Why aren't there more Microsoft Edge extensions?

Martin Brinkmann
Sep 23, 2016
Updated • Jul 5, 2017
Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge
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46

One of the big new features of the Anniversary Update was extension support in Windows 10's default system browser Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft showcased several of the extensions during development of the Anniversary Update for Windows 10, and got at least some users excited about the prospect of running ad blockers, password managers and other useful tools in Edge directly.

The update launched with about ten extensions for Edge that were listed in Windows Store.

Two months later, you will notice that the situation has not changed, at all. The same extensions are offered in Windows Store, and not a single new one has been added to the list in the meantime.

Additionally, it is quite difficult to open the extensions page when browsing the Store. The most reliable way of getting there is to open Edge, select Menu > Extensions > Get Extensions from the Store.

Why are not there more Microsoft Edge extensions?

edge extensions store

If you check the existing extensions, you will notice that they are either created directly by Microsoft, or created by partners that Microsoft worked with during development.

The main reason why not a single new extension has been added to the list since the release of the Anniversary Update is that the process of publishing extensions to Windows Store is not ready yet.

Microsoft did not reveal information on when it is going to allow extension developers to push their extensions to Store.

While that is the main reason why there are not more extensions for Edge available, other factors may play a role as well.

We don't know how many developers have started to develop extensions for Edge. It seems likely that the bulk plans to port existing extensions to Edge, but there is no data on that at all.

It makes sense for developers to publish their extensions for Edge. Assuming that Edge got a market share of 5% or so, it is the third largest browser user-wise that supports extensions (after Google Chrome and Firefox).

At least some extensions are listed in Store but not yet available. This is true for Turn Off the Lights for Microsoft Edge for instance, which has a store listing but is not yet available for download. It is likely that those extensions are created by partners as well.

Closing Words

The gates are not open yet for all developers. It seems likely that extensions will see a big increase if Microsoft will open up the Store for all extension developers.

It won't come anywhere near the numbers of Firefox or Chrome though, and it seems unlikely that these levels will be reached.

What is likely going to happen though is that the most popular extensions will become available for Edge eventually (either as a direct port, or a third-party extension that mimics the functionality).

Now You: Are you using extensions in Microsoft Edge?

Summary
Why are not there more Microsoft Edge extensions?
Article Name
Why are not there more Microsoft Edge extensions?
Description
The article discusses why there are not more extensions available for Microsoft Edge currently in the Windows 10 Windows Store.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Doc said on September 28, 2016 at 8:42 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft could have published dozens more Edge extensions if they wished, manually; they did it for the 13 pictured extensions. It’s just that very few people see any future in the Windows Store.

  2. Graham said on September 26, 2016 at 9:39 pm
    Reply

    There aren’t more extensions for Edge because no one uses it.

  3. Dirgster said on September 24, 2016 at 10:03 pm
    Reply

    I use Norton Internet Security, which, among other options, stores my “Identity Safe” logins and passwords. Since Edge doesn’t provide an extension for Norton, I’m using either IE or Google Chrome, a big disappointment, because Edge is not allowing me to use my preferred programs.

  4. Applishaft said on September 24, 2016 at 6:21 pm
    Reply

    What the hell is an APPLI ?

    1. Pierre said on September 24, 2016 at 10:22 pm
      Reply

      Application
      As in a phone or tablet
      Different from a desktop software.
      Installation is not the same and there are many differences
      Windows 8, 8.1, then 10 admit them, it was the big innovation.

  5. Macros0ft said on September 24, 2016 at 6:20 pm
    Reply

    Micro$oft is pure junk. They have been left behind by Android, By Alphabet (formerly GOOGLE) and by other systems for IT.

    Just look at a Windows Mobile OS. So closed that there are a few “‘APPS”‘ and nothing more. Let’s face it. Micro$oft is slowsly falling down.

  6. Pierre said on September 24, 2016 at 5:47 pm
    Reply

    @Tom : it was adressed to PBateman
    I’m a plain erudite. Nothing else !

    1. Tom Hawack said on September 24, 2016 at 6:02 pm
      Reply

      Modest moreover!
      You could be French because in French the exclamation points is set after a space : Oui ! when in English it follows immediately the word : yes!

