Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Greasemonkey VS Userscripts

Compare Greasemonkey VS Userscripts and see what are their differences

Greasemonkey logo Greasemonkey

Customize the way a web page displays or behaves, by using small bits of JavaScript.

Userscripts logo Userscripts

An open-source userscript editor for Safari.
  • Greasemonkey Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-17
  • Userscripts Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-10

Greasemonkey features and specs

  • Customization
    Greasemonkey allows users to customize the appearance and functionality of a website by injecting JavaScript code, offering a high degree of personalization.
  • User Community
    A large community of users and developers contributes to a vast library of scripts, enabling users to easily find and install scripts that meet their needs.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, Greasemonkey encourages transparency and collaboration, allowing developers to contribute and improve the functionality of the extension.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Greasemonkey scripts are compatible with most modern browsers through various extensions, allowing scripts to work across different systems.

Possible disadvantages of Greasemonkey

  • Security Risks
    Scripts can potentially contain malicious code, leading to security vulnerabilities if users install scripts from untrusted sources.
  • Script Maintenance
    Users may need to maintain or update scripts themselves, especially when websites update their layout or functionality, causing existing scripts to break.
  • Limited Browser Support
    While Greasemonkey is primarily designed for Firefox, users of other browsers might need to use alternative extensions like Tampermonkey, which may not support all features of Greasemonkey.
  • Learning Curve
    Users who wish to create or modify scripts need a good understanding of JavaScript, which may pose a challenge to those less familiar with coding.

Userscripts features and specs

  • Customization
    Userscripts allow for extensive customization of web experiences, as users can write scripts in JavaScript to modify the behavior and appearance of websites according to their needs.
  • Enhanced Productivity
    By automating repetitive tasks and adding useful shortcuts, userscripts can significantly enhance productivity for users who interact frequently with specific web applications.
  • Open Source Nature
    Being hosted on GitHub, Userscripts is open source, allowing developers to contribute, review the code for security purposes, and fork the project for personal use.
  • Community Support
    Userscripts have a strong community backing, with many scripts readily available through various online repositories, providing users with a wide array of pre-made scripts to choose from.
  • Cross-Browser Compatibility
    Many userscripts are designed to be cross-browser compatible, functioning in browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and others that support userscript managers like Tampermonkey or Greasemonkey.

Possible disadvantages of Userscripts

  • Security Risks
    Userscripts can pose security risks, as malicious scripts could potentially capture sensitive user data or perform harmful actions on behalf of the user.
  • Maintenance Overhead
    As websites update their structures and functionalities, users may need to frequently maintain or update their scripts to ensure continued compatibility and performance.
  • Technical Barrier
    Creating and managing userscripts often requires a certain level of technical knowledge, particularly in JavaScript, which may not be accessible to non-technical users.
  • Browser Deprecation Concerns
    Future browser updates might deprecate some functionalities that userscripts rely on, potentially rendering some scripts useless unless updated.
  • Performance Impact
    Poorly written or overly complex scripts might lead to performance issues, slowing down browsers or websites as they perform additional processing on pages.

Greasemonkey videos

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Userscripts videos

5 Recommended Tampermonkey Userscripts in 2022

More videos:

  • Review - Creating TamperMonkey Userscripts | Augmented Browsing

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Greasemonkey and Userscripts)
Browser Extension
60 60%
40% 40
Dark Mode
64 64%
36% 36
Developer Tools
67 67%
33% 33
Tool
57 57%
43% 43

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Userscripts seems to be a lot more popular than Greasemonkey. While we know about 13 links to Userscripts, we've tracked only 1 mention of Greasemonkey. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Greasemonkey mentions (1)

  • Auto-redirect from English to Simple English if such an article exist in Simple English
    // ==UserScript== // @name Wikipedia Redirect // @namespace https://greasespot.net // @version 0.1 // @description Redirect from English Wikipedia to Simple English Wikipedia if the page exists // @author Noname // @match https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/* // @grant none // ==/UserScript== (function() { 'use strict'; let currentURL = window.location.href; let... Source: about 2 years ago

Userscripts mentions (13)

  • Show HN: My first programming project – userscripts to change forum UIs
    Hi, I'm Will. I'm 24, autistic, and have OCD tendencies. I'm learning to code and this is my first public project. I’d really appreciate your feedback and encouragement! This project lets me solve some of my OCD problems online. There are a couple of parts of the forums that I visit – Space Battles, Sufficient Velocity, and Questionable Questing – that I want to remove. Specifically, I hate seeing indicators of... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Show HN: HNRelevant – Explore Related Discussions on HN in an Integrated Sidebar
    You can use userscripts [1] which is a safari extension which allows you to add userscripts, and the author of this work have an userscript [2] that you can use with safari (or any other browser) [1] https://github.com/quoid/userscripts. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Apple and Safari playing catch-up?
    That Safari also supports UserScripts and Extensions also somewhat mutes some of Arc's benefits, so it will be interesting to see how/if Arc responds. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • HN: Thank you for being fast, ad-free and text only
    }` In Safari, using Userscripts extension: https://github.com/quoid/userscripts#userscripts-safari. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Does anybody use the HN hide button?
    You might want to take a look at this Safari Extension for userscripts on iOS. https://github.com/quoid/userscripts. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Greasemonkey and Userscripts, you can also consider the following products

Tampermonkey - Greasemonkey compatible script manager.

Violentmonkey - Violentmonkey is a userscript manager to support running userscripts in web pages.

Greasy Fork - A site for user scripts.

Script Manager – SManager - Script Manager – SManager is an Android application that makes it easy for you to execute scripts and executables, file manager, multi-tab browser root explorer, and terminal emulator.

Database Script Tool - Database Script Tool is an all-in-one functional code generator that allows you to generate several types of code, including SQL standard commands, classes, resource files, HTML 5 forms, Data managers, and more to add.

Stylus - User Styles Manager - Stylus is a userstyles editor and manager based on the source code of Stylish version 1.5.2.