Comparison

Old Gold Classic vs VanBrowser

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Old Gold Classic

Features
Read full description

Old Reddit, fully loaded. old.reddit.com is a classic. Old Gold is the fully-loaded trim — the same interface you already love, with all the bells and whistles bolted on. It doesn't redesign old Reddit or turn it into something it isn't. It keeps the classic chassis and adds the leather seats, the sound system, and the trim package. Old Gold is a Safari extension (iPhone, iPad, and Mac) with a companion app. Turn it on, open old.reddit.com, and it's already running. THEMES A full spread of dark themes, including a signature Old Gold and a true-black AMOLED that's easy on OLED screens and easier on your eyes at 2am. INLINE MEDIA Images, GIFs, and video expand right in the feed. No new tabs, no round trips — tap and it's there. INFINITE SCROLL The front page never dead-ends. Pages load as you go, with optional auto-align so the post you're reading stays put. COMMENTS, DONE RIGHT Color-coded thread lines so you never lose your place in a deep chain. Reply, vote, save, and "load more" inline — all without leaving the page. CONTROL THE CLUTTER Granular tweaks let you strip out exactly what you don't want — ads, chat, the sidebar, sign-in nags, header images — and keep everything you do. Set your post layout and thumbnail size to taste. FILTERS Hide subreddits and keywords you're done with. NSFW content can be shown, blurred, or hidden — your call. Your filter lists sync across your devices. AI TL;DR Long post or a 900-comment thread you don't have time for? Get an instant summary, generated entirely on-device with Apple Intelligence. Nothing leaves your device, ever. SYNCS EVERYWHERE Set it up once. Your themes, tweaks, and filters follow you across iPhone, iPad, and Mac over iCloud. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No tracking. No analytics. No data collection. Old Gold has no servers to send your data to — because it doesn't have any servers. FREE AND PRO Everything that makes old Reddit usable is free: base themes, inline media, infinite scroll, filtering, tweaks, and AI summaries. A one-time Pro unlock adds the premium themes and iCloud sync. No subscription, ever. If you want to throw a few coins in the tip jar, that's there too. All the bells and whistles. None of the redesign. The gold standard for old.reddit.com. Old Gold is an independent, third-party Safari extension. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Reddit, Inc.

About

VanBrowser

A fast, private web browser designed for Apple devices. It prioritizes user control and transparency by avoiding AI features and data collection. Offers advanced tools for inspecting web activity and managing online identities.

Highlights
  • No AI features
  • Advanced web inspection tools
  • Persona-based identity separation
  • Tracker and ad blocking
  • Local data storage
  • Optional iCloud sync
  • Native Apple device design
Features
Read full description

Fast, private, and built natively for Mac, iPhone, and iPad, VanBrowser puts you in control of your browsing experience instead of collecting data about it. Many browsers racing to add AI assistants, cloud services, and increasingly complicated and hidden interfaces. VanBrowser takes a different approach. It is a browser first, designed to help you browse the web with more transparency. NO AI. NONE. VanBrowser includes no AI features. No chatbot. No page summaries. No assistant watching what you browse. No prompts asking you to generate content. What you do in VanBrowser never becomes training data for us because we don't collect it in the first place. We don't collect data: You're not the product. Instead of monetizing your browsing activity, we rely on Pro subscriptions and optional tips to support continued development. SEE WHAT THE WEB IS DOING Most browsers hide what happens behind the scenes. VanBrowser puts that information in front of you. A live status bar shows page load times, transferred data, and resource counts as pages load. Open the Cookies, Network, and Page Info panels to inspect what a site sets, requests, and loads. Advanced users can also send and inspect raw web requests directly. PERSONAS: SEPARATE YOUR ONLINE IDENTITIES Keep work and personal accounts separate without juggling multiple browsers. Personas provide isolated browsing environments with their own cookies and device identities, making it easy to: • Stay logged into multiple accounts at the same time • Keep work and personal browsing separate • Open websites as a clean device • Automatically send specific websites to the correct Persona PRIVACY BY DEFAULT VanBrowser blocks many trackers and ads using maintained blocklists and is designed to give you greater control over your browsing data. History, bookmarks, passwords, and settings are stored locally on your Mac by default. If you use multiple devices, you can optionally enable iCloud sync to share supported data through your own iCloud account. VanBrowser is designed to minimize the collection of user data. We do not operate a cloud service for storing your browsing history, bookmarks, passwords, or synced data. BUILT NATIVELY FOR MAC, IPHONE, AND IPAD VanBrowser is designed specifically for macOS, iPhone, and iPad and feels at home here. Features include: • Tabbed browsing • Bookmarks and bookmarks bar • History and downloads • Reader View • Find in Page • Zoom controls • Built-in password vault • Built-in payment card vault • Per-site controls • Accessibility-focused design ACCESSIBILITY FIRST VanBrowser includes support for VoiceOver, Voice Control, and accessibility-focused customization throughout the app. FREE AND PRO VanBrowser is free to use. Upgrade to Pro to unlock iCloud sync, additional Personas, and other advanced features. A browser should work for you, not advertisers, data brokers, or AI companies. VanBrowser is a browser. That's the point. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Old Gold Classic4 screens
VanBrowser4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: VanBrowser at every 3 days against Old Gold Classic's every 5 weeks. VanBrowser also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Old Gold Classic sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and VanBrowser sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Old Gold Classic ships an update every 5 weeks, VanBrowser every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Old Gold Classic versus VanBrowser: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOld Gold ClassicVanBrowser
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—7 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB28 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperShadowForge Limited Liability CompanyVertolini

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Old Gold Classic

One-time3
  • Old Gold Pro$2.99
  • Generous Tip$2.99
  • Legendary Tip$4.99
6 purchases

VanBrowser

Subscriptions2
  • VanBrowser (Monthly)$1.991 Month
  • VanBrowser Pro (Yearly)$19.991 Year
One-time4
  • Small Tip$2.99
  • Medium Tip$6.99
  • Large Tip$12.99
Show 1 more
  • VanBrowser Pro (Lifetime)$49.99

Questions

Is Old Gold Classic free?
Old Gold Classic is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is VanBrowser free?
VanBrowser is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Old Gold Classic or VanBrowser have ads?
Neither Old Gold Classic nor VanBrowser shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Old Gold Classic or VanBrowser?
Old Gold Classic ships an update every 5 weeks, and VanBrowser every 3 days. Most recently, Old Gold Classic was updated on September 21, 2026 and VanBrowser on October 17, 2026.

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