      1. Pierre said on September 25, 2016 at 5:11 am
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        Yes, thks a lot for this exchange !

      2. Tom Hawack said on September 24, 2016 at 10:47 pm
        Reply

        Astérix le Wallon!
        Such a pleasure in Europe to meet different cultures, more or less acquainted sometimes within a hundred kilometers or so, only. Europe, old Europe so various with so many roots and deployments within history.

        Young I was a passionate of many subjects but history was none of them. Later on I felt that I’d need the dead languages to better understand many things, later on still I told myself more than once that if it was to be restarted all over I’d favor history rather than law and psychology (links exist!). History appears to me, lately, as more than knowledge of the past when I realize the continuum of life and perceive that understanding what has been is essential to understand what is and, in a way, what may become of us all. So, I miss that area of knowledge, as many others : I must be a plain uneducated (or whatever “simple inculte” translates to!).

        Learning is a pleasure, sharing as well, exchanging opinions. Our diversity is our strength :)

      3. Pierre said on September 24, 2016 at 10:16 pm
        Reply

        Thks for your kind message !
        Better than French themselves I don’t know… There are belgicisms (often archaisms as in American English), regional accents and some différences due to a different evolution on each side and institutional differences which create language differences. The language is felt as slightly different by the users in each side. And regional dialects. But all these things are details.
        Idem in Swizerland.
        Another detail : ‘wallon’ means ‘gaulois’ (and ‘Wallonie”, “Gaule”, northern evolution of a g to a w as in English).

      4. Tom Hawack said on September 24, 2016 at 9:39 pm
        Reply

        @Pierre, I don’t know why I even mentioned it, I mean being French. I should have wrote at least French-speaking… I guess I was elsewhere in my thoughts and wrote more or less automatically, totally off-topic. Sometimes I forget that the Web’s blogs, forums, chats do not associate a language with a country :)

        Anyway, I must have been really dreaming because I thought I had read you mention you were Belgian … anyway, you are what you are and what the heck for a citizenship …

        “‘Plain erudite’ comes from French (in fact Belgish) cartoon ‘Achille Talon’ ” — I’m not a big fan of comics, cartoons not because I’d be little interested but because, as books I unfortunately spare less and less time for these beautiful activities which call imagination to participate to understanding. “Plain erudite” is tactful humor, calling a discreet jubilation. Belgians are shrewd, excel in surrealism and often speak French better than French themselves. I love the country, I have cousin in Liège by the way.

        Yes! and Oui ! were for fun, I must have felt that by cake being tasteless I should at least try to add a cherry :)

        Well, looks like I remained off-topic, extensively, when my aim right here was too decry that very flaw of mine– See you later, Pierre.

      5. Pierre said on September 24, 2016 at 6:45 pm
        Reply

        Yes I am (French, I mean)
        Very interesting, thks, I haven’t noticed this difference in typographic rules
        ‘Plain erudite’ comes from French (in fact Belgish) cartoon ‘Achille Talon’ (60’s, 70’s). The main character defines himself as a ‘simple érudit’
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achille_Talon

  7. Glynn Brooks said on September 24, 2016 at 2:38 pm
    Reply

    I’m surprised to see all the Edge hatred. I don’t use it as my default browser since I depend on Roboform, but Edge has some unique features (Reading Mode, Reading List, Sharing, page markup) that make it useful. Once it has Roboform integration, I expect to start using it as my default browser.

    1. PBatemanJr said on September 24, 2016 at 3:49 pm
      Reply

      Edge is a perfectly fine browser for the average user: grannies and aunts and uncles who keep up with friends and family via Facebook, email their ailments and recipes, and read their online news and gossip from their MSN page. It is exactly what the (small) majority of Americans use AND want to use. They don’t care about extensions. Frankly, it seems meant for an older generation of desktop users. It is not meant for the elitist “power” users who populate this particular site. Frankly, I’m surprised it gets so much attention here (except for one obvious reason).

