Opera vs Opera GX (2026): Which One Should You Use?

Opera vs Opera GX is a smaller choice than it looks. They come from the same company and run on the same Chromium engine, and GX is the gaming edition: GX Control caps for RAM, CPU and network, a Twitch panel, GX Corner and mods. Opera's own pages list most everyday features, such as the free VPN, the ad blocker and Workspaces, for both. If you game or stream on a PC, try GX. If you want a calmer browser, take regular Opera.

Get Opera GX from the official site (it's free)

We haven't used either browser for this piece. It's a synthesis of Opera's own pages, Wikipedia, forum posts and other sites' comparisons, each linked where it's used. Where a claim is Opera's, we say so.

Opera or Opera GX: Which Should You Pick?

Pick Opera GX if:

• You keep a browser open next to a game, and you'd like to set a ceiling on its RAM, CPU or bandwidth.
• You want Twitch and Discord in the sidebar and a start page that lists game releases and deals.
• You like a themed browser with sounds and wallpapers, and you can tone it down if it gets old.

Pick regular Opera if:

• You want a quieter browser for work and everyday use. In our opinion, GX's styling is the loudest part of it.
• You'd rather not have caps and a gamer sidebar you'd never open. Skip GX if the neon and sound effects sound tiring.
• You want a feature that only regular Opera's page lists. We found few, and they're covered below.

Not sure? Both are free, so the cost of guessing wrong is a short install.

Opera vs Opera GX at a Glance

Opera's feature pages don't compare the two. This table puts what each page lists side by side. "Not listed" means the page we opened doesn't mention it, not that the feature is absent.

Here's the short version of that table: the GX-only rows are the limiters, the Twitch panel, GX Corner and mods, and most of the rest is listed on both sides. Guiding Tech's comparison, published in 2019 and last updated February 2022, says GX is built on Opera and includes all of its features. That's old, and Wikipedia's GX entry says something similar, so treat it as a hint, not a guarantee.

What Opera GX Adds Over Regular Opera (Per Opera)

These are vendor claims. Opera's pages contain no benchmarks for them.

• GX Control. Opera's page says the RAM limiter lets you "set hard limits or fine-tune exactly how much memory GX can use." CPU control will "throttle background tabs before they steal your performance." The network limiter is pitched as a way to "keep downloads from wrecking your ping mid-match." A fourth tool, Hot Tabs Killer, closes "the worst resource offenders" in one click. It limits the browser, not your game.
• Twitch and Discord in the sidebar. Opera's GX page lists Twitch ("Never miss a live stream") and Discord ("Talk with your teams, friends and communities with Discord in your sidebar"). Regular Opera's page lists Discord among its messengers, but we saw no Twitch panel there.
• GX Corner. Per Opera, a page of free games, deals, a release calendar and gaming news.
• Mods. Per Opera's GX Mods page, a mod is a free pack that can bundle a theme, wallpapers, background music, browser and keyboard sounds, page shaders and a Discord theme. Regular Opera's page lists Opera Themes instead.

What Regular Opera Has That GX Doesn't (Or Doesn't Clearly)

This is the section most pages get vague about, so we kept it narrow.

Regular Opera's page leads with Workspaces, Tab Islands, a free VPN, an ad blocker, Battery Saver, Flow and Opera AI. Opera's GX pages list most of those too: Workspaces, Opera AI with Tab Commands, Battery Saver, the VPN and the ad blocker, and, on its GX tabs page only, Tab Islands. Opera's GX tabs page says "Tab Islands automatically groups tabs by context."

One conflict is worth knowing. An undated post by a moderator on Opera's forum says "Opera GX doesn't have tabs islands" and that "some features only exist in Opera GX and others only in Opera One." Opera's GX page is the more official source, but we couldn't confirm either side, so we count Tab Islands as listed, not verified. We couldn't confirm in a changelog when GX got Tab Islands. If a specific feature decides it for you, open Opera GX's settings and look before you commit.

