Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Userscripts VS Random User-Agent

Compare Userscripts VS Random User-Agent and see what are their differences

Userscripts logo Userscripts

An open-source userscript editor for Safari.

Random User-Agent logo Random User-Agent

Automatically change the user agent after specified period of time to a randomly selected one, thus...
  • Userscripts Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-10
  • Random User-Agent Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-09

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.

Random User-Agent features and specs

  • Privacy Enhancement
    Random User-Agent helps in enhancing user privacy by rotating user-agent strings, making it harder for trackers to build a consistent profile of the user.
  • Bypass Basic Scraping Restrictions
    By changing user-agent strings frequently, Random User-Agent can help bypass basic scraping restrictions implemented by some websites.
  • Improved Testing
    It allows developers to test how their websites behave across different browsers and devices by simulating various user-agent strings.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, it provides transparency and the opportunity for users to inspect and contribute to the codebase.
  • Flexibility
    Users can customize the list of user-agent strings to include ones that suit their specific needs or target different scenarios.

Possible disadvantages of Random User-Agent

  • Website Compatibility Issues
    Some websites may not function correctly if they are presented with outdated or unsupported user-agent strings.
  • Potential for Abuse
    The tool could be used for unethical purposes, such as circumventing access restrictions or malicious web scraping, leading to potential abuse.
  • Increased Detection Risk
    Some advanced anti-bot systems may detect the frequent change in user-agent strings as suspicious behavior, potentially blocking access.
  • Reduced Performance
    For applications heavily relying on a consistent user-agent for caching or optimization, changing these strings randomly could lead to reduced performance.
  • Maintenance Overhead
    Maintaining an up-to-date list of user-agent strings requires ongoing effort to ensure compatibility with the latest browser versions.

Userscripts videos

5 Recommended Tampermonkey Userscripts in 2022

More videos:

  • Review - Creating TamperMonkey Userscripts | Augmented Browsing

Random User-Agent videos

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Userscripts and Random User-Agent)
Browser Extension
52 52%
48% 48
Monitoring Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Dark Mode
47 47%
53% 53
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Userscripts should be more popular than Random User-Agent. It has been mentiond 13 times since March 2021. 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.

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
View more

Random User-Agent mentions (2)

  • make a website believe you‘re using windows
    Use the following extension and set a Windows user agent: https://github.com/tarampampam/random-user-agent. Source: about 2 years ago
  • The metaverse is bullshit
    It still doesn't make you safe from being tracked, it only makes you harder to track through fingerprinting and there are other methods to track you as well. A similar extension is also available for other browsers. Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Userscripts and Random User-Agent, you can also consider the following products

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

30 Seconds of Knowledge - Become a better developer, in every new tab.

Tampermonkey - Greasemonkey compatible script manager.

User-Agent Switcher and Manager - spoofs browser's User-Agent string.

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

Chameleon WebExtension - Chameleon is a Firefox extension to Spoof your browser profile.