      1. Tom Hawack said on September 24, 2016 at 5:38 pm
        Reply

        @Pierre, how did you manage to wonder if I was a Nobel even before I mentioned I was a genius?
        You’re the true genius, I’m a fake!

        Oh!… maybe were you addressing your question to PBatemanJr? I hope not :)

      2. Tom Hawack said on September 24, 2016 at 5:25 pm
        Reply

        I agree, perhaps with an exception : not all power users have the state of mind of believing they belong to an elite ; highly talented power users maybe :) As for the genius he is above all, elite included, he’s above and elsewhere … I know because I’m concerned :=) LoooooL !!!

      3. Pierre said on September 24, 2016 at 5:20 pm
        Reply

        I can’t believe my eyes ! I guess you are a Nobel ?

  8. Pierre said on September 24, 2016 at 2:04 pm
    Reply

    Impossible installing an extension (considered as a Windows 10 “appli”) without permanently replacing the connection to the local account, if it’s your case, by connection with the MS account
    Anyway I don’t use Edge

    1. Tom Hawack said on September 24, 2016 at 2:23 pm
      Reply

      I don’t use Edge either, but for the sake of understanding does what you say mean that it is not possible to add an extension to Edge without a MS account?
      I say this because as I’ve understood it the user has the choice to run Windows 10 with *only* a local account. If so, users refusing a MS account could not add an extension to Edge?! WOW!

      1. Tom Hawack said on September 24, 2016 at 5:11 pm
        Reply

        OK, Pierre… another reason not to use Edge (if applicable). Microsoft with Windows 10 is above the propriety scheme : it’s become a, the king. The Mel Brooks syndrome, without the humor, “It’s good to be the king”. Well, your majesty, I’ll be movin’ off your lands.

        Being obliged to have and be connected to a MS account in order to install an extension on its so-called browser is the final straw. Unbelievable…

      2. Pierre said on September 24, 2016 at 3:05 pm
        Reply

        Yes, the “choice” is : impossible installing an appli (included Edge extensions) without giving a MS account and it imposes to you to remain connected with this account. Otherwise it refuses to install the appli (here : the extension).

  9. Sweaty Steve ballmer said on September 24, 2016 at 11:24 am
    Reply

    “uBlock Origin, Ghostery, & Turn Off the Lights coming soon to Edge!”

    https://twitter.com/MSEdgeDev/status/779382154249646081

  10. mikef90000 said on September 24, 2016 at 4:19 am
    Reply

    I’ll believe M$ is serious about Edge when it becomes cross-platform. Until then, it will be Ignored.

  11. Ray said on September 23, 2016 at 8:14 pm
    Reply

    I’ve installed uBlock Edge, which is still in development. It works quite well, but updating filter lists is an issue.

    I would use Edge if there were more privacy extensions available such as a cookie and local storage manager, user agent changer, custom referer setter and more fingerprinting blockers (canvas, audio, battery, etc.).

  12. Mike W. said on September 23, 2016 at 7:05 pm
    Reply

    I don’t understand all the Edge hate. Is it perfect? Of course not. Are there better browsers available to consumers? Sure, but it is far from a “piece of crap”. If nothing else, it has pushed Google, Mozilla and Opera to work towards making their browsers more efficient in terms of battery usage. More competition, especially coming from a company with the marketing budget that Microsoft has, is a good thing in the browser game. Google may have acknowledged that Chrome is a battery junkie without Edge, but MS prodding them at least ensured they began working on it.

    I’ll give Edge a shot again when uBlock Origin gets ported over. AdBlock Plus is just bad and AdBlock doesn’t offer the same privacy lists that uBlock does.

    1. Tom Hawack said on September 23, 2016 at 7:24 pm
      Reply

      No hatred, never, moreover when it comes to Microsoft browsers when Edge, just like IE, allow to define what a browser should never be, they allow users to give a face to the worst in terms of browsers. And that is most worthy.
      Fortunately there is competition and I believe that it is competing browsers which decided Microsoft to start improving their then leading Internet Explorer, and it’s never been the other way around.

