If you are using Microsoft Edge as a browser on your systems and classic MV2 extensions, then you should be aware that Microsoft announced end of support for this type of extensions.
The company revealed that the top 95 percent of the top Edge extensions are already migrated to MV3 and that there are only 58 MV2-based extensions with “meaningful usage” in the Edge Add-on Store.
As a consequence, Microsoft aims to transition all non-Enterprise installations of Edge to supporting MV3 only by the end of 2026. Enterprise customers will get an extension to early 2027.
Edge users may start to see notices on the “Manage Extensions” page of the browser (edge://extensions) and on detail pages that support is ending. MV2 extensions will be turned off by default over the next few months and customers may get MV3 extensions recommended, if an alternative is available.
The changes will roll out to experimental versions of the browser first before they hit the stable population.
With Microsoft dropping support, the situation looks rather grim when it comes to Chromium-based browsers. Firefox remains a strong supporter for MV2 extensions and should be first pick in most cases.
However, here is an overview of Chromium-based browsers and their MV2 support:
| Browser | MV2 Support Status | Approach | Catch |
| Brave | Curated | Custom Chromium engine patches | Only supports four specific extensions (uBlock Origin, AdGuard, NoScript, uMatrix) |
| Opera | Legacy only | Maintaining backend workarounds | Only works for previously installed extensions; the Opera store is now MV3-only |
| Thorium | Full | Hard-forking and restoring MV2 code | Enthusiast project; updates rely on a small team |
| Supermium | Full | Hard-forking and restoring MV2 code | Niche browser primarily designed for older Windows systems |
Notes:
- Brave force-enabled MV2 support by modifying their underlying Chromium engine, but they are not supporting the entire MV2 ecosystem.
- Opera committed to keeping existing MV2 extensions functioning for as long as it remains “technically reasonable”. However, they have stopped accepting new MV2 extensions and transitioned their official extension store entirely to MV3.
- Thorium: A performance-focused Chromium fork where the lead developer has explicitly committed to maintaining the MV2 loading code indefinitely.
- Supermium: A privacy-focused browser (originally designed to bring modern web rendering to legacy Windows systems) that guarantees permanent MV2 support.
I liked Edge, for certain things, but constantly digging through the settings everytime there was an update to find and turn off whatever ‘feature’ they added got too tiresome.
Now I just use several isolated firefox esr profiles, each with it’s own configuration, shorcut, and custom Icon.
Meh, Edge is a forced browser that many don’t even want. As your article indicates, other chromium-based flavors will have issues with this development but certainly will adapt. Firefox is really coming along nicely as well. The browsers will all find workarounds as well as the extensions.