To make Microsoft Edge faster, you rarely need to install anything — the browser ships with performance features that are switched off or set conservatively out of the box. I run Edge on a five-year-old laptop, and after a few weeks of regular browsing it always starts to drag: pages load a beat too slowly, new tabs stall before appearing, and the window freezes mid-scroll. Almost every fix that mattered lived inside Edge’s own settings, not in some third-party cleaner.
The seven changes below are ranked by how much speed they bought me, from the biggest win to the smallest polish. Most take under two minutes, and you can apply them in any order.
Quick Answer
To speed up Microsoft Edge, open Settings > System and performance and turn on Sleeping Tabs, set Optimize Edge for to Balanced or Maximum performance, and confirm hardware acceleration is on. Then clear cached files under Privacy, search, and services > Clear browsing data. Those four changes resolve most slowdowns.
Why does Microsoft Edge get slow over time?
Edge slows down because idle tabs hold onto RAM, the cache balloons, and forgotten extensions run code on every page. On my own machine, the biggest culprit was a dozen tabs left open overnight, each quietly eating memory. Edge also defaults to an efficiency-first profile on many laptops, which trades speed for battery life even when you are plugged in.
None of that requires a reinstall. Every cause maps to a setting you can change in a couple of clicks, which is why the cleanup is so fast.
Edge slows down from idle tabs, cache buildup, and unused extensions — all fixable in settings.
How do I enable Sleeping Tabs to free up RAM?
Path: Settings > System and performance > Sleeping tabs
Sleeping Tabs is the single most impactful memory feature in Edge. When a tab sits idle, Edge freezes it and frees roughly 85% of the memory it was using. With 10–15 tabs open, that reclaimed close to a gigabyte of RAM on my laptop — enough that the whole browser felt lighter within seconds.
- Click the three-dot menu (•••) in the top-right corner and select Settings.
- Click System and performance in the left sidebar.
- Toggle on Put inactive tabs to sleep after the specified amount of time.
- Set the idle timer. The default is 5 minutes; I found 15 or 30 minutes works better for most sessions.
If you keep returning to research tabs that reload slowly, set the timer to 60 minutes. You keep the RAM savings without the constant interruptions.
Sleeping Tabs freezes idle tabs and can reclaim close to a gigabyte of RAM.
Which performance mode should I pick?
Path: Settings > System and performance > Optimize Edge for
Edge offers three performance tiers, and many installations default to Efficiency, which prioritizes battery over speed. When I switched mine from Efficiency to Balanced, tab switching stopped feeling laggy almost immediately.
| Mode | Speed | Battery Impact | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Efficiency | Slower | Lowest | Laptops on battery |
| Balanced | Middle | Moderate | Most users (recommended) |
| Maximum performance | Fastest | Highest | Desktop PCs or plugged-in laptops |
Choose Balanced for everyday use. On a desktop or a plugged-in laptop, Maximum performance makes tab switching and JavaScript-heavy pages noticeably snappier.
Switch off Efficiency mode to Balanced for everyday use, or Maximum performance when plugged in.
Will clearing the cache speed up Edge?
Path: Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Clear browsing data
Yes, when stale files are slowing page rendering. A typical installation builds 200–500 MB of cache within a month, and outdated entries can conflict with newer versions on the server. After I cleared mine, a few sites that had been rendering oddly snapped back to normal.
- In Settings, click Privacy, search, and services.
- Under Clear browsing data, click Choose what to clear.
- Check Cached images and files. Leave passwords and form data unchecked to keep your logins.
- Click Clear now.
Pages may load slightly slower on the first visit afterward while Edge rebuilds the cache, then return to normal or faster speed. If you want to clear this across browsers, our guide to clearing cache and cookies in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge walks through each one.
Clearing cached images and files fixes stale rendering without logging you out.
Do browser extensions really slow Edge down?
Path: Menu > Extensions > Manage extensions
Yes — every enabled extension runs code on every page you visit. An extension installed for a one-time task and then forgotten still adds 50–200 ms of load time per page. When I audited mine, I had three I had not touched in months, and disabling them shaved a visible beat off page loads.
- Click the puzzle-piece icon in the toolbar, or go to Menu > Extensions > Manage extensions.
- Toggle off any extension you haven’t used in the past month.
- Click Remove to permanently uninstall ones you no longer need.
Unused extensions add 50–200 ms per page, so disable anything you have not used recently.
Should hardware acceleration be on or off?
