Google Chrome on Raspberry Pi 5: What It Adds Over Chromium

Google Chrome has an official 64-bit Arm Linux build, and the Raspberry Pi 5 finally has hands-on numbers to go with it. CNX Software installed the arm64 DEB package on a Raspberry Pi 5 running 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS and published its results on August 17, 2026. The short version: on a single board computer, official Chrome is a convenience upgrade rather than a performance one — and that distinction matters if you were hoping Google's browser would unlock speed that Chromium leaves on the table.

• Google publishes an official google-chrome-stable arm64 DEB package; an early August build identified itself as version 151.0.7922.71-1
• On a Raspberry Pi 5, the WebGL Aquarium demo held 30 FPS with up to 5,000 fish — the same result Chromium produces
• Chrome adds Google account sync, automatic updates through Google's apt repository, extra Safe Browsing tiers, and native Widevine DRM
• The package requires 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS, and video decode gains are limited because the BCM2712 handles H.265 in hardware only

How to Install Google Chrome on 64-Bit Raspberry Pi OS

Installation is the ordinary Debian dance. You fetch google-chrome-stable_current_arm64.deb from Google's direct download host and install it with dpkg, letting apt resolve any missing dependencies afterwards. The package registers Google's own apt repository during installation, so Chrome updates then arrive with your normal system upgrades.

One hard requirement: this is an arm64 build. If you are still running the 32-bit Raspberry Pi OS image, the package will refuse to install. Anyone maintaining an older 32-bit card should treat this as one more reason to migrate — and while you are reimaging, our Raspberry Pi storage guide is a good companion read for picking the right boot media.

Does Chrome Run Faster Than Chromium on a Raspberry Pi 5?

No, and the benchmark that settles it is refreshingly simple. CNX Software ran the WebGL Aquarium demo, the standard browser GPU stress test, and Chrome sustained 30 FPS with the fish count pushed to 5,000. Chromium, which ships preinstalled on Raspberry Pi OS, turns in the same figure on the same hardware. The GPU feature flags are effectively identical, which makes sense — both browsers sit on the same Blink and Skia foundations and talk to the same VideoCore VII driver stack.

Hardware video acceleration is the other place people hope for a win, and it is muted for a structural reason rather than a software one. The BCM2712 in the Raspberry Pi 5 dropped the dedicated H.264 decode block that the Pi 4 carried and handles H.265 in hardware. Most of the web still serves H.264 and increasingly AV1, both of which fall back to the CPU on this board regardless of which browser is asking. Swapping browsers cannot fix a silicon decision.

What Official Chrome Adds That Chromium Cannot

The real pitch is account plumbing. Signing in to Chrome syncs passwords, bookmarks, open tabs, and installed extensions between your Pi and every other machine you use, which is exactly the friction that has kept Raspberry Pi desktops feeling like second computers rather than real ones. Chromium on Arm has never had that, because Google's sync APIs are reserved for official builds.

Native Widevine support is the second draw, unlocking paid streaming services that gate playback behind DRM. Worth noting honestly: CNX Software found that protected playback already worked on its Chromium install, so the practical delta here is smaller than the feature list suggests. Automatic security updates and Google's additional Safe Browsing tiers round out the list — modest on paper, meaningful if a Pi is the only machine on someone's desk.

Who Should Switch and Who Should Stay Put

If you use a Raspberry Pi 5 as an everyday desktop and you already live inside a Google account, install it. Sync alone justifies the 100-odd megabytes. If your Pi is a kiosk, a digital signage player, or a headless box that occasionally renders a dashboard, stay on Chromium — it is lighter, it carries no account machinery, and it performs identically. And if you are running the 2GB Pi 5, keep an eye on memory; two browser engines installed side by side is fine, but two of them open is not.

The broader signal is the interesting part. Arm desktop Linux is now a shipping target for the world's largest browser vendor, not an afterthought. That is the same trend line we have been tracking across mini PC and SBC coverage, where Arm machines keep closing the gap on x86 desktops — see also our Ubuntu 26.04 benchmarks on the GEEKOM IT13 Max for the other side of that comparison.

Sources: CNX Software — August 17, 2026; Linuxiac — August 2026; OMG! Ubuntu — July 2026.