You can enjoy an enhanced browsing experience by using scripts to change the functionality of a website, autofill forms, alter text formatting, graphics, borders, or even remove ads, and pop-ups from web pages.
Both Google Chrome and Firefox browsers have the highest number of users with Chrome having over three billion users, while Firefox has over 153 million users worldwide. A large number of these users use a type of script manager to enhance their browsing experience.
Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey are two common script managers commonly used by web users. Both have similar functionalities but differ in some form.
In this article, I will be discussing the differences between Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey.
What Is Greasemonkey?
Greasemonkey is a Firefox script manager extension that lets you change the look and functionality of a website using scripts.
The changes made to a website display using Greasemonkey is permanent because it loads the script each time you visit the website.
Aside from modifying a website, Greasemonkey lets you fix bugs, gather data, add new elements to a webpage, and block out ads and pop-ups.
What Is Tampermonkey?
Tampermonkey is a script manager available as an extension on popular web browsers. It is also used to enhance users’ experience by changing the features and functionalities of a website.
Tampermonkey incorporates advanced functionalities which include running script overview, built-in-editor, import and export of zip folders, and cloud storage features.
Both Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey have similar features; therefore, we will look at the differences between them.
Differences Between Greasemonkey And Tampermonkey
1. Installation
Greasemonkey
Greasemonkey installation is pretty straightforward without requiring a third-party assistant. Installing Greasemonkey on Firefox starts with you navigating to the Firefox menu bars at the top-right of your browser and selecting ‘Add-ons’ from the list.
Type in ‘Greasemonkey’ in the search bar on the new web page displayed in a new tab, and hit the arrow icon. From the search result displayed, select ‘Greasemonkey,’ and click on ‘+ Add to Firefox’ to install Greasemonkey.
To install Greasemonkey scripts, visit a Greasemonkey script repository, a common one is Userscripts to find any script you want to install. Use the search tool to make your search easier. For instance, you can type ‘Facebook’ to search for Facebook Greasemonkey scripts that let you alter the way you access the social network.
You can click on ‘Scripts,’ to browse all of the scripts in the repository, or on ‘Tags’ to browse scripts by categories. Click on any script of choice to install.
Tampermonkey
Installing Tampermonkey starts with visiting the Chrome web store at the top left of your chrome browser homepage; type in ‘Tampermonkey’ in the search tool, select a preferable Tampermonkey extension from the search result, and click on ‘Add to Chrome’ to Install the Tampermonkey script manager.
After the installation, click on the Tampermonkey extension in your browser’s menu bar and select ‘Dashboard.’ Your dashboard will be empty since you have no script installed.
To install scripts, visit Greasy Fork, search for any script of choice, and install for an enhanced web experience. You can turn installed scripts on and off from your dashboard.
To create a customized script, go to your Tampermonkey dashboard and click on the create new script button; paste any code you have edited in the Tampermonkey text editor and save. You can delete any script you don’t need from your dashboard.
Verdict
Installing both Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey follows a similar installation pattern without requesting an assistant. Also, you can search and install Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey user scripts from any of the several scripts repositories available.
2. Configurable Settings
Greasemonkey
Greasemonkey configuration settings allow you to reconfigure, disable, or uninstall scripts.
To access Greasemonkey configuration settings, right-click on the Greasemonkey icon at the bottom right-hand corner, and select ‘Manage user Scripts.’ You can also access Greasemonkey’s configuration settings from Firefox tools.
The Greasemonkey ‘Manage User Scripts’ lets you add or remove pages, enable or disable a script, and uninstall any script. At the left sidebar is a list of all installed user scripts, select any user script to activate all configuration options at your disposal.
Tampermonkey
With Tampermonkey, you can set your user script to Config mode and adjust various settings. The config mode is available for all user scripts and accessible via the Dashboard/Options page.
You can set your config mode to novice, beginner, or advanced levels. The level you set your config mode to determines the type of settings you can configure. For instance, there are more configuration options when set at advanced than at the beginner level.
Via the configuration options, you can sync Tampermonkey scripts with other browsers, export and import scripts, blacklist scripts, optimize the extension to work faster, and a few more options.
Verdict
Both Tampermonkey and Greasemonkey feature configurable settings. Also, the functionality – what you can and cannot configure – is not so different.
3. Supported Web Browsers
Greasemonkey
Greasemonkey primarily supports Mozilla Firefox. It was initially created as a Firefox extension and has remained so. Nevertheless, the tool also supports other browsers.
