Timeline of web browsers

A time line of web browsers from the early 1990s to the present. Prior to browsers, many technologies and systems existed for information viewing and transmission. For an in depth history of earlier web browsers see the web browser article.

Graphical Timeline

1993–2008

The following table chronicles the major release dates since 1993 for the more popular web browsers.

1993	Lynx
Jan
Feb
Mar	2.0†
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1994	Lynx	Mosaic Netscape	Opera
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May	2.3
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct		0.9†
Nov			1.0†
Dec		1.0
1995	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE
Jan
Feb
Mar		1.1
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug		1.22		1.0†
Sep
Oct
Nov				2.0
Dec
1996	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Mac IE
Jan			2.0		2.0B†
Feb
Mar		2.0
Apr					2.0
May
Jun
Jul
Aug		3.0		3.0	2.1
Sep	2.6
Oct
Nov
Dec			2.10
1997	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Mac IE
Jan					3.0
Feb	2.7
Mar
Apr
May
Jun		4.0
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct				4.0
Nov
Dec			3.0
1998	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Mac IE
Jan					4.0
Feb
Mar	2.8
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct	2.8.1	4.5
Nov			3.5
Dec
1999	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Mac IE	Mozilla
Jan					4.5
Feb
Mar				5.0		M3†
Apr
May
Jun	2.8.2
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2000	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Mac IE	Mozilla
Jan
Feb
Mar					5.0‡
Apr	2.8.3
May
Jun			4.0
Jul				5.5
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov		6.0
Dec			5.0			0.6
2001	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE		Mozilla
Jan						0.7
Feb						0.8
Mar
Apr
May						0.9
Jun
Jul	2.8.4
Aug		6.1
Sep
Oct		6.2		6.0
Nov			6.0
Dec
2002	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Chimera	Mozilla	Phoenix
Jan
Feb					0.1†
Mar
Apr					0.2
May
Jun						1.0
Jul					0.4
Aug		7.0 (& 4.8)				1.1
Sep				6.0 SP1	0.5		0.1†
Oct							0.4
Nov					0.6	1.2
Dec							0.5
2003	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Camino	Mozilla	Firebird	Safari	MyIE2
Jan			7.0
Feb
Mar					0.7	1.3
Apr			7.1
May							0.6
Jun		7.1				1.4		1.0†
Jul
Aug
Sep			7.2
Oct						1.5	0.7
Nov
Dec									.9†
2004	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Camino	Mozilla	Firefox	Safari	Maxthon
Jan						1.6
Feb	2.8.5						0.8
Mar
Apr
May			7.5
Jun					0.8	1.7	0.9
Jul
Aug		7.2		6.0 SP2
Sep							0.10 (PR)		1.0†
Oct
Nov							1.0
Dec
2005	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Camino	Mozilla SeaMonkey	Firefox	Safari	Maxthon
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr			8.0					2.0
May		8.0
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep			8.5			SM 1.0α†			1.5
Oct
Nov							1.5
Dec
2006	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Camino	Mozilla SeaMonkey	Firefox	Safari	Maxthon
Jan		8.1				SM 1.0
Feb					1.0
Mar
Apr						M. 1.7.13‡
May
Jun			9.0
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct	2.8.6			7.0			2.0
Nov
Dec			9.1
2007	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Camino	SeaMonkey	Firefox	Safari	Maxthon	NetSurf
Jan						1.1
Feb
Mar
Apr			9.2
May									1.6	1.0†
Jun					1.5			3.0
Jul									2.0
Aug										1.1
Sep
Oct		9.0
Nov
Dec
2008	Lynx	Netscape	Opera	IE	Camino	SeaMonkey	Firefox	Safari	Maxthon	NetSurf
Jan
Feb		9.0.0.6‡
Mar								3.1		1.2
Apr					1.6
May									2.1
Jun			9.5				3.0
Jul
Aug		Chrome		8b2
Sep	2.8.7dev.10	0.2.149.27†							2.1
Oct			9.6		2.0α1	2.0α1
Nov								3.2.2
Dec		1.0	10α		2.0α2	2.0α2	3.2α1		2.5
2009	Lynx	Chrome	Opera	IE	Camino	SeaMonkey	Firefox	Safari	Maxthon	NetSurf
Jan		2.0.160.1							2.5.1.4075

• † Initial release
• ‡ No subsequent releases are planned

References

• http://www.aicolorado.com/trends-browsers-timeline.asp
• http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/history/browsers.htm
• http://navegadores.org/fechas-de-publicacion/

See also

• Eric Meyer's take on a browser timeline