Google’s Chrome Web Store provides a distribution channel for software that extends browser functionality and adds new features to popular websites.
In this post we’ll take a look at how many Chrome extensions there are, which ones are the most and least popular, and how different extensions are rated.
We mostly collected this data in order to learn more about the page speed impact of the most popular extensions. To find out more, read our analysis of Chrome extensions on website performance.
How many Chrome extensions are there?
In our analysis we counted 111,933 Chrome extensions. However, in our previous analysis four years ago we found 137,345 extensions. It is harder to generate a mostly complete list of extensions today than it was before as not all of them are shown in the default category listing.
Over half of the extensions we counted were in the Productivity category, with over 62 thousand extensions.
What are the most popular Chrome extensions?
Adobe Acrobat is the most widely installed Chrome extension, with over 207 million installations. However, this extension is installed automatically when installing Adobe Reader, so it’s arguably not a good indicator of popularity.
When looking at direct popularity, the Ad Block extension with 67 million users is the most widely used extension. Other ad blockers are also popular: AdBlock Plus has 46 million users, and uBlock Origin has 36 million users.
Also among the top 5 extensions are Grammarly with 50 million installations and Google Translate with 40 million installs.
Users can rate extensions with ratings between 1 and 5. If we look at this data we see that uBlock Origin, Kami, Honey, AdGuard, 360 Internet Protection, and TamperMonkey each have a rating higher than 4.5.
Among the popular extensions, the worst rated ones are “Office - Enable Copy and Paste” and Cisco Webex.
The “Enable Copy and Paste” extension with a 2.2 star rating has been installed 16 million times. Cisco Webex has been installed 31 million times, but only receives a rating of 2.3 out of 5 stars.
What are the most popular Chrome extension categories?
When looking at subcategories, the Workflow category is the largest one with over 35 thousand extensions. This is followed by the Productivity Tools, Fun, Developer Tools, Social, and Accessibility categories, each with around 10,000 extensions.
What are the most popular developer tools on the Chrome Web Store?
Ignoring TouchPC and CryptoPro, which are both classed as developer tools, the most popular “developer” tool is GoFullPage with 8 million installs. React Developer Tools has been installed 4 million times and Redux DevTools has one million installs.
Two color picker tools are also among the most popular developer tools on the Chrome Web Store, ColorZilla and ColorPick Eyedropper.
Interestingly, the EditThisCookie extension with 2 million installations is currently not available in the store any more.
What’s the typical installation count for a Chrome extension?
We found that 95,000 extensions have been installed fewer than 1,000 times. That represents the 85% of Chrome Web Store extensions with the fewest installations.
242 extensions (0.2%) have been installed more than a million times.
What are the least popular Chrome extensions?
The least popular extensions tend to be ones that users are told to install, for example by banks, employers, and educational institutions.
TouchEn PC has over 11 million installations, but a rating of just 1.3. This extension is required to use some South Korean government and banking websites.
Microsoft Power Automate has 4 million installs and a rating of 1.8. Multiple reviews claim that “Microsoft installed this without my permission or knowledge” or that the extension was “against their will”.
Many low-rated extensions are used in an educational context, for example ClassLink OneClick, ProctorExam Screen Sharing, Impero Education Pro, and LanSchool Web Helper.
What is the rating distribution for Chrome extensions?
We find that 80% of Chrome extensions with a rating have a rating of over 4 stars. This suggests that users generally choose to install an extension and are happy with it.
Are rarely used extensions skewing these results? If we look at only extensions with over 100,000 users, we find that 68% have a rating over 4 stars.
If we look more deeply into the ratings we find that a rating of 4.6 is the most typical for the top 100 thousand extensions.
What authors are publishing the most Chrome extensions?
Gamebol.com has published almost 300 Chrome extensions, with the most popular being “Ultimate Car Driving Game”, “Sniper Gun Shooting Game”, and “Flappy Basketball Game”. Each of these extensions has been installed over 100 thousand times.
We generally find that game publishers publish more extensions than other authors.
| Author | Extensions Published |
|---|---|
| gamebol.com | 286 |
| monkeymart.org | 143 |
| pickergame.com | 142 |
| 724fun.com | 132 |
| classroom-6x.org | 76 |
| livepolls.app | 62 |
| gnhustgames.org | 58 |
| letsfaster.com | 57 |
| extensionsbox.com | 52 |
| moryconvert.com | 52 |
| magbei.com | 44 |
| unblockedgames.ee | 44 |
| dolarhoje.com | 42 |
| retrobowl.me | 42 |
| cargames.click | 37 |
| zamok.cloud | 33 |
| gamergpt.co | 29 |
Only 10 authors have published more than two extensions with at least 100 thousand users:
| Author | Extensions With 100k+ users |
|---|---|
| google.com | 5 |
| jasonsavard.com | 4 |
| claycodes.org | 4 |
| gamebol.com | 4 |
| custom-cursor.com | 3 |
| hotcleaner.com | 3 |
| dopplercreative.com | 3 |
| zoomcorder.com | 3 |
| glasp.co | 3 |
| apps.jeurissen.co | 3 |
What words do authors use to talk about their extension?
When looking at extension names across all extensions we find that “new tab”, “game”, or “chatgpt” extensions are common. Many extensions also are built for specific websites like Youtube, Amazon, Twitter, and GitHub.
Next, let’s look at extensions with at least 100 thousand installations and ignore words like “extension” and “chrome”.
Now the top keywords are “Google”, “web”, “video”, “download”, and “VPN”. Google is mentioned a lot for various reasons, for example because some extensions are “by Google”. Various extensions also extend Google products, for example “Visual Effects for Google Meet” or “ChatGPT Plus for Google”.
Can I get a list of Chrome extensions?
If you’d like to get a list of Chrome extensions in 2024, you can check out this GitHub repository. It contains a JSON file with a list of all 111,933 extensions included in this analysis.
