Being online is never secure. There’s always an increasing number of security attacks, such as malware injections, fake downloads, and viruses. The need for a secure browsing platform to view websites and run applications in a secure environment is necessary. You can set up a virtual machine or use Docker but it is still not as secure as running a browser in the cloud that’s isolated from your network. There are many platforms that let you run online browsers in secure environments and today, I am going to review one such platform called Browserling.
It runs the browsers in its own infrastructure so your browsing is completely secure and it also has many other features.
In this post, I will talk about what browsers Browserling offers and how various features will be helpful to you to stay secure while browsing online.
What is Browserling?
Browserling is a browser testing platform that allows you to test your website or other websites in real-time in various browser versions. Browserling runs virtual browsers in their cloud infrastructure and you can get quick access to them in real-time.
The browsing sessions are live and interactive with real browsers. There’s no need to maintain your own virtual machines or software installs as Browserling takes care of various browser versions, and you can always get access to the latest browser installs.
The connections to browsers are secure and you can even use them for anonymous browsing.
The best thing is how fast it is as you can get started within just 5 seconds and without any registration. In this post, I will be focusing on the key Browserling features that relate to online security.
Secure & anonymous browsing
Browserling gives you a secure environment to open websites as all connections between you and Browserling are SSL encrypted and your browser history is completely anonymous. As soon as you start testing a website, a new browser session is created on Browserling servers and once you’re done, the browser gets destroyed leaving no footprint of your history.
Safe browsing
Browserling offers safe browsing that means if you’re not sure of a site and want to test it for viruses or malware before browsing, you can do so using a Browserling browser.
As the browsers are running on Browserling’s computers, you don’t have to worry about getting infected with viruses or trojans.
Responsive Browsing
Sometimes, web pages and applications hide information depending on the screen size.
For example, one version of the site is served on mobile screen size and a different version on a desktop screen. With responsive testing, you can test a website on different screen sizes and browser window sizes.
Real browsers on Real systems
Browserling doesn’t run emulators or simulators. The browsers you get are as real as they come.
This is possible as Browserling has its infrastructure with various OS installs, browser installs and browser version installs.
When you test any website, you get connected to one of the real systems, depending on the OS, browser, and version combination you have selected. And, as I mentioned, once you are done with the browsing, the browser is destroyed and a fresh copy of OS is started for the next session.
Many browsers and operating systems
The coolest thing I find about Browserling is they have all the leading OS starting from Android to MacOS to Windows and all the major browsers starting from Google Chrome to Apple Safari to Microsoft Edge, with all the versions as well.
Sometimes you need to test a particular version and then you can just open something like Chrome 50 or Internet Explorer 11.
Live API
If you’re working on an application where you need to embed live browsers, then Browserling’s Live API is for you.
It allows you to call browsers directly from your application and you can manage and navigate browsers from a JavaScript API.
Conclusion
Browserling is pretty cool! If you’re a developer, a security tester, or someone who works with websites on a medium to large scale, it’s a must-have tool.
The great thing is, if you are not sure if you need it, you can access Browserling browsers for free (with some limitations).
You can subscribe to their paid plan which just starts at $19 per month.