What ungoogled-chromium is
Ungoogled-chromium is a community project built on Chromium, the open-source base that Chrome also uses. It strips out much of the integration with Google's web services. The project's own README ranks its goals. First is Chromium without dependence on Google web services. Second is keeping the default Chromium experience as close as possible. Third is optional privacy, control and transparency tweaks.
The README describes how it does this:
- It removes background requests to web services and code specific to Google services.
- It prunes pre-made binaries from the source.
- It disables functionality tied to Google domains, such as Google Host Detector, Google URL Tracker, Google Cloud Messaging and Google Hotwording.
- It swaps many Google domains in the source for non-existent ones ending in
qjz9zk. A patch then blocks the browser's own requests to those domains, as a safety net in case Google adds components the other patches miss.
The README also says most of the extra privacy switches are off by default and need manual enabling.
It is not a Gemini toggle
This is the key framing point. Neowin's pitch is that you get a Chromium browser without Gemini sitting at the top of the window. That is accurate, but only because the Google-specific browser layer is gone altogether.
If Gemini is your only complaint, Chrome may already give you a smaller fix. Ban the Bots documents a desktop path through Settings under AI innovations and Gemini in Chrome, where you can switch off the toolbar button. On Windows there is a separate system-tray toggle. That same page says Chromium documents a GeminiSettings policy for managed browsers, where a value of 1 makes Gemini unavailable. Admins should check this policy against their Chrome version. Those controls hide or disable the feature, and they keep your Google account and sync. Ungoogled-chromium doesn't.
What you give up
- Chrome Sync and browser-wide sign-in. You can still visit Gmail or YouTube in a tab. Bookmarks, passwords, history, tabs and settings will not follow you between devices through Google's browser sync.
- Safe Browsing. The README lists it among the disabled features. The project FAQ says Safe Browsing talks to Google servers to download its blocklists. For a substitute, the FAQ recommends content blockers such as uBlock Origin or uMatrix. Treat that as the project's own suggestion. A blocker is not the same thing as Safe Browsing.
- Some convenience features. Softpedia's listing says the loss of Google account synchronization and Chromecast-related capabilities are among the compromises. The FAQ describes a flag for Chromecast, but I could not verify how well it works.
- Normal extension installs. The FAQ says Chrome Web Store extensions can be used, but not through the Web Store interface. The project points to a community extension called chromium-web-store, which handles installs and updates. The FAQ states there is no built-in auto-update for extensions. Ungoogled does not mean "never talks to Google." The manual method still downloads packages from a Google update service.
- Possible web-app quirks. The FAQ notes that sites using Google's built-in speech API won't work. It also says Google sign-in with FIDO U2F security keys currently doesn't work. If you rely on hardware keys for your Google account, test this first.
Installing on Windows
The Windows packaging repository gives the same WinGet command Neowin quotes. Open Terminal or PowerShell and run:
winget install --id=eloston.ungoogled-chromium -e
Manual downloads come through the project's contributor binaries site. The Windows repo says the default build is 64-bit. It names Windows 10 Pro x64 as the tested build environment, and notes that Google supports Windows 10 x64 or newer. Softpedia's listing shows Windows 10 and 11 and says it runs on both 32-bit and 64-bit.
For people who want to build it themselves, the repo says to install Visual Studio components, 7-Zip, Python 3.11 or newer and Git. You then run build.py and package.py in a Developer Command Prompt for VS. That is far more involved than WinGet.
The trust caveat
The project is blunt about contributor binaries. They aren't necessarily reproducible, so authenticity can't be guaranteed. The binaries repository repeats that they come from anyone willing to build and submit them. It also says a binary's source code must be published to a platform repo or the submission won't be merged. That is not evidence that any specific build is bad. But it is a different trust model from an official signed installer. Be careful about where you get your copy, and don't grab a random mirror.
Keeping it current
A browser that isn't patched is a risk. The Windows repo's releases page shows frequent builds. The newest, tagged 154.0.8037.97-1.1, was released on October 6, with the previous tag, 154.0.8037.92-1.1, on October 4. Tech sites show a similar picture. TechSpot's page lists the Windows build as 154.0.8037.92-1.1.
You may see different numbers in different places, such as a tag for a newer Chromium major version on the main source repository. A source tag doesn't prove a matching Windows binary exists, so check the Windows releases page for the build you want. I found no source describing how WinGet installs get updated. Check your installed version at chrome://version and re-run the install or update routine yourself.
Who should consider it
- Only Gemini bothers you: use Chrome's own settings, or the enterprise policy on managed machines.
- You want less Google in the browser and can live without sync: ungoogled-chromium is a sensible choice. Plan for your own bookmark and password management.
- You depend on Google security keys, Cast, or Web Store one-click installs: expect friction.
Ungoogled-chromium removes a lot of Google's plumbing from the browser. But it can't remove tracking by the sites you visit, and the project doesn't claim to. The real price is the sync, Safe Browsing and update-trust trade-offs above.