What does regular Opera clearly have that GX's pages don't mention? Opera Cashback, Lucid Mode and Volume Booster appear on regular Opera's page and not in the GX feature lists we read. If you care about those, that's an argument for regular Opera. Everything else in the table looks like a tie on paper. That's a reading of vendor pages, not a feature audit.

Is Opera GX Faster or Lighter Than Opera?

We couldn't find a test that answers it for GX against regular Opera. The tests we did find compare GX with Chrome, and they're in our GX vs Chrome comparison. The two things people usually claim, that GX is lighter or that GX is faster, both lack data.

• Guiding Tech says GX "doesn't boost video gaming performance" and expects no noticeable difference if you already have lots of RAM and a high-end CPU. It reports no benchmarks.
• A SigmaOS blog post says both use the same engine, then says GX has a "slight edge," with no figures. SigmaOS sells its own browser, and the post has no date or methodology.
• SlashGear's January 2025 test measured regular Opera, not GX, on one HP laptop: 1,260 to 1,280MB at four tabs and 2,550 to 2,600MB at 20. There's no GX figure from it.

Windows Report has a dedicated Opera GX vs Opera speed test, according to its search listing, but the page returned an error when we tried to open it, so we can't tell you what it found. We didn't find an independent RAM comparison of GX against regular Opera.

Since both are Chromium, a big gap in page speed would surprise us, and we'd treat that expectation as our own reasoning rather than a finding. The difference you can set up is the cap: GX lets you set a ceiling on browser memory, and the regular Opera pages we opened list none. Esports.net warns that an aggressive cap can break your own browser, so set it sensibly.

Who Develops Opera GX? Who Owns Opera?

Same company. Opera's GX about page says GX was developed in Wrocław, Poland, at its desktop dev hub, and calls Oslo, Norway the home of Opera. It says GX launched in 2019, and it gives an undated user figure of more than 30 million, likely older than the latest one. Opera's Q2 2026 results, the newer and dated source, say GX averaged 37 million monthly users across PC and mobile, out of 288 million across all products. Wikipedia says GX was announced on May 21, 2019 and entered early access for Windows on June 11, 2019, with macOS in December 2019.

The parent, Opera Limited, is Nasdaq-listed, per Wikipedia, which says Kunlun Tech indirectly owns 68.8% of shares, citing Opera's 2024 annual filing. Secondary sites report 67.9% in a newer filing, and we couldn't open the SEC documents, so treat it as "about two-thirds." That ownership applies to both browsers, so it doesn't split this comparison. If it bothers you, neither is your pick, and our Opera GX safety review has the privacy and ownership breakdown rather than repeating it here.

Why Is Opera Closing? Is Opera Shutting Down?

We found no sign of it. Searching for a shutdown announcement turned up none for the Opera browser or for GX, only for older products. In 2017 it said "Opera has now decided to discontinue Opera Max," per TechCrunch. Wikipedia lists newer browsers from Opera, including Opera Air (February 2025) and Opera Neon (late 2025). We couldn't tell where any shutdown rumor started. If you saw a specific claim, check Opera's own announcements, because we couldn't verify one.

Can You Run Both? Switching Between Them

Both are free, and that's the best case for trying them. We found no official Opera page on running regular Opera and GX at the same time. The closest answer came from an Opera forum moderator, who said running two GX copies isn't supported but standalone installs are the workaround. Whether Opera and GX coexist cleanly is something we couldn't verify, so check after install.

To move your stuff:

1. Import. Opera Help says you can import history, bookmarks, cookies and more from Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Yandex or a bookmarks HTML file. It doesn't list the other Opera browser as a source.
2. Use the bookmarks file. A moderator on Opera's forum says you can export bookmarks from one and import them into the other. That's the fallback if the import dialog doesn't cover it.
3. Try Opera sync. Opera says sync covers bookmarks, Speed Dials, history, passwords and open tabs, but its sync page doesn't mention GX. Check what came across before you delete anything.