      Some people use hard words but the fact is the only acceptable component of Microsoft OSs was the OS itself. “Was” because with Win10 it seems the company cannot even be proud of the core of its leading OS. No hatred, rather a feeling somewhere between irritation and pity. Microsoft, as it is now, won’t survive, IMO. Maybe a decade or two but if the company doesn’t radically change it’s bound to disappear as competitors will arise and this time it won’t be with browsers or Linux but with a brand new mass-oriented OS. Time is counted for Microsoft but history will recall the fantastic rise of a leader and its failure due to totally inconsistent policies … unless of course a miracle.

      1. A or B, not C. said on September 24, 2016 at 4:39 pm
        Reply

        @ Tom H & Mikhoul ……. If Android mobile OS, a Linux fork, is able to dominate the smartphone market, there is no reason the Linux desktop OS cannot dethrone WIndows. Google, an online ad company, had acquired Android in 2005 for US$50 million.
        …….So, it only needs a resourceful tech company to acquire Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Zorin, or for Google’s coming Fuchsia OS to make it happen. This has not happen for the past donkey years may be bc of American trade protectionism or the doings of the Illuminati or Freemasons, ie it was not good for the American economy to hv a successful free desktop OS competing against M$’s Windows n Apple’s MacOS – similar to the duopoly of GM n Ford in the American auto-industry during the 1970s b4 being “overthrown” by imported Japanese autos in the 1980s thru FTA(Free Trade Agreement). To prevent a repeat of the Japanese auto-“invasion”, the US govt hv been using their idiotic idea-based Patent System to protect M$, Apple n other American tech companies from foreign competition, eg Apple’s patent for rounded corners in smartphones.

        IOW, American tech corporations win, the consumers lose.

      2. Tom Hawack said on September 23, 2016 at 8:41 pm
        Reply

        Mikhoul, if I expressed a reserve regarding Linux it was not for quality concerns (even if, as you mention it, gaming with Linux is said to be occasionally problematic) but because iy is not (yet) — for good or bad reasons — perceived as a general public OS. I hear here and there voices calling for a deeper immersion of Linux in the wide audience but up to now it still is, or perceived as, a geek OS, with geek forums, with geek terminology and, maybe or not, with geek mentalities which happen sometimes — not always — to entertain a, elitist atmosphere around their experiences and in the way they share them.

        I am looking forwards to the emergence of a new general public approach in terms of OS, be it Linux or any other to come. The world IMO will be faced to resolving the equation composed of a cyber context on one hand and a lack of general public OSs on the other hand. Revolutions are not always made of blood and tears and, nowadays and more specifically in the cyber world, a soft revolution, if not desired will appear unavoidable, which will concern business practices when business will realize where their interest is, at least on the long term.

        I strongly believe in this very personal futurology in the terms I state it but perhaps a march in progress worldwide. Things just cannot continue as they are now, and I limit this prediction to our concern, Operating Systems.

      3. Mikhoul said on September 23, 2016 at 8:16 pm
        Reply

        I agree 100 %👍👍👍 with almost of your saying and especially about that MSFT will NOT survive in the LONG run if they don’t backup and give back control and choice to user… but I don’t have any great hope.

        One minor difference I think some flavor of Linux could emerge with better integration for the games graphic (I’m not a gamer) since it is an important factor in the choice of main OS for lot of peoples.

  13. KirbyPhuckett said on September 23, 2016 at 6:39 pm
    Reply

    I’m not a power user, so I imagine most of the criticisms of Edge comes from those who are. For the layperson, however, Edge is a fairly effective and very quick browser. The real problem is, the current extensions that are offered actually have hampered what was perhaps Edge’s chief advantage: its speed. The AdBlock extension, for example, actually has made Edge sluggish (at least on my computer) and is a particular nightmare on Facebook.

    I really wanted Edge to be successful, as I actually like its clean, relatively minimal look and even enjoy aspects of it such as its reading mode, the integration of OneNote, etc. But the non-Microsoft based extensions (other than perhaps Pocket) are more hindrance than help at this point.

