Safety guide
Are Chrome extensions safe?
Most well-known extensions are safe to use — but safety is a per-extension question, and the store page already holds most of the evidence you need. Here is how we read it, and the safety reviews we have published so far.
The three levels of page access
Every extension we review gets one of three permission-scope readings, based on what its listed permissions let it do. The scope is not a verdict — plenty of excellent tools need broad access — but it decides how much trust the rest of the record has to earn.
Does its job without reading page content by default. The least to trust, and the easiest kind of extension to say yes to.
Needs access only on the sites it operates on. Check the install prompt and keep the site list as short as your use allows.
Requests page-content access across sites. Broad access is not itself a red flag — the question is whether the job justifies the reach, and whether the publisher's record earns it.
What else we weigh
The store’s own disclosure section lists the data categories a developer declares it handles — or a declaration that it collects nothing. We pair that with the publisher’s identity, the update record, and the scale of the public rating sample, the same evidence every review on this site cites. The full method is on how we rate, and the vetting guide walks the same checks for any extension we have not covered.
The safety desk
Is it safe? Extension by extension.
Writing assistants
AI assistants
Privacy & security
Accessibility & reading
Safety sections are added review by review as we verify each listing; every review we publish already covers permissions and data notes.
Common questions
Are Chrome extensions safe to install?
Most widely-used extensions are safe, but safety is per-extension, not a property of the store. The Chrome Web Store reviews submissions and publishes each developer's data disclosure, yet extensions with broad page access can read what you see and type on the sites you allow. Judge each one on its permissions, its disclosure, its publisher, and its update record.
What does “Read and change all your data on all websites” mean?
It means the extension can see and modify page content on every site you visit while it is enabled. For some jobs — dark mode, writing feedback, ad blocking in advanced modes — that reach is genuinely required. The question is never the warning text alone; it is whether the job justifies the reach and whether the publisher's record earns the trust.
Can a Chrome extension read my passwords?
An extension with page access on a login page can read what you type there, which is why the permission model matters. Password fields are not specially protected from extensions you have granted access. Limit sensitive sites to extensions that need them, and prefer minimal-scope tools where the job allows.
How do I limit an extension's access?
Chrome lets you change any extension's site access after install: right-click its icon or open chrome://extensions, then set it to run only on specific sites or only when clicked. Most people can keep broad-access extensions on a short allowlist without losing anything they use.