Keep the old browser installed for a week before you uninstall it.

If you're moving from Chrome rather than Opera, the GX vs Chrome comparison has the 10-minute switch.

What We Couldn't Verify

• A current RAM or CPU comparison of GX against regular Opera. The only numbers we found are for regular Opera on one laptop, or have no method behind them.
• Frame rates and latency. Opera's line that the network limiter will "keep downloads from wrecking your ping mid-match" is a claim, not a measurement.
• Tab Islands in GX. Opera's GX page lists them; an undated forum post says GX lacks them. We found no changelog.
• The crypto wallet. Wikipedia says the wallet's features moved into Opera and GX, but Opera's pages we opened don't describe it.
• Side-by-side installs. No official page, only forum advice.
• Sync and import between the two. Opera's pages don't cover it.
• Windows Report's GX vs Opera test. The page returned an error, so we couldn't read it.
• Reddit, Quora, TikTok and YouTube answers. We didn't open them. They're opinion, not sources we could cite.

Bottom Line: Opera or Opera GX?

Opera GX is regular Opera's gaming edition, not a different browser. Take GX if a game, Discord and a pile of tabs share your PC and you want caps, a Twitch panel and the themed look. Take regular Opera if you want the same company's browser with less noise. Opera's pages list most core features in both, and both are free. Install one, run it for a week, and switch if it nags you.

Get Opera GX from the official site

Our links go to Opera's site through our tracker. If you'd rather, type opera.com yourself.

Still weighing GX against other browsers? Our best browser for gaming picks by job.

FAQ

Is Opera GX the same as Opera?

Not exactly. They're the same company's browsers on the same Chromium engine, per an Opera forum moderator and Wikipedia. GX adds GX Control limiters, a Twitch panel, GX Corner and mods, per Opera's GX pages. Opera's pages list most other features, such as the VPN and ad blocker, in both.

Which is better, Opera or Opera GX?

It depends on the job. GX is better for a PC gamer who wants RAM, CPU and network caps and a Discord and Twitch sidebar. Regular Opera is better for a calmer everyday browser. We found no independent test showing either is faster or lighter.

What is the difference between Opera and Opera GX?

The gamer layer. GX Control, the Twitch panel, GX Corner and mods appear on GX's pages and not on regular Opera's. Opera lists the free VPN, ad blocker, Workspaces, Opera AI and battery saver for both. Tab Islands is the one conflict, between Opera's GX page and an undated forum post.

Does Opera GX use more RAM than Opera?

We couldn't find a test. Opera GX lets you cap its own memory, and regular Opera's pages list no cap. SlashGear measured regular Opera, not GX, at 1,260 to 1,280MB with four tabs on one laptop. Compare both in Task Manager on your own PC.

Who developed Opera GX?

Opera, the Norwegian company. Opera says GX was developed at its desktop dev hub in Wrocław, Poland, and it launched in 2019. Opera Limited is Nasdaq-listed, and Kunlun Tech holds about two-thirds, per Wikipedia.

Is Opera 100% safe, and is Opera GX safer?

We can't call either one 100% safe. Comparitech (updated June 18, 2026) found no malware flags in the official GX build. We didn't look at scans of regular Opera. Both are from the same company, so the ownership and data questions apply to both. Our safety review of GX covers the scans, fake installers and privacy switches.

Why is Opera closing? Is Opera shutting down?

We found no announcement that Opera or Opera GX is shutting down. Opera has closed older products, including Opera Max in 2017, per TechCrunch, and Wikipedia lists newer browsers such as Opera Air and Opera Neon. If you saw a specific claim, check Opera's own announcements.

Can I use Opera and Opera GX at the same time?

We couldn't verify it. We found no official Opera page that covers it. A forum moderator says running two GX copies isn't supported, with standalone installs as the workaround, but that's about two GX copies, not Opera and GX together. Try it and keep your old browser until it works.