Extension for Saving Money: The Camelizer

Chrome browser showing Camelizer extension



What We Like
  • Reveals whether a product is truly on sale, or if the retail price suddenly increased.

  • Provides purchasing insights that actually save money.

What We Don't Like
  • Doesn't work with other retailer's websites.

Amazon prices change constantly, and it's often hard to discern a product's retail price. The Camelizer shows you a product's historical pricing data via graphs of previous prices. While you're on an Amazon product page, select the Camelizer icon. You'll get a pop-up box with Amazon price data drawn from the enormous and reliable database at CamelCamelCamel.com.

03
of 14

Best Chrome Plugin for YouTube: Enhancer for YouTube

Chrome browser showing Enhancer for YouTube extension
What We Like
  • Adds new functionality to YouTube.

  • Reduces some YouTube annoyances.

  • Many dark mode themes to suit your tastes.

What We Don't Like
  • Sometimes interferes with Picture-in-Picture on Chrome.

Among the many apps that spruce up YouTube, this is our favorite. Enhancer for YouTube includes a slew of options for theming and functionality. There are more than a dozen selectable dark-mode themes, ads are blocked automatically, and videos can be maximized within a browser window, filling the whole screen without going into full-screen mode. Once you get used to Enhancer for YouTube's perks, regular YouTube will feel archaic.

04
of 14

Best Chrome Plugin for Gmail: Checker Plus for Gmail

Chrome browser showing Checker for Gmail extension
What We Like
  • Provides instantaneous updates when new mail arrives.

  • Eliminates the need for a persistent Gmail tab.

What We Don't Like
  • No visual customization options available.

  • Icon badges can be dismissed only by opening unread emails.

Gmail inboxes can fill up quickly, leaving users feeling overwhelmed. Checker Plus places an icon in your toolbar that automatically updates when new Gmail messages arrive. Select the icon, and you'll get a short message preview. Select the message, and it opens within the extension. You can do almost all email reading from within Checker. You'll need to open the primary Gmail browser interface only when it's time to compose a message.

05
of 14

Best Chrome Extension for Reading Mode: Postlight Reader

Chrome browser showing Mercury Reader extension
What We Like
  • Cuts out ads and auto-playing videos.

  • Text and image view is clean and consistent.

What We Don't Like
  • Not universally effective.

  • Sometimes truncates text or removes relevant images.

Chrome doesn't have a built-in reader mode, like Firefox and Safari, but fortunately, Postlight Reader (formerly Mercury Reader) is an excellent add-on tool. Postlight Reader instantly clears the clutter from your articles, removing ads and distractions and leaving only text and images for a clean and consistent reading view on every website.

06
of 14

Best Chrome Plugin for Blocking Ads: uBlock Origin

Chrome browser showing uBlock Origin extension
What We Like
  • Free and effective ad blocker with no gimmicks.

  • Open-source, with tools for advanced users.

What We Don't Like
  • Not easy to permit specific assets on specific pages.

  • Can obscure exactly what's being blocked.

Ad-blocking is a popular and important Chrome plugin category, as users try to navigate websites filled with intrusive ads that slow page-load times to a crawl.

uBlock Origin has emerged as the top contender in the content-blocking space, appreciated for its easy-to-use interface and tools for power users who want to dive deeper into individual scripts. With overwhelmingly positive user reviews and millions of downloads, uBlock Origin is the best Chrome plugin for wide-spectrum content blocking. 

07
of 14
Chrome browser showing Click n Clean extension
What We Like
  • Dramatically expands Chrome's cookie-management capabilities.

  • Empowers users to defend their own online security.

What We Don't Like
  • Persistent notifications if you don't clean cookies regularly.

  • Removing individual cookies can be time-consuming.

Despite Click&Clean's cute name, online cookies are serious business. They're the basis of online-tracking utilities. A company might set a cookie on one page, but as you navigate around the web, that cookie accrues more and more personal information.

While many privacy-oriented users likely clear their cookies regularly, the rest of us can rely on Click&Clean to make cookie cleaning an effortless routine. With just a click, delete cookies and your cache as well as typed URLs and your download and browsing history.

