Opera Privacy & Security

Opera is a secure browser that protects your online privacy.
With 30 years of experience building safe and secure browsers, we understand that privacy is not just a feature – it’s a right.

Privacy by design

As a European company, we adhere to the world’s strictest privacy regulations, regardless of where you are in the world. Opera also comes with native tools to enhance your privacy and security.

Putting your privacy first

When you install any Opera browser, you are essentially anonymous to us.
You can choose to share some data with us that we use to improve and monetize our free browsers. When you choose to do that, your data is safely stored in Europe.

Built in Europe

Opera is headquartered and registered in Oslo, Norway.
Our browsers are built in our European Research & Development Centers in Poland and Sweden.

Secure browsing based on Chromium

Opera is part of the open-source Chromium ecosystem, benefitting from its robust security infrastructure, with additional security-enhancing services.

Isolated processes

Web content runs in isolated processes, reducing the risk of cross-site scripting (XSS) and data leaks.

Encrypted DNS

Secure DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) protocol keeps your browsing data and activity encrypted and confidential.

Secure add-ons store

Strict manual review of add-ons before they are added to the store protects you against malicious extensions.

Security updates

Improved Chromium intakes and security patches ensure a secure, up-to-date browsing experience.

Built with native privacy features

Opera’s browsers come with powerful privacy-enhancing features built in.

Ad & tracker blocking

Opera's Ad Blocker and tracking protection keep your browsing distraction-free and prevent trackers from following you around the web.

Free and premium VPN

Opera’s Free VPN and VPN Pro encrypt your connection and disguise your IP and location. No registration or third-party extensions required.

Expert security audits

Opera’s VPN service has been independently audited by Deloitte and Cure53 to ensure your data is never collected and your browsing is secure.

Your security is our priority

Our security team applies industry best practices and uses robust internal checks to ensure our products remain secure.

Dedicated security team

Our core security team is responsible for maintaining our security infrastructure, performing security reviews of new products and features, and ensuring that Opera complies with strict security standards to keep you safe online.

Security champion program

Security is embedded into our product development process. Each of our product teams has a designated Security Champion who advocates for security at every stage, ensuring our products are secure by design.

Security best practices

We adhere to the security recommendations of the Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP), implementing best practices such as secure coding, penetration testing, and security reviews. We also perform annual internal audits to ensure our security measures are up to date and continuously improved.

Security collaborations

We run our own bug bounty program and are a member of the CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) program. We work with independent security researchers all over the world to identify and fix vulnerabilities before bad actors get a chance to use them.

Keep up with Opera’s Security team

Contact our
Security team

More ways that Opera protects you

Site settings control

Choose what data sites can access and set permissions.

Private browser

Deletes your browsing history and data when closed.

Cryptojacking protection

Opera's Ad Blocker also blocks cryptomining scripts.

Opera data sync

Synchronize the Opera browsers on any of your devices.

What data you can choose to share with Opera

When you use Opera, information is only collected with your explicit consent. You can agree or opt out when you first install the browser, and you can change your choice at any time from your browser settings. With your consent, the following information may be collected:

Country
Checking which country you are in helps personalize content for you, such as language, news, and speed dials.

Opera Newsfeed Articles
Checking which articles you read in Opera’s built-in news feed helps show you more relevant articles and ads.

Website categories
Checking the categories of sites you visit (e.g. News, Sports, Lifestyle, etc.) helps show you relevant ads.

Usage statistics
Checking which features get used the most and how you configure your browser helps us to continue improving the browser.

Crash analytics
Gathering information about crashes (such as system information, time and date, browser configuration) helps us understand what happened and how to fix it.

What data is never collected by Opera

When you use Opera browsers, we do not track or collect any of the following:

We do not collect your exact location
We don’t care where you are, where you have been, or where you are going.

We do not collect your browsing history
The exact websites you visit and your browsing activity is your own business.

We do not collect any content you read, watch, or listen to
We don’t care what you do on the web. We love it if you do it in our browser though.

We do not collect any information you type on the web
Emails, social media posts, searches, notes, poems, novels, etc. All these things are between you and the web.

We do not collect VPN data
When you browse using Opera’s Free VPN or device-wide VPN Pro, we neither collect nor store any data whatsoever. Our no-log policy has been independently audited by Deloitte.

We encourage you to read our Privacy Statement for more details on our data practices.

How Opera stores user data

Opera maintains servers in key territories around the world for the smooth operation of our products. All browser data is kept in our European servers, primarily in the Netherlands and in Poland.

To provide infrastructure components (e.g. our VPN), we also maintain servers in the USA and in Singapore. These servers are not used to store browser data.

How to turn on your browser VPN

When you connect to websites through a secure browser VPN (virtual private network) server, your browsing data is encrypted and your public IP address changes to a virtual IP address. To enable Opera's free built-in VPN service:

Go to Settings (Alt+P) Advanced > Privacy & Security.
Under VPN, click Enable VPN.
A built-in VPN badge will appear at the left end of your address and search bar. Click the badge and toggle your web browser VPN on or off.

How to block ads and how to block pop ups

Opera's Ad blocker makes websites load faster and look cleaner by blocking ad scripts. It also includes tracking protection and stops cryptocurrency mining scripts for a secure browser. To enable these security features:

Go to Settings (Alt+P)
Under Privacy protection, toggle on Block ads and surf the web up to three times faster.
Below that, toggle on Block trackers.

Both of these security features can also be turned on or off from the Easy Setup menu in the top-right corner of your web browser (under the X).

How to enable Crypto Mining protection

Cryptojacking is when someone hijacks your computer and runs scripts to mine cryptocurrency. To stop cryptocurrency mining from happening on your computer:

Go to Settings (Alt+P)
Under Privacy protection, click Manage Lists.
Click NoCoin (Cryptocurrency Mining Protection) to enable this security feature.

How to adjust site settings controls

Opera browser site settings let you customize your internet browser's privacy features and browser security. To set your privacy and security controls:

Go to Settings (Alt+P) Advanced > Privacy & Security.
Under Privacy and security, click Site settings.

There you can adjust all of your browser web site permissions and security features - like who can access your camera, microphone, location, and data. Manage cookies, choose which sites can play sounds or show images, and adjust many other details concerning what websites can do, for a secure browser.

How to browse privately

Private browsers are secure browsers. When you use a private web browser window, your internet history and activity data is removed as soon as you close all private windows. You can open a private window with a keyboard shortcut, or through the menu.

On Windows or Linux: Ctrl+Shift+N or O Menu > New private window.
On Mac: ⌘+Shift+N or File > New Private Window.

When all private windows are closed, Opera will remove the associated browsing history, cache items, and cookies. Because of this, private tabs or windows cannot be recovered from the history or tab menus.

How to change search engines

Opera’s default browser search engine is Google, but you can change it or add private search engines like DuckDuckGo. To change, manage, or add search engines:

Go to Settings (Alt+P).
Under Search engine, select your preferred search engine from the dropdown menu or click Manage search engines.

How to enable Opera’s password manager

Secure browsers use passwords. You can choose whether Opera saves your passwords for auto sign-in, as well as edit or remove them. To adjust the password manager settings:

Go to Settings (Alt+P) Advanced > Privacy & Security.
Under Autofill, select Passwords.

Read more about security and privacy settings on our Help pages.