Mozilla Firefox is getting a premium subscription version in October

Looks like the age of the premium web browser is nearly upon us. According to an interview with Mozilla CEO Chris Beard, the company is currently working on a premium version of Firefox.

In the interview by German site t3n (and unearthed by ZDNet on Monday), Beard explains that the premium monthly subscription version of the web browser will feature a few value adds over the free version. Importantly, Mozilla’s not going to get rid of the free version of Firefox.

Some of these value adds include a bundled VPN service, which will allow users to securely tunnel through servers across the world, and a premium storage service. It’s not clear how the firm will implement either. The likes of Opera currently has a built-in VPN in its browser.

It’s also worth noting that Mozilla already offers file sharing service Firefox Send and a save-for-later web reader Pocket. Both are available for free and for non-Firefox users too.

According to Beard, the addition of a subscription tier is Mozilla’s bid to diversify and grow its revenue streams, which currently reside mainly in offering Google’s search engine to users.

While the desktop will seemingly be serviced by the premium browser, it’s not clear if it will also be available on mobile devices too.

Premium Firefox will reportedly undergo testing in October 2019, but pricing details are unclear at present.

Feature image: screenshot, Mozilla Firefox