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Comparison with alternatives

get-browser is intentionally the smallest and most narrowly-scoped library in this space. The pitch in one image:

Feature matrix​

get-browserua-parser-jsbowserdetect-browser
Bundle (min+gz)🏆 ~1.4 kB~10 kB~7 kB~2 kB
Tree-shakes to single predicate✅ ~400 B❌❌❌
Dual ESM + CJS✅✅✅⚠️
Strict union return type✅❌⚠️⚠️
Frozen const for switch statements✅❌⚠️✅
Boolean predicates (isChrome(), …)✅❌⚠️ via API❌
SSR-safe (no window at import)✅✅✅✅
Returns browser family✅✅✅✅
Returns engine version❌✅✅✅
Returns OS / device❌✅✅⚠️
Zero runtime dependencies✅✅✅✅
Last published2026202620242024
TypeScript-first authoring✅⚠️⚠️❌

When to pick what​

get-browser​

You need to know which browser, not how old or what device. You care about bundle size, types, and SSR. You're fine reading versions from elsewhere (you usually don't need them).

ua-parser-js​

You need full device info — name + version + engine + OS + device model. Most comprehensive, most popular, but ~6× the bundle.

bowser​

You want a fluent satisfies-API: bowser.getParser(ua).satisfies({ chrome: '>=100' }). Nice ergonomics if version-range checks are central to your code.

detect-browser​

You want versions but not the full parser footprint. Less recent maintenance momentum than the others.

Migration cheat-sheet​

If you're coming from one of the other libraries, the mapping is straightforward:

From ua-parser-js
// Before
import { UAParser } from 'ua-parser-js';
const ua = new UAParser().getBrowser();
if (ua.name === 'Chrome') { /* … */ }

// After
import { isChrome } from 'get-browser';
if (isChrome()) { /* … */ }
From bowser
// Before
import Bowser from 'bowser';
const browser = Bowser.getParser(window.navigator.userAgent).getBrowserName();
if (browser === 'Safari') { /* … */ }

// After
import { isSafari } from 'get-browser';
if (isSafari()) { /* … */ }
From detect-browser
// Before
import { detect } from 'detect-browser';
const { name } = detect() ?? {};
if (name === 'chrome') { /* … */ }

// After
import { detect, browsers } from 'get-browser';
if (detect() === browsers.CHROME) { /* … */ }

What get-browser is not​

get-browser deliberately ignores:

  • Versions. Most use-cases for "version" are actually feature-detection in disguise.
  • OS detection. 'Windows' vs 'macOS' vs 'Linux' is rarely actionable on its own.
  • Bots and crawlers. Crawlers identify themselves — match Googlebot/ etc. with a regex if you need to.

The library's goal: do one thing well, at the smallest possible cost.

See also​