Path: Settings > System and performance > Use hardware acceleration when available
It should be on for most PCs. Hardware acceleration offloads rendering — scrolling, animations, video playback — to your GPU instead of your CPU, which is a clear speed improvement on capable hardware. Make sure the toggle is on, then restart Edge when prompted.
The exception I ran into: if Edge crashes or shows visual glitches after a graphics driver update, turn hardware acceleration off temporarily. Update your GPU driver via Device Manager, then re-enable it.
Keep hardware acceleration on unless a driver update triggers crashes or glitches.
Does Startup Boost help or hurt performance?
Path: Settings > System and performance > Startup boost
It depends entirely on your RAM. Startup Boost keeps Edge partially running in the background so it launches almost instantly. On my 16 GB desktop it is a free win; on an older 4 GB machine I tested, it dragged the whole system down.
- 8 GB or more: Keep Startup Boost on. The background memory cost is small and the instant launch is worth it.
- 4 GB or less: Turn Startup Boost off. The background process competes with other apps and can make your whole PC feel sluggish.
Leave Startup Boost on with 8 GB or more of RAM, and off on low-memory machines.
How do I make new tabs open instantly?
Path: Gear icon on a new tab page, or Settings > New tab page
Edge’s default new tab page fetches a Microsoft News feed, weather data, and sponsored content every time you open a tab. On slower connections or modest hardware, that adds a visible delay before the tab is usable. Switching to a minimal layout made new tabs feel instant for me.
- Click the gear icon on any new tab page.
- Under Page layout, select Focus or Minimal.
- Toggle off Show news feed if visible.
A Focus or Minimal new tab layout removes the network request that delays each new tab.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Clearing saved passwords when clearing cache. Uncheck “Passwords and other sign-in data” when clearing browsing data — otherwise you will be logged out of every site and have to re-enter credentials.
- Turning off hardware acceleration on a capable GPU. Most users benefit from keeping it on. Disable it only if you see crashes or rendering glitches after a driver update.
- Keeping too many pinned tabs. Pinned tabs stay active even with Sleeping Tabs enabled. Keep pinned tabs to the five or six you actually open every day.
- Running Maximum performance mode on battery. It drains a laptop 15–20% faster than Balanced mode. Switch back to Balanced when unplugged.
- Skipping Edge updates. Microsoft ships performance fixes in regular updates. Check your version at Settings > Help and feedback > About Microsoft Edge and install anything pending.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Edge use more RAM than Chrome?
Generally no — Edge uses slightly less memory than Chrome with the same tabs open, especially once Sleeping Tabs is enabled. When I compared the two with ten identical tabs, Edge sat noticeably lower in Task Manager; for the Chrome side, see our guide to cutting Chrome’s RAM usage.
Will clearing the cache log me out of websites?
Clearing cached images and files will not log you out; clearing cookies will. The one time I lost all my logins, I had accidentally left “Cookies and other site data” checked — uncheck it if you want to keep your sessions.
Is Microsoft Edge safe to use?
Yes. Edge includes tracking prevention with three levels, Microsoft Defender SmartScreen for phishing protection, and regular security patches. To keep your logins safe across browsers, our guide on managing saved passwords shows how to audit Edge’s built-in vault.
Does Sleeping Tabs cause tabs to lose unsaved data?
A sleeping tab reloads when you click it, which takes 1–3 seconds, and any unsaved form data in it is lost. I learned this the hard way half-way through a long signup form, so for those tasks I bump the idle timer to 60 minutes or keep that tab active.
Should I switch from Chrome to Edge?
Both are fast and secure, so it comes down to fit. I keep Edge for its Windows integration and lighter RAM use, but kept Chrome for a niche extension it does not support — if you are tuning Firefox instead, our article on speeding up Firefox covers the same ground.
What is the difference between Startup Boost and Sleeping Tabs?
Startup Boost keeps Edge running in the background after you close it so it relaunches faster; Sleeping Tabs frees RAM from idle open tabs while Edge is running. On my 16 GB desktop I run both, since they work independently and each targets a different slowdown.
Conclusion
Turning on Sleeping Tabs, switching to Balanced or Maximum performance mode, and clearing the cache handled the majority of my Edge slowdowns without installing anything. If it still lags, disabling unused extensions and simplifying the new tab page are the logical next moves. For Microsoft’s official resources, visit the Microsoft Edge Help Center. Start with Sleeping Tabs — it takes about 30 seconds and is the one change I noticed immediately.