How to make Chrome consume less RAM on PC, laptop

If your computer does not have enough RAM to use, you can immediately use the measures below to make Google Chrome consume less RAM.

Google Chrome has long been considered a scary RAM-eating "hog" in the browser world. Just opening a few tabs on Chrome at the same time will cause problems such as slowness, lag and freezing. This is also the biggest weakness that makes this browser receive criticism from the user community.

Over the years, Google engineers have been struggling to find a way to partially fix this problem. But instead of waiting for a permanent solution from Google, there are a few tips you can apply to reduce Chrome's RAM consumption. Let's find out right away.

How to make Chrome consume less RAM on PC, laptop Picture 1

Turn off background apps

Chrome apps can run in the background even after you close the browser. They stay there and eat up your system's RAM without you even realizing it. You can use Task Manager to close these apps manually, but a better solution is to block them in the first place.

To do this, open the Chrome settings page and navigate to Advanced > System. Turn off the 'Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed' option. This will ensure that Chrome doesn't use memory when you close all browser windows.

Note that not all Chrome apps run in the background. Some do, but it's not the default behavior for all Chrome apps.

Don't keep too many tabs open at once

It may sound obvious, but one of the simplest things you can do to reduce Chrome's RAM usage is to close out unused tabs. If you consistently have dozens of tabs open at once, Chrome will definitely use up a lot of memory.

By default, Chrome tries to manage tabs so they don't eat up a lot of RAM by going to sleep if they haven't been interacted with for a while. However, the fewer tabs and windows you have open, the less RAM you'll use.

Reset to default

Finally, if you really feel like Chrome is using more RAM than it should, you can reset all of the browser's settings to default.

This will return everything to the way it was when you first installed Chrome, including your start page, new tab page, search engine, and pinned tabs. It will also disable extensions (until you enable them) and clear temporary data. Your bookmarks, history, and passwords will not be deleted.

Open the Chrome Settings menu and navigate to Advanced > Reset & Clean Up. Select 'Restore settings to their original defaults' and then click 'Reset Settings'.

If you absolutely must open multiple tabs, use the Tab Groups feature to group them together and manage them more efficiently.

Clean up unused extensions

Extensions are an important part of the Chrome experience, so chances are you have at least a few installed. Just like tabs, extensions have their own processes. If you have some extensions that you don't use, removing them can free up RAM.

Click the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner of the Chrome interface and look for 'Extensions' under 'More Tools'. You can also type 'chrome://extensions/' into the address bar and press enter. Here, simply click 'Remove' for any extensions you no longer use.

Monitor Chrome with the built-in Task Manager

You may not know it, but Chrome has its own built-in Task Manager, just like Windows. You can use this tool to get a detailed look at what's running in Chrome. Generally, you don't need to kill all of Chrome's processes. Look for some processes that are eating up RAM and force them to stop.

You can find Chrome's Task Manager from the three-dot menu, under "More Tools." Or you can press the Shift Esc keyboard shortcut.

Simply select a task that you don't want to perform and click the "End Process" button.

Kareem Winters

Update 16 January 2025