How-To

Soon You Can Limit Microsoft Edge RAM Usage: Try it Today

By Brian Burgess

Published April 4, 2024

You will soon be able to limit RAM usage by Microsoft Edge, and you can already test the feature using the instructions in this guide.

Microsoft is developing a feature that will allow you to limit how much RAM Microsoft Edge uses. This option will allow you to allocate your system’s RAM to fix the built-in web browser’s high memory usage issues when they occur.

The feature is still under development, but you can try it out today by using the Canary build of Edge. The Canary build is simply a pre-beta version of the browser. Other browsers, like Chrome and Firefox, also have Canary builds you can download to test new features.

When your system feels sluggish, it’s often your browser’s fault with multiple open tabs. The browser already includes features to soften the blow on system resources like Sleeping Tabs and Efficiency Mode. Soon, the stable release of Edge will include a way to manually control how much RAM to allocate for the browser. It also includes the ability to limit RAM usage while you’re gaming.

The good news is that you can test out the RAM usage feature today on your Windows 10 or 11 system by using the Canary build, enabling it, and adjusting the RAM slider.

Limit RAM Use on Microsoft Edge

To start, you must install the Canary build of Edge and enable the feature using the following steps.

1. First, download the Canary build of Edge. Ensure it’s the Canary Channel, not the Dev or Beta Channel.

2. Right-click the Edge Canary shortcut and select the Properties button from the context menu.

3. Now, append the Target field with the following code and click Apply and OK.

   --enable-features=msEdgeResourceControlsRamLimiter

4. Launch the Edge shortcut and head to Settings > System and performance. Scroll down the settings on the right to the Manage your performance section, and you’ll find the feature. Adjust the slider next to Control how much RAM Edge can use to set the browser’s RAM usage manually. You may also be interested in setting it to a specific amount while gaming on your PC.

5. You can also see how the feature works by selecting the Browser essentials icon at the top right of the toolbar. This shows where you set the RAM usage slider in Settings.

Manually Adjusting RAM Usage by Microsoft Edge

It’s important to mention that you can’t adjust Edge’s RAM usage from the Browser essentials section at the time of this writing. You can only view what you set it to on the Settings screen.

The ability to control Microsoft Edge’s RAM usage is an up-and-coming feature currently reserved for users on the Canary Channel. So, the final version that comes out to stable releases of Edge may vary.

We don’t have a timeline on when this will be released, but it looks promising and will be a welcome feature, especially when using Edge on PCs with limited memory.