In addition to Mozilla Firefox, Greasemonkey also supports Flock – which is now a discontinued browser – and GNOME Web, previously known as Epiphany. Notably, you can install Greasemonkey as a part of the GNOME Web extensions package.
Aside from the above, Greasemonkey supports a few open-source browsers. This includes the likes of Falkon, Qutebrowser, Palemoon, and SeaMonkey.
Apart from web browsers, Greasemonkey has native support for Songbird, a music player app. Greasemonkey doesn’t support Chrome directly.
Tampermonkey
Tampermonkey is a user script manager that supports multiple browsers. The tool was initially a sub-user script of Greasemonkey to work with Google Chrome since Greasemonkey primarily supports Mozilla Firefox.
Being a user script for Chrome gives Tampermonkey a major edge since many browsers today are based on Google’s Chromium.
Currently, Tampermonkey not only supports Google Chrome, but you can also use it on Firefox and other popular browsers like Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Opera Next.
Generally, Tampermonkey supports all the major browsers available. This made it the most popular and most used user script manager with more than 10 million users.
Verdict
The clear winner here is Tampermonkey. While Greasemonkey supports Firefox and some other open-source browsers, Tampermonkey supports all the major browsers including Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.
4. Security
Greasemonkey
Over the years, Greasemonkey developers have made some serious improvements to the tool’s security. However, the question of how safe Greasemonkey is depends entirely on the user.
First of all, Greasemonkey user scripts are created by different people. These are random people who may have good intentions or not.
Hence, if someone publishes a malicious user script and you run it on your computer, the fault isn’t on Greasemonkey. On its own, Greasemonkey can’t harm you; if you don’t load any scripts, it won’t affect you.
Therefore, when using a tool like Greasemonkey, ensure the user scripts you’re using are from a trusted source.
Tampermonkey
Tampermonkey, like any other user script manager, depends on your code input to make changes to websites. In other words, the tool is as safe as what you use it for.
As a user script manager that supports multiple browsers, Tampermonkey comes with the risk of cross-browser breaches.
An example was in 2019 when Opera banned the extension. Note that to use Tampermonkey on Opera, you have to install the extension from the Chrome web store.
The extension was banned because of a malicious adware program injecting malicious user scripts like ads. Nevertheless, if you only run user scripts from trusted sources, you should have no security problems with Tampermonkey.
Verdict
As user script managers, Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey offer about the same security. Most of the security is on you who’s executing the scripts. However, Tampermonkey has recorded more security breaches than Greasemonkey.
5. User Scripts
Greasemonkey
User scripts are simply lines of codes. Hence, as a Greasemonkey user, you can get user scripts from anywhere. This includes websites, forums, social media, or even offline.
Nevertheless, the official repository for Greasemonkey user scripts is userscript.org. However, for a while now, the official repository has been inaccessible. It seems the site moved to a new address and is now at user scripts-mirror.org.
Aside from userscript.org, there are other exclusive user scripts repositories; you can simply perform a Google search to find them. For one, you can find a lot of user scripts on GitHub.
Tampermonkey
Just like Greasemonkey, you can get user scripts for Tampermonkey from about anywhere, including user scripts-mirror.org.
Nevertheless, as a Tampermonkey user, you have the advantage of a script sources page. On this page, you’ll find a list of Tampermonkey user script sources.
Some of the listed options on the page include Userscript Zone Search (a user script search engine), GreasyFork, GitHub & Gist, and OpenUserJs.
Note that these are general user script resource websites. They are not exclusive for Tampermonkey users and the codes you find will work on any user script managers, including Greasemonkey.
Furthermore, if you know how to code, you can always create your own user scripts.
Verdict
The Tampermonkey script sources page makes things easy for users to find user scripts. However, there’s still not much difference as you can find scripts for Tampermonkey and Greasemonkey from anywhere online. It’s important to use scripts from trusted sources.
6. Compatibility With Old Scripts
Greasemonkey
The most current version of Greasemonkey doesn’t support old scripts. In fact, the tool stopped supporting most old scripts when version 4 was launched.
Most times, this is due to updates in the browser itself. For instance, if Mozilla Firefox releases a new browser version that’s no longer compatible, extensions like Greasemonkey also drop their support.
Greasemonkey used to be a legacy add-on for Firefox. However, with the release of Firefox 57, most Firefox extensions had to be updated to meet the new browser requirements.
As a result, if you’ll be using the Greasemonkey tool, there’s not much you can do with old scripts except with old versions.
