Chrome has developed a reputation for being a memory hog, but is it deserved? The claim is more internet meme than fact, the same way people joke that Microsoft Edge is slow and out of date. Chrome does use RAM, and it absolutely does, but RAM usage was less of an issue in 2026 than in 2016.
Websites and browsing have changed. Pages now resemble apps, hold more information, and let users run multiple tabs and extensions. Chrome chooses to give each tab and site its own process, which costs more memory but keeps browsing fast and stable.
That process also prevents browser-wide crashes and helps security. A crashed site does not bring down the whole browser or other tabs. Some extra memory is the price of that separation, and most people would pay it.
RAM may not be the main factor. Unused RAM is wasted RAM, and 8GB should be fine for most general-use PCs, several times what a single browser typically needs. High usage can also signal a memory leak, which Chrome's Task Manager can show. Memory Saver puts unused tabs to sleep and reloads them.
Source: Engadget · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing