Safari Running Slow on Mac?

Safari freezing, pages loading at a crawl, that pinwheel cursor spinning? Here's the fix list.

1. Close tabs you don't need

Each tab uses memory. If you have 30+ tabs open, Safari slows to a crawl. Use Cmd + Option + W to close all OTHER tabs except the current one.

To save tabs for later instead of just closing them, right click any tab > Add Bookmarks for These [X] Tabs. They'll be saved as a folder.

2. Clear history and website data

1. Safari menu > Clear History
2. From "Clear" dropdown, choose all history
3. Click Clear History

This signs you out of websites but bookmarks and saved passwords stay.

3. Disable extensions

Browser extensions are a top cause of slowdowns. Some run constantly in the background.

1. Safari menu > Settings > Extensions
2. Uncheck each extension to disable it
3. Restart Safari, test speed
4. Enable extensions one by one to find the slow one

4. Disable browser autofill features (temporarily)

Sometimes autofill data corruption causes lag.

1. Safari > Settings > AutoFill
2. Uncheck all four boxes (for testing)
3. Test Safari speed
4. Re-enable later if it didn't help

5. Check your network

Sometimes "Safari is slow" is actually "your internet is slow." Test:

• Open another browser (Chrome, Firefox) and see if it's also slow
• Run a speed test at fast.com
• Restart your router if needed

6. Restart Mac

If you haven't restarted in weeks, memory pressure builds up. A restart clears it.

7. Update macOS

Safari is bundled with macOS. The only way to update Safari is to update macOS.

System Settings > General > Software Update. Install pending updates.

8. Reset Safari (nuclear option)

Apple removed the easy "Reset Safari" button years ago. Do these steps manually:

1. Quit Safari
2. Open Finder, hold Option, click Go menu > Library
3. Go to Library/Safari and rename the folder to "Safari-old"
4. Go to Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari and delete it
5. Open Safari. It should now be like a fresh install. Bookmarks may be missing (you can copy them back from Safari-old if needed)

Check for runaway tabs in Activity Monitor

If Safari uses tons of CPU even with no tabs open, find the cause:

1. Open Activity Monitor (Applications > Utilities)
2. Click CPU column to sort
3. Look for Safari Web Content processes near the top
4. Each one corresponds to a website. The site name shows in the Process Name column
5. Kill the worst offenders by selecting them and clicking X

When to consider switching browsers

If you've tried everything and Safari is still slow, try Chrome, Firefox, Brave, or Edge for a few days. Safari is fast on most Macs, but rare edge cases (corrupted profiles, specific hardware) make it hopeless. A different browser is a totally reasonable choice.