    1. Mike W. said on September 24, 2016 at 2:35 pm
      Reply

      Huh, I have had the opposite experience. Since I installed Adblock and turned off/turned on certain filters, Edge has been much more responsive and faster than Opera, Vivaldi, Chrome or Firefox. Turning off Flash and enabling certain developmental features has also sped up Edge. I did notice a lot of slowdowns when I installed Adblock Plus. Now apparently that extension is giving users lots of problems. Regular, old Adblock has been a much better experience for me.

  14. Anonymous said on September 23, 2016 at 5:33 pm
    Reply

    Next Edge extension is Turn Off Lights. You can find it in news.
    So it is not technically true that they stopped bringing new extensions.

  15. pHROZEN gHOST said on September 23, 2016 at 2:35 pm
    Reply

    The few people who actually use edge as their main browser probably don’t care about extensions.

  16. Dhananjay said on September 23, 2016 at 2:16 pm
    Reply

    Edge is a good browser because text looks amazing in it and it is fast I use ABP and Pocket that’s all I need

  17. Tom Hawack said on September 23, 2016 at 1:02 pm
    Reply

    Edge of what? Chaos’ border-line? Welcome to the PainDome (Frankie Goes To Hell).
    July 29th, 2015 – September 23rd, 2016, the odyssey of an (S)OS, Windows’ Titanic bound to the abysses.

    1. T J said on September 23, 2016 at 5:20 pm
      Reply

      “Windows’ Titanic bound to the abysses”. And guess who is standing in for Di Caprio ? None other than that well loved (?!) CEO Nadella.

      1. Tom Hawack said on September 23, 2016 at 5:23 pm
        Reply

        Nice… and so true :)

  18. fena said on September 23, 2016 at 12:34 pm
    Reply

    just a friendly nod your heading needs a fix (Why are not there more )

  19. JasonR said on September 23, 2016 at 11:56 am
    Reply

    Well, they touted a ‘fresh start’, then the first bad sign was they couldn’t tear themselves away from what is basically the Internet Explorer icon….then launching with a beta (borderline alpha) product that still seems half-finished even today. Most people loaded it up, never to return.

    Plus, the Interface, as simple as it is, is actually kinda chunky in comparison with all other Browsers. It takes up a fair bit of real-estate, and you can’t change it, in any way.

    It now has the same Chicken/Egg problem Windows Phone had. No one’s using it, so no one develops for it…and if no one develops for it, no one uses it.

    Well done Microsoft, only themselves to blame…again.

  20. Jeff said on September 23, 2016 at 9:40 am
    Reply

    Edge is a piece of crap. You are better off using Chrome, Opera, IE, Firefox or Vivaldi

  21. Heimen Stoffels said on September 23, 2016 at 9:23 am
    Reply

    Regarding the fact that you assume that Edge has 5% market share: it depends on what you define as ‘extensions’. Internet Explorer is still the 3rd most used browser (according to Netmarketshare) and it does support plug-ins which are, in literal sense, extensions ’cause they extend the functionality of the browser.
    If we don’t count IE in, then you’re not far off as, according to Netmarketshare, Edge currently has a market share of 5.16% (August 2016 figures), up from 5.09% a month earlier.
    http://netmarketshare.com/

  22. ghacks reader said on September 23, 2016 at 8:10 am
    Reply

    Currently Edge at beta stage in my opinion. Don’t understand why they released as stable.

    1. Mikhoul said on September 23, 2016 at 8:08 pm
      Reply

      It’s goes hand in hand with Windows 10 Alpha Half Baked OS and even the Ugly AU that did not even qualify for beta in my book, for me it’s early Alpha Pre-release at best. 👎👎👎

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/09/21/microsoft-told-to-compensate-customers-for-windows-10-breaking-c/
      http://news.softpedia.com/news/microsoft-under-fire-for-buggy-windows-10-upgrade-508531.shtml

  23. Twan van Elk said on September 23, 2016 at 8:10 am
    Reply

    Biggest problem with Edge IMHO: no version for Android yet. So all my settings, passwords, bookmarks etc. cannot be synced. Major drawback.

  24. Mark Borgeson said on September 23, 2016 at 7:32 am
    Reply

    Edge is a useless piece of junk.Not only did they release half baked, the left out some important ingredients.

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