Description of the issue: How can this issue be reproduced?
This issue occurs with normal usage of the browser on a near-daily basis.
Expected result:
Upon opening my laptop, I get a MacOS popup that says “your system has run out of application memory” and Brave is occupying >10gb of memory each time. I am forced to restart my laptop.
Brave Version( check About Brave): v.1.80.113
Additional Information:
I have a MacBook Air M2 (2022) with 8GB of RAM running Tahoe 26.0.1. For the past several weeks, when I close my laptop screen at night, my computer is not functional the next day due to Brave’s memory usage. I have run through some of the suggested steps and this has not resolved the problem. Below are some relevant details:
I have many tabs open in four different windows. My activity monitor currently looks like this. The memory used is within 1GB of the Physical Memory and the Swap Used is >9GB. It does not appear to be a Cache issue.
Nothing I can find online seems to fix this issue. I’ve seen people mention toggling off “Continue running background apps when Brave is closed” but that option is no longer there in settings, nor is the “hardware acceleration” toggle that has been mentioned in previous posts. In the Task Manager, it doesn’t appear to be Facebook or any particular tab taking up a larger-than-expected amount of the memory footprint.
Brave seems to perform relatively fine during the day (though it is draining my battery an excessive amount) but when I open my screen each morning it’s 50/50 odds whether I’ll need to force quit all my applications and restart my computer. I don’t know if it’s interfering with my laptop’s ability to go to sleep, or if Brave is failing to disable inactive tabs, or what the issue is. I’ve tried everything and it’s incredibly frustrating. Please help.
Seems to me, that you have discovered, that operational limits are exceeded. Therefore, lighten the load.
I would limit the number of Tabs for your Brave Browser windows, to a grand total of 10 or 12 or 16 tabs among the combination of all windows, and create 4 bookmarks folders named:
W1Tabs
W2Tabs
W3Tabs
W4Tabs
. . . wherein extra, former/routine/special Tabs would henceforth exist as bookmarks.
Also, Exit / Quit everything at the end of the day, and Shutdown the Mac M2.
Because, the combination of only 8GB of RAM and using MacOS 26 “Tahoe” is a bit of a pinch (computer under pressure) — the computer needs a restart each day, anyway.
My Apple MacOS Activity Monitor - an example of not straining my computer (late 2013 MacBook Pro, MacOS 10.15.7 “Catalina”):
“Tahoe appears to leak memory in a shared layer, and everyday apps end up wearing the blame. Until Apple ships a fix, quick restarts, lighter sessions, and detailed bug reports are the best tools you have.”
This seems like a pretty extreme solution… I am not streaming any video, doing any coding or programming tasks, or straining my computer at all. It’s a pretty modern computer as well. In searching for a solution I came upon people with hundreds upon hundreds of tabs open, people that stream video all day, people that are building complex and data-intensive applications on their computers… and I can’t have more than 12 tabs open without having to quit Brave and restart my computer every night? That feels like something that would’ve been an issue in 2003, not 2025.
Sorry, but this is factually incorrect. Tahoe runs just fine with only 8GB of RAM.
Something is happening while in Sleep mode that is causing runaway memory usage. People with 48GB of RAM have been reporting this exact same issue, same circumstances, but different mixes of apps involved. The only common thread is the installation of Tahoe.
Just came here to find out whats going with Brave browser. its draining my CPU. I stop using Chrome for very same reason only to now have same issues here on MacBook and Windows. and as stated all the options that one could usually toggle have disappeared. have been ChatGPT this and now we have come to conclusion I have to revert back to Safari or Mozilla. I dont believe in have to constantly search for hours messing around with complicated setting on a regular basis when all I want to do is get my work done. Brave will have to come up with a one toggle switch economy low CPU for all us non IT savvy users. We have far more important other stuff to do. MacBook M3 macOS Tahoe Version 26,0,1 . and as stated in previous comments I am not streaming anything, doing any complex photo filming editing or gaming. Just basic surfing emails etc. Admittedly Mac OS is having its own separate updating issues but Brave CPU usage has been an issue for years due to its Chrome base CPU eating frame structure. Success and greetings everyone (this post was written in Safari Browser 🤨 )
