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Browser Extensions · head to head

Mercury Reader vs Stylus

M

Mercury Reader

Browser Extensions

Clear clutter from articles instantly

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Stylus logo

Stylus

Browser Extensions

Restyle the web with custom CSS

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Mercury Reader mercury Reader's underlying engine (Postlight Parser) is free open source software licensed under Apache License 2.0, per the GitHub repository, with no paid tier; Stylus crashes and instability when applying certain styles
  • They diverge on capability: Mercury Reader covers Content extraction, Stylus covers Custom CSS injection.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mercury Reader and Stylus actually diverge.

Attributes where Mercury Reader and Stylus differ
AttributeMercury ReaderStylus
PlatformsChrome, Firefox, EdgeChrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera
Founded20152017

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Browser Extensions).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Mercury Reader

  • Content extraction
  • Clean reading view
  • Custom themes
  • Font customization

Only in Stylus

  • Custom CSS injection
  • Style management
  • userstyles.world integration
  • Built-in editor
  • Opera support

Both cover

  • Chrome support
  • Firefox support
  • Edge support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Mercury Reader

No use cases recorded yet. See the Mercury Reader review.

Stylus

  • Customizing website appearance with community-created CSS themesnot Mercury Reader
  • Writing personal style overrides for specific websitesnot Mercury Reader
  • Managing multiple styles across different websites automaticallynot Mercury Reader
  • Searching and installing user-styles for current websitesnot Mercury Reader
  • Migrating style collections from Stylish extensionnot Mercury Reader

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Mercury Reader

  • Mercury Reader's underlying engine (Postlight Parser) is free open source software licensed under Apache License 2.0, per the GitHub repository, with no paid tier

Stylus

  • Crashes and instability when applying certain styles
  • No visual element selector tool for identifying page elements to style
  • Security risk if downloading and applying untrusted user-created styles

Pricing, plan by plan

Mercury Reader

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Clutter removal
    • Clean reading
    • Custom themes

Stylus

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Custom CSS
    • Style library
    • Style editor

Which should you pick?

Choose Mercury Reader if

  • You need content extraction.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Chrome, Firefox, Edge.
  • You also want clean reading view.
Mercury Reader review

Choose Stylus if

  • You need custom css injection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera.
  • You also want style management.
Stylus review

Questions people ask

Is Mercury Reader or Stylus better?
Neither clearly leads. Mercury Reader starts at Free and Stylus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mercury Reader or Stylus?
Mercury Reader starts at Free and Stylus at Free.
Does Mercury Reader or Stylus run on more platforms?
Mercury Reader runs on Chrome, Firefox, Edge. Stylus runs on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera.
Can I use Mercury Reader for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What can Mercury Reader do that Stylus cannot?
Mercury Reader covers Content extraction, Clean reading view, Custom themes, Font customization. Stylus covers Custom CSS injection, Style management, userstyles.world integration, Built-in editor. Both handle Chrome support, Firefox support, Edge support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Stylus: Is Stylus free?

Yes. Stylus is completely free and open-source, available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera browsers.

Source
Stylus: Can I use Stylus to change the browser UI?

No. Due to WebExtensions security restrictions, Stylus can only customize website pages, not the browser interface itself.

Source
Stylus: What CSS pre-processors does Stylus support?

Stylus supports CSS, LESS, and Stylus syntax with built-in linting using Stylelint and CSSLint-mod with customizable rules.

Source
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Related pages

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