<p>Mozilla is rolling out Firefox 149 on March 24, 2026, and it’s a meaningful update — not just incremental polish. The headline feature is a free built-in VPN, but there’s enough else here to make it worth paying attention to.</p>
<h2>Free built-in VPN</h2>
<p>Firefox 149 includes a no-cost VPN tier that routes browser traffic through Mozilla’s own proxy servers, masking your IP address and location. No separate app, no extra download — just a single click to activate.</p>
<p>The details:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>50GB of data per month</strong>, free</li>
<li>Available in the <strong>US, UK, Germany, and France</strong> at launch, with broader rollout planned</li>
<li>Requires a Mozilla account</li>
<li>Runs on Mozilla’s own infrastructure (not Mullvad’s, which powers the paid service)</li>
<li><strong>Browser traffic only</strong> — it won’t protect other apps on your device</li>
</ul>
<p>Mozilla says it doesn’t sell browsing data or inject ads, which puts it in a different category from most free VPN services. That said, it’s worth being clear-eyed: this is also a freemium funnel toward Mozilla’s paid VPN subscription, which offers full-device protection. The free tier is genuinely useful for public Wi-Fi situations or quick IP masking, but it’s not a replacement for a full VPN if that’s what you need.</p>
<p>For context, Firefox’s desktop market share has dropped from 6.3% to 4.2% over the past year. Features like this are clearly part of Mozilla’s effort to give people a reason to switch back.</p>
<h2>Split View</h2>
<p>You can now view two tabs side by side within a single Firefox window. Resize the split fluidly, manage tabs independently, and avoid the awkward dance of snapping two separate windows together. It’s a small thing that makes a real difference for research or reference work.</p>
<h2>Tab Notes</h2>
<p>Tabs can now have sticky notes attached to them — useful for leaving yourself context when you’re mid-research and need to step away. It’s opt-in, so it won’t clutter your workflow if you don’t want it.</p>
<h2>Other changes in 149</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Sanitizer API</strong>: Firefox 148 was actually the first browser to ship this new web security standard, which blocks cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks at the browser level.</li>
<li><strong>Smart Window</strong> (formerly AI Window): renamed, same AI-assisted browsing functionality.</li>
<li><strong>Linux improvements</strong>: Firefox now uses the native XDG portal file picker, which benefits KDE Plasma, COSMIC, and Xfce users.</li>
<li><strong>Unified Trust Panel</strong>: replaces the separate Privacy and Security popovers with a single panel.</li>
<li><strong>Faster PDF rendering</strong>: hardware acceleration added to pdf.js.</li>
<li><strong>Expanded translation support</strong>: Thai, Bosnian, Serbian, and Norwegian Bokmål added for on-device translation.</li>
<li><strong>Refreshed error pages</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Coming soon</h2>
<p>A redesigned Settings page with improved navigation is coming to Firefox Nightly in April. Firefox is also getting a broader visual refresh — updated themes, new icons, and a new mascot named Kit.</p>
<p>If you left Firefox for Chrome a few years ago, 149 is probably the most substantive reason to reconsider that decision.</p>


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Firefox 149, rolling out March 24 2026, introduces a free built-in VPN offering 50GB/month of browser-only traffic protection via Mozilla's own servers, available initially in the US, UK, Germany, and France. Other notable additions include Split View for side-by-side tab browsing, Tab Notes for attaching sticky notes to tabs, the Sanitizer API for XSS protection, Linux XDG portal file picker support, faster PDF rendering via hardware-accelerated pdf.js, expanded on-device translation languages, and a unified Trust Panel. A redesigned Settings page and visual refresh including a new mascot named Kit are coming soon.

Firefox 149 adds a free built-in VPN, plus other new features coming soon