Tampermonkey
Tampermonkey supports multiple browsers hence its support for compatibility of old scripts depends on the individual browsers. On the GitHub page, Tampermonkey describes old scripts as scripts that are largely retired, but may still have some use.
As mentioned earlier, browser updates often affect extension updates and for a tool like Tampermonkey, it could determine if they’ll continue to support a particular script or not.
For example, Firefox may release a new version as opposed to supporting some old scripts. On the other hand, browsers like Chrome and Safari could still be supporting these old scripts.
Premium Forum and Central are examples of old Tampermonkey scripts.
Verdict
Here we have more similarities than a difference. Both platforms support the use of old scripts to an extent. However, that Tanpermonkey supports multiple platforms gives it a slight edge.
7. User Support & Resources
Greasemonkey
If you have any issues with using Greasemonkey, you should make a post in GitHub directly under the Issues section.
Already, when you visit you’ll find many questions, answers, and guides about using Greasemonkey. Notably, there are more than 4,000 issues and solutions posted on the issues page.
You can sort the page by labels including closed/invalid, feature/extensions, and suggestions. In addition to the above, there’s also a Greasemonkey blog.
This blog was initially to be the official Greasemonkey website but currently, it only features web pages. Generally, if you need help and support using Tampermonkey, you should use the issues page.
Tampermonkey
From the Tampermonkey website, you can easily get support from the Support section. The Support section mainly features frequently asked questions.
The FAQs are in different categories including General, Chrome Extension, Security, and Advanced. Aside from the FAQ page, you can also send an email to the support team immediately.
Furthermore, Tampermonkey features online documentation. The documentation features over 40 articles although they’re under two main categories – User Content and Application Programming Interface.
From the Recent changes page, you can find out the current version of the Tampermonkey software and the changes from the previous version. Finally, you can support the Tampermonkey project by donating as little as $1.
Verdict
With message support, FAQ page, and documentation, Tampermonkey offers more in terms of customer support and resources.
8. Limitations
Greasemonkey
As far as user script managers go, you can do a lot with user scripts with Greasemonkey. The main limitation of this tool is that it supports only Mozilla Firefox out of the major browsers we have.
Other limitations are due to security restrictions by Firefox developers, more specifically, Mozilla XPCNativeWrappers.
The security restrictions by Mozilla prevent Greasemonkey from accessing Firefox’s main toolbars, download manager, input & output processes, and a few other Firefox components.
Furthermore, it can sometimes be difficult to manage lists of items globally with Greasemonkey. This is due to how Greasemonkey operates; the tool runs per instance of a matching webpage.
Tampermonkey
Tampermonkey’s main limitation is on browser-sync. If your browser supports it, you can transfer data between different Tampermonkey instances. This is done using the browser’s internal service hence you need to be signed in.
However, the problem is that the amount of data you can transfer is very limited. Hence, you’re better off sticking to a particular browser with Tampermonkey than transferring information from browser to browser.
There are other Tampermonkey restrictions that determine what you cannot do with user scripts. However, such restrictions are exclusive to different browsers. In other words, the restrictions you get on Chrome could be different for Safari.
Verdict
Both user script manager tools have their individual limitations. However, these are limitations that don’t necessarily affect their functionalities unless in unique circumstances.
Are There Any Similarities?
From the above comparison, it’s clear that Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey share a lot of similarities. To start with, they are both superscript managers that let users edit and manipulate web pages using custom codes.
Notably, Tampermonkey is often considered as part of Greasemonkey even if it’s no longer simply a Greasemonkey user script. Due to how it came about, most users consider it as “Greasemonkey” for Google Chrome.
A major similarity between Tampermonkey and Greasemonkey is security. Both platforms were created for genuine reasons but they could harm your system if you run malicious codes. In such circumstances, there’s nothing much either platform can do.
Furthermore, user scripts for Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey are sourced the same way from platforms like GitHub and Userscripts.org.
Conclusion – Which Is Better Between Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey?
Currently, many users agree that Tampermonkey is much better than Greasemonkey. This isn’t surprising due to the flexibility you get from using Tampermonkey. Tampermonkey is more recent than Greasemonkey and supports all the major browsers.
Furthermore, Tampermonkey is fairly easy to use for both beginners and advanced users. It’s easier to install scripts on Greasemonkey but Tampermonkey’s features like code checking help you be more accurate.
Tampermonkey displays errors in the console so you can correct them immediately. This is in contrast with Greasemonkey that hides the errors and simply blocks scripts with critical errors.
Finally, the Tampermonkey interface is user-friendly without many menu options and settings.
