In the technology industry, surviving more than thirty years is an anomaly. While giants that seemed unbeatable, such as Netscape, disappeared and others, such as Internet Explorer, became obsolete, Opera has managed to stay afloat. This browser, born in Europe, has not only stood the test of time but has become a beacon of innovation.
For the average user, a browser is simply a tool for accessing the Internet. However, for those who follow the industry closely, Opera has always been a laboratory for new ideas to surf the web. Many of the features we now use without thinking twice in Chrome, Edge, or Safari were born in their offices. From tabbed browsing to advanced session management, Opera was there first.
Today, in 2026, with the launch of Opera One R3 and its commitment to AI and modularity, the company demonstrates that its ability to reinvent itself remains intact. This is the story of how a Norwegian research project became a legendary and trailblazing web browser.
Origins in Europe, from Telenor to the world (1994–2000)
This story begins in 1994, a time when the Internet was virtually unknown territory. At Telenor's offices, Norway's state-owned telecommunications company, two engineers, Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy, started a research project known as MultiTorg. They sought to create an efficient navigation and data visualization system.
One of the first versions of MultiTorg Opera
The project had too much potential to remain confined to a telecommunications company. In 1995, both engineers saw the commercial opportunity, obtained the rights, and founded Opera Software ASA. Their vision was clear: to create a browser that would work on any hardware, no matter how modest, and that would respect web standards. Interestingly, this philosophy continues to this day, as Opera works on virtually any device.
The age of shareware and survival
The early years were marked by a business model that would seem strange to us today. While Microsoft gave away Internet Explorer pre-installed on every copy of Windows to gain market share, Opera tried to sell its product. Do not be surprised, because it was quite common to sell software back then.
Version 2.0, released in 1996, and its successors up to version 4.0 operated under a trialware model. The user could try it for free for a while, but then had to pay. In 2000, with version 5.0, they switched to an advertising-sponsored model. You could use it for free, but you had to put up with an advertising banner on the interface.
Why would anyone pay for or deal with ads for a browser when the competition was free? The answer is simple: speed and functionality. In the days of slow connections, Opera was lightning fast. Its code was efficient and loaded pages much faster than the competition.
This need to convince users to pay forced the European company to offer an excellent product. Finally, in 2005, with version 8.5, they removed the ads, and the browser became completely free.
The golden age of innovation (2000–2012)
As we mentioned in the introduction, if you use Chrome, Firefox, or Edge, you probably use Opera-invented features daily. During the first decade of the 21st century, under its own rendering engine, Presto, this browser introduced features that changed the way we interact with the web.
Speed Dial was a new tab design that may other browsers copied
Here are some of the best known:
- Tabbed browsing. Although there were previous experiments, Opera popularized the tabbed interface that allows multiple websites in a single window. Before this, each web page opened a new window, cluttering the taskbar.
- Speed Dial. The thumbnail grid of your favorite sites that you see when you open a new tab was invented by Opera. Previously, each new tab was simply a blank page.
- Pop-up blockers. When intrusive advertising was rampant, they were the first to integrate native tools to stop pop-ups. Those of us who browsed the internet in this era know how much of a lifesaver this was.
- Mouse gestures. They understood ergonomics before anyone else and made it possible to perform actions such as going back or closing a tab with simple wrist movements, without having to search for buttons on the interface.
- Sessions. The ability to close the browser and, when opening it again, restore all tabs exactly where you left them was a lifesaver in case of system failures.
The Presto engine and the browser wars
Until 2013, the heart of Opera was Presto. Power users praised this rendering engine for its strict adherence to web standards and speed. However, having an engine of its own also brought problems.
Presto gave Opera power to decide but also plenty of headaches
For years, they fought an uneven battle against Microsoft. Popular websites such as MSN or Hotmail often blocked or sent incorrect versions to Opera users, simply because they weren't using Microsofts' Internet Explorer. They went so far as to file complaints with the European Commission, which eventually forced Microsoft to include a browser choice screen in Windows.
The great transition and engine change (2013–2018)
February 13, 2013, marked a turning point. The company announced it was abandoning its Presto engine and adopting WebKit, and later Blink, the Google-powered Chromium engine.
For the most loyal fans, it was a difficult moment, as they felt that the browser was losing part of its identity. However, it was a pragmatic and necessary decision. Maintaining a proprietary engine required immense resources to ensure that websites displayed properly. By adopting Chromium, they delegated web compatibility to an open-source standard and focused their engineers on what they did best: creating unique features for the users.
Opera's decision proved to be prophetic. Years later, even Microsoft gave up and adopted Chromium for its Edge browser, confirming that maintaining a proprietary engine is a monumental task.
Today, the browser landscape has been drastically simplified. There are only three major engines left: Blink (Chromium), used by Chrome, Opera, Edge, Vivaldi, and Brave. Then there is Gecko, maintained almost exclusively by Firefox. And finally, WebKit, owned by Apple for Safari.
With this move, which did not sit well with purists, Opera not only ensured its survival but also guaranteed that its users would always see the web correctly, as designed by developers, without sacrificing its ability to innovate in the customization layer.
Change of ownership and maintenance of the European headquarters
Another milestone occurred in 2016, when Opera was acquired by a consortium led by Kunlun Tech Co. Despite this change in ownership, the company has maintained its headquarters in Oslo, Norway.
