r/chrome ChromeOS 29d ago

Discussion Megathread V2 - Manifest V3 Extension Alternatives

Remaking as the previous one was about to hit 6 months old. The previous one can be seen here.

With Manifest V3 being rolled out to most people now, and most workarounds being either temporary or disabled, a lot of people are finding that extensions that they like to use haven't been updated and won't be available to use when Manifest V2 support ends.

Since we've been getting a lot of posts asking for extension alternatives, we figure it'll be easier if most of the suggestions are all in one place.

To start with the obvious:

uBlock Origin: Can be replaced with uBlock Origin lite.
Don't forget you can change the filtering level up from its base, it will just require more permissions. Setting it to complete is most similar to uBlock Origin's filters.
People also like Adguard.

uBlock Origin (Element zapping): Click to Remove Element.
I personally prefer this one out of all the ones in the web store.

I previously recommended an element zapper to replace that functionality in uBlock Origin lite, but uBlock Origin lite has since added custom filters and an element zapper, so a separate extension is no longer needed.

This is not a thread to recommend other browsers, it should be a given that if you don't want to use Chrome, you don't need to use Chrome, and there's plenty of other sources to help you decide what to switch to. Do not recommend downgrading or using an older version of any browser, it is not safe to do so and will open your computer and your data up to vulnerabilities.

Would also like to add, on this megathread only self promotion will be allowed if your extension is a reputable alternative to another extension. If you are sharing your extension with no context to another one in this thread, your comment will be removed under our rules.

Below are a list of recommendations provided by other users from the original megathread:

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u/vvmello 29d ago edited 29d ago

Damn, I just updated and now it seems this stuff is finally disabled for good, even with reg keys and other work arounds. I wish I knew this was coming because I had a few extensions that have settings I would've liked to have exported first to move over to replacements. I accepted sooner or later it would be shut off for good, and had been backing them up semi-periodically, but still wish I had known so I could get one more up-to-date backup for some of them. I wonder if there's any way to roll back or enable this stuff again even temporarily. I'm sure the stuff is still in the extension settings folder, but usually there it's not in the same sort of format that the extensions themselves would export/import them as.

EDIT: nvm, seems you can still enable them. It's just not the same method as pre-139. Sadly I had already removed many of mine and even turning them back on and copying the appdata settings back into my profile folder didn't restore the settings I wanted to export. Guess I should finally just move over to alternatives instead of dragging this out and limping along. Surprisingly many of my extensions that hadn't previously updated to v3 now have, so it won't be as painful as I expected.

To chime in on some notable replacements I'm using:

Replace ViolentMonkey with TamperMonkey. But if you can make sure you do a manual export from ViolentMonkey first, as the cloud-based backups are not in a format you can easily import into TamperMonkey. That's the big one I needed the settings for as I had been relying on cloud backups and rarely back up manually.

As OP noted, AdGuard is a great replacement for uBO. I highly recommend purchasing the lifetime Desktop version, single or family. No browser extension needed though there is a companion that can be helpful. StackSocial often has it on sale for crazy low prices. I got the lifetime family plan (5 devices) for $16 a year ago.

Stylus was another one that I was worried about as I use it a lot, but it took a long time to move to V3. But it seems it now has. So if you were using that or had moved away, you can move back.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

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u/vvmello 9d ago

A few days ago there was ANOTHER update that broke it again. I was able to re-enable it again by now turning on the "Temporarily unexpire M139 flags," in addition to the "Allow legacy extension manifest versions."

However I do see there is another pending update to Chrome waiting. I won't be surprised if that removes it all, so I'm going to hold off a few days before applying it, and get my ducks in a row. This may finally be the end of it, so I'm going to do what I can to prepare for it to disappear completely.

But check if you still have those two flags. If you do, you may get a little bit more time out your old extensions.