Browser extensions add specific capabilities to Safari by reading and modifying web content to promote an integrated browsing experience that’s tailored to your needs. There are two places to find Apple-approved Safari extensions: The App Store and the Safari Extensions Gallery webpage.

With Safari 12 on macOS Mojave and iOS 12, Apple revised the way its native web browser operates with extensions. Whereas in the past, you could easily download an extension from a developer, today you must download and install a Mac app or an Apple approved extension from the Safari Extensions Gallery page. The gallery is still operative for browser versions as far back as version 9, and is still considered a safe way to download and install Safari extensions. Regardless of the browser version, all apps from the App Store and Gallery page can update automatically.

Safari 12 blocks legacy extensions from third-party sources, and is now in the process of deprecating its own Extensions Gallery. It quit accepting new Gallery extension submissions at the end of 2018, accelerating a transition away from the Gallery in favor of the App Store. Many extensions continue to work just fine in Mohave’s latest browser.

Right now, there’s not much to the browser extension section of the App Store, which you can access via the Safari > Safari Extensions menu. Of the 66 App extensions currently available, only 27 are free. Another half dozen are 99 cents and the rest range in price to $19.99. Here are the best of the free extensions from both sources.

Ghostery Lite

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Ghostry Lite Safari extension

Ghostery Lite is the free version of Ghostery that blocks ads and trackers that transmit and receive user information. Using the browser’s own Content Blocker API, the extension discards content, cookies, and tracking scripts to cut down on the information Safari shares with other websites, without sacrificing performance.

You can customize Ghostery from the toolbar button by choosing either the default setting or individually blocking some ads while leaving others for sites you want to support. You can also use the extension to control analytics, audio or video players, adult content and more.

Translate

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Translate Safari extension

When you come across multi-lingual web content, it’s distracting not to be able to read it in context. Translate lets you translate pages from any language to any other language via either the Microsoft or Google Translate function. You can also choose from a host of other translation services via the toolbar button, contextual menu, or keyboard shortcut. nWithin the settings you can also choose whether to translate pages automatically or manually and choose to set up a preferred service region.

An updated Mac App Store version called TranslateMe costs $9.99.

Macworld