Greasemonkey is the original. Created in 2005, it birthed the entire userscript ecosystem. But while Tampermonkey added bells and whistles, Greasemonkey stayed minimalist— too minimalist for some.
AdGuard’s browser extension isn't just for blocking ads. It has a hidden userscript engine that supports most Tampermonkey APIs. The killer feature? It runs before the page loads. Tampermonkey waits for DOM readiness; AdGuard injects at the network level. tampermonkey alternative
So I went looking for alternatives. Not because Tampermonkey is bad—it's brilliant. But because no brilliant tool should become the only tool you trust. Greasemonkey is the original
Violentmonkey is the ethical hacker’s Tampermonkey. It does 95% of what Tampermonkey does, but with zero proprietary bloat. The permissions model is stricter, the update checks are transparent, and the code is lean enough to run on a Raspberry Pi. AdGuard’s browser extension isn't just for blocking ads
Here’s an interesting, story-driven write-up on Tampermonkey alternatives, framed as a user’s quest for the perfect userscript manager. It started with a single pop-up. Not an ad—worse. A nag screen inside my developer tools: "Tampermonkey has been updated. Please review the new permissions."