7 Best Ways to Reduce Chrome Memory Usage

There is no doubt that Chrome is the most efficient browser currently available, but even the most popular browser is still far from perfect. This is partly due to notorious memory problems. Chrome is often known to consume your computer’s resources by drawing more than its normal amount of memory and processing power.

Such high memory usage can lead to performance issues such as Chrome crashing and freezing. So, to help you out, we’ve compiled a list of solutions that will drastically reduce Chrome’s memory usage. So let’s get straight to the point.

1. Close Unused Tabs

An increasing number of Chrome tabs can harm a computer’s memory, causing Chrome to freeze or crash. Therefore, you should regularly close unwanted or duplicate tabs in Chrome. This frees up RAM for new or existing tabs and helps Chrome run smoothly.

2. Use the Chrome Task Manager

Besides closing unused tabs, you can use Chrome’s own Task Manager to analyze which tabs and processes are using the most memory in Chrome. To do this, open Chrome and press Shift + Esc to launch Chrome’s Task Manager.

Here you will see all the tabs, extensions and processes running in Chrome. You can remove the unwanted ones by selecting them and clicking the End Process button.

3. Use an Extension

If you don’t like closing and reopening tabs every time you need them, your next best bet is to use a third-party extension that can effectively manage multiple Chrome tabs at once.

Using an extension like The Great Suspender can automatically freeze tabs that have not been used for a certain period of time. You can also unfreeze a tab at any point by clicking anywhere in the window. This is a great way to always keep Chrome’s memory usage under control.

Download Big Hanger

You can also whitelist certain URLs or domains so that it doesn’t suspend important tabs. You can also use additional customization options to always keep Chrome’s memory usage under control.

4. Enable Hardware Acceleration

Enabling Hardware Acceleration helps Chrome with graphics-intensive tasks like gaming or playing videos. When enabled, Chrome will assign these demanding tasks to your GPU instead of the CPU, which will help reduce the load on your PC.

To enable Hardware Acceleration, click on the three-dot menu to open Settings. Now scroll down to go to Advanced settings. Under System, find ‘Use hardware acceleration when available’ and turn it on.

Restart Chrome for the changes to take effect and see if Chrome’s memory usage is reduced.

5. Remove Unused Extensions

Probably Chrome’s biggest advantage over its peers is the range of extensions it offers. But on the other hand, they can also be at the center of major problems with Chrome. One of them is higher memory usage.

That’s why it’s considered best practice to keep your extension usage to a minimum to make sure you don’t overload Chrome.

To disable extensions in Chrome, type chrome://extensions/ and press Enter. Find and disable unused extensions. You can also use Chrome’s task manager to find extensions that take up a huge chunk of memory.

After disabling or removing memory consuming extensions, go ahead and check Chrome’s memory usage in task manager.

6. Use the Chrome Malware Scanner

A computer infected with malware and viruses can cause Chrome’s memory usage to spike in mysterious ways. To get around this, Chrome has a built-in malware scanner that can help you find any malware, programs, and processes running on your computer.

To scan for malware, open Chrome and go to Settings. Scroll down to open advanced settings and then Clean PC.

There, click the Find button to start a quick scan on your PC.

7. Reset or Reinstall Google Chrome

If none of the solutions listed above work, your last option is to factory reset Chrome. Here’s how.

CLUE: Before resetting Chrome, it is recommended to sign in with your Google account and sync your data.

Stage 1: In summer chrome://settings/reset in the address bar at the top and then press Enter. Under ‘Reset and clear’, click ‘Restore settings to their original defaults’.

Step 2: In the confirmation popup, click Reset Settings to confirm.

Resetting Chrome deletes the browser cache and cookies, search engines, and pinned tabs. Don’t worry though, because this won’t remove your saved passwords and bookmarks.

If you want to have it all together, you can choose to uninstall and reinstall Chrome instead of resetting it. This will give you a fresh start and clear all memory consuming items.

Download Chrome

Less Force, More Flow

Despite all its flaws like random freezing, crashing, and memory leak issues, Chrome still remains a popular spot among PC users.

You can try the above solutions to reduce the memory usage of Chrome. Let us know in the comments which method worked best for you.