This is important because it means that it operates under strict European privacy and corporate governance laws, in addition to being listed on the NASDAQ. On the other hand, the capital injection allowed the company to diversify into new niches.
The conquest of mobiles (2005-present)
Opera Mobile is a great browser with plenty of functions and customization options
We move on to a much longer period, beginning in 2005 and extending to the present day. While battling it out on desktops, Opera had already won a different battle on mobile devices. Long before the iPhone defined the modern smartphone, Opera was already connecting the world.
The miracle of compression in the cloud
The key to initial success was Opera Mini. In an era of 2G connections and phones with very limited processors, browsing the real web was almost impossible. Opera devised an ingenious solution: use its own servers as intermediaries. How did this work?
When a user requested a website, Opera's servers downloaded it, compressed it by up to 90%, and sent it to the phone in a lightweight format called OBML. This helped millions of people, especially in emerging markets, to access the Internet from modest devices, saving huge amounts of money on data plans.
Partnership with Nintendo and other devices
The efficiency of its code took Opera to unexpected places. In 2006, Nintendo chose Opera to power the browser on the Nintendo DS and, later, the Wii Internet Channel.
This demonstrated the browser's versatility. While others struggled to run on powerful PCs, Opera managed to offer a complete web experience on video game consoles with limited hardware, introducing concepts such as smart zoom to adapt desktop websites to low-resolution screens.
Reinventing touch interaction
With the arrival of large-screen smartphones, Opera innovated once again the browsing interface. In 2018, they launched Opera Touch (now integrated into their main browser), which introduced the Fast Action Button (FAB).
Realizing that smartphones were becoming increasingly difficult to use with one hand, they created a floating button that, when held down, displayed a radial menu with all the essential options within reach of the thumb.
This design was so revolutionary that it won a Red Dot Award, proving that there was still room to improve mobile usability beyond what Google or Apple dictated.
The era of specialization (2019-present)
Over the last decade, the strategy changed. Instead of competing solely for the generic user, they decided to create the best possible browser for specific profiles.
Opera GX and the gaming world
Opera has always committed towards multiplatform and its gaming version is also available on mobile
Opera GX launched in 2019 and is perhaps the brand's biggest recent success. They identified a real problem for gamers: conventional browsers consumed so much RAM and CPU that they affected the performance of their favorite games.
Opera GX introduced built-in resource limiters, a gaming aesthetic with customizable lights, and native integration with platforms such as Twitch and Discord. They ended up creating more than a product: they connected with a young audience that had never heard of the original Opera browser.
Web3, Crypto, and Digital Well-being
The company did not stop there. It pioneered integrating a native cryptocurrency wallet and Web3 support, allowing users to access decentralized domains without complex extensions easily.
More recently, in 2025, they launched Opera Air. This conceptual browser focuses on digital well-being and is designed to combat excessive content consumption, with built-in relaxation and concentration tools.
Clearly, as with Opera GX, they are niche products, but with a specialization that competitors cannot offer.
The present and future with Opera One R3: 2026 and beyond
In 2023, they decided to unify their vision with Opera One, the first browser with a modular architecture. They introduced tab islands, a feature that automatically groups websites by context to avoid visual chaos. They also integrated Aria, their own native, free AI.
This brings us to the launch of Opera One R3 in January 2026. If the previous version laid the groundwork, this update turns the browser into an operating system of its own. The new features in this version are significant and pave the way for modern navigation.
Split-screen and true multitasking
The most notable feature of R3 is its native split-screen mode. Until now, to see the content of two websites side by side, you had to open two windows and manually adjust them. Now, Opera One R3 allows you to merge two tabs into a single view.
You can drag one tab over another to enter the split-screen mode. This feature is ideal for working with a document on one side and the research source on the other, all within the same window.
A unique interface
Opera is still adding innovations such as dynamic themes with sound and animations
The R3 update introduced dynamic themes. The interface reacts with subtle animated backgrounds that adapt to the movement or browser status. It even includes interface sounds that respond to user actions, but you can disable them if you want to. The goal is to make the browser feel less like a cold office tool and more like a pleasant environment.
Generative and visual AI
Aria, the browser's AI, has taken a qualitative leap forward in this R3 version. It now incorporates image generation directly into the sidebar. You no longer need to go to external websites to create a quick image. While composing an email, you can ask Aria for an illustration in the side panel and drag it to your message in seconds.
Additionally, the new context comprehension feature allows AI to analyze images you find on the web or better understand the intent behind your searches. It closes the gap between an AI and an autonomous agent that helps you navigate, not just search for information.
Opera has accumulated 30 years of innovation, with many more to come
Looking back at Opera's history is like tracing the evolution of the Internet. From its beginnings in Europe to the era of Artificial Intelligence with Opera One R3, the company hasn't changed its philosophy.
If we look only at market share charts, Opera may seem like a minor player compared to Chrome. But measuring its success solely by numbers is a mistake. Its value lies in its influence and its users' loyalty. They have shown that you do not have to be the biggest to lead the way, and they have forced tech giants to improve their products by copying Opera's ideas.
Opera remains the refuge for users who want more, who seek to personalize their experience, who demand privacy with an integrated VPN, or who need specific gaming tools. With the launch of R3, the company makes it clear that it has no intention of slowing down. In a scenario where innovation is scarce, this commitment reminds us that it is more necessary than ever.