08
of 14

Best Chrome Plugin for Privacy Obsessives: Edit This Cookie

Chrome browser showing Edit This Cookie extension
What We Like
  • Searching for and removing individual cookies is simple.

  • Provides detailed insights into cookie activity.

What We Don't Like
  • It can be hard to determine what each cookie does.

Since cookies are so crucial to online tracking, controlling them is essential. Edit This Cookie is a cookie manager that lets you add, delete, edit, search, protect, and block cookies. Its interface is easy to use, but its options are powerful. Prevent domains from setting one type of cookie, but allow others. If you frequently switch browsers or computers, export your cookies to track your login status across all your favorite sites. 

09
of 14

Best Chrome Plugin for Google Search: View Image

Chrome browser showing View Image extension
What We Like
  • Replaces what should be a mandatory function in Google Image search.

What We Don't Like
  • That this extension is even necessary.

When Google took away the View Image ability in Google Image search results, many web users were disappointed. This simple plugin reimplements the Google Images "View Image" and "Search by Image" buttons, and they work exactly as they did before Google removed them.

10
of 14

Best Chrome Plugin for Saving Tabs: OneTab

Chrome browser showing OneTab extension
What We Like
  • Creates a quick tab-based to-do list.

  • Saves you from keeping tabs open in the background indefinitely.

  • Provides ultra-lightweight session-saving and restore.

What We Don't Like
  • No facility for syncing tabs between browsers or devices.

  • Sharing tab collections can be awkward.

Chrome takes up a lot of RAM, and the more tabs you have open, the more RAM Chrome needs. OneTab closes all your tabs immediately, condensing them into a page of links. These links then appear each time you open a new tab, giving you the option of reopening the whole window or just a few tabs. Rather than keeping tabs open indefinitely, save them in OneTab for when you're ready to use them. 

11
of 14

Best Chrome Extension for Multitasking: Recent Tabs

Chrome browser showing Recent Tabs settings page
What We Like
  • Keyboard-based task-switching is a huge productivity boost.

What We Don't Like
  • Only allows certain keyboard shortcuts.

Chrome doesn't come with an Alt+Tab-style tab switcher, making it harder to toggle between tabs when working in the browser. Recent Tabs is great for Chrome-based multitaskers, letting you set a keyboard shortcut that flips between your current tab and the last tab you had open. It's a lifesaver.

12
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Best Chrome Plugin for Keyboard Shortcut Junkies: Vimium

Chrome browser showing Vimium extension in use
What We Like
  • Practiced users can move through pages at lightning speeds.

  • Great for users who don't like the mouse.

What We Don't Like
  • The learning curve is a bit steep.

If you feel like your mouse is holding you back, Vimium can replace all browser navigation with keyboard shortcuts. Select links, scroll, and perform all your tasks with just the keyboard. It takes a little while to get a handle on all the keyboard shortcuts, but if you want to leave your mouse behind, this is the plugin for you.

13
of 14

Best Chrome Plugin for a Bigger Perspective: Earth View From Google Earth

Screenshot of Chrome browser showing Earth View extension
What We Like
  • Beautiful start page loads quickly.

  • New images added regularly.

What We Don't Like
  • No additional new tab page features.

Fill your new tab page with a beautiful satellite image drawn from Google Earth. This new tab page extension doesn't slow down your browser with unnecessary functionality, such as a calendar, clock, or to-do list, but it still provides a better visual experience than a blank page. The images are hand-selected, so they'll always be high-quality. The Earth is a beautiful place, so see more of it with Earth View.

14
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Best Chrome Plugin for Userstyles: Stylus

Chrome browser showing Stylus extension
What We Like
  • Provides the greatest control over your web browsing experience.

  • Deep customization options for those willing to explore.

What We Don't Like
  • Requires knowledge of CSS to create custom themes.

  • Themes break regularly as websites and browsers are updated.

Theming web pages with CSS isn't exactly common anymore, but it should be. Using the Stylus Chrome plugin, change how websites display by adding your own styling code on top of them. This allows users to hide annoyances, change colors, or replace text. Stylus is also an awesome tool for the recent dark-mode interface trend.

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