Home » Internet » 10 Best Dark Mode Chrome Extensions to Enable Dark Reader

10 Best Dark Mode Chrome Extensions to Enable Dark Reader

by Sudip

Having dark mode in the Google Chrome browser can help you read more web pages with less eye strain than in light mode/theme. If you spend countless time browsing the internet and Google Chrome is your go-to browser, these dark mode Chrome extensions can help you improve reading experience. Although it is possible to enable dark mode in Chrome for web content, having an extension can provide more flexibility.

Best Dark Mode Chrome Extensions

This list has plenty of extensions that have different options for different purposes. Have a good look at all of them before choosing one.

1. Dark Mode

Dark Mode is a basic yet handy extension to enable dark mode in Google Chrome. Although it turns on a dark theme on websites, there is a significant disadvantage of using this extension. It enables dark mode only on some predefined and popular websites like Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, Google search page, etc. In other words, if you want to read TechWiser in the dark mode in Chrome, unfortunately, you can’t do that.

dark mode settings in chrome

Using this extension is easy as it doesn’t believe in complexity, I guess, and that is why it comes with only two buttons – on and off. Each time you toggle those buttons, you must have to reload the page.

Highlights:

  • Extremely basic and easy to use
  • Enables dark mode only on a specific website
  • No additional options or features

Get Dark Mode for Chrome

2. Nightfall

Nightfall is almost identical to Dark Mode as both offer dark themes only for a specific list of sites put in by the respective developers. However, Nightfall is a better dark mode Chrome extension than Dark Mode as it inverts colors better than that. It works almost flawlessly on Google Docs, Facebook, Wikipedia, etc. However, you might get issues using it on YouTube.

nightfall dark mode chrome extensions settings

It comes with an additional option allowing users to disable dark mode on a specific website. For that, you can click on the extension icon after visiting the website and click the Add to blocklist button.

Highlights:

  • Easy to use – no fancy feature
  • Works only on a specific website
  • Some options on YouTube might look weird
  • Disable dark mode on a particular website

Get Nightfall for Chrome

3. Dark Mode Chrome

Dark mode Chrome is yet another Chrome extension to activate dark mode on all websites at once. Enabling dark mode in Chrome is just one click away followed by adding it to the browser. However, it doesn’t allow users to turn on/off dark mode on a specific website.

turn on dark mode using dark mode chrome extension

If you want to enable dark mode on any website, open it first, and click the respective extension icon. As the color contrast is lighter than the actual dark mode, it creates a better reading environment.

Highlights:

  • One-click enable/disable
  • No option to turn on/off dark mode on a specific website
  • No option to customize

Get Dark Mode Chrome for Chrome

4. Night Mode for YouTube

As the name says, you can enable night mode or dark mode on YouTube with the help of this extension. If you are a YouTube video creator and often spend time reading/replying to tons of comments, this extension can help you get rid of eye strain to some point.

enable dark mode on youtube using chrome extension

To turn on the dark theme on YouTube, open the website, and click on the extension icon. It is as simple as said.

Highlights:

  • Only for YouTube
  • One-click enable/disable
  • No option to adjust brightness and contrast

Get Night Mode for YouTube for Chrome

5. Charcoal

Charcoal lets you enable dark mode on Facebook Messenger. If you spend a lot of time replying to Facebook messages, Charcoal can help you get dark reader mode. The only problem with this extension is that it doesn’t enable a dark theme when you click the Messenger icon on the Facebook website. However, you can find the dark mode on the messenger.com website, a dedicated website to manage Facebook messages.

enable dark mode on messenger using chrome extension

Highlights:

  • Works only on messenger.com website
  • Three modes – Charcoal, deep blue, and midnight
  • One-click enable/disable
  • No additional option

Get Charcoal for Chrome

6. Dark Mode on Chrome

It is another basic extension to turn on dark mode in Chrome browser. Unlike some extensions, you can enable dark mode across all the sites at once. However, if you already have some tabs opened, you have to reload the page to get dark mode. Although it doesn’t work well with Facebook, you may not find problems while using it on a regular website. As it doesn’t have an on/off button, a single click on the corresponding extension icon does the job for you. There is no way to whitelist or blacklist sites.

activate dark mode on chrome

Highlights:

  • Single-click to turn on/off dark mode
  • No option to customize the brightness
  • No blacklist/whitelist
  • Doesn’t work well on Facebook.com
  • Works well on regular blogs

Get Dark Mode on Chrome for Chrome

7. Sauron

Most dark mode extensions do not change the brightness automatically unless it has a dedicated option to adjust. However, Sauron can dim images, which makes or breaks the overall night mode reading experience in Chrome. In other words, even if a webpage doesn’t have dark mode screenshots/images, you can decrease the brightness of all images at once. You can create a whitelist to disable Sauron on specific websites. The most essential or time-saving feature is scheduling. It implies that you can turn on or off dark mode at a predefined time.

sauron chrome extension settings panel

Highlights:

  • Whitelist website to disable dark mode
  • Schedule
  • Dim images
  • Minimal options to set things up

Get Sauron for Chrome

Read: 20+ Popular Android Apps With Dark Mode

8. My Dark Reader

My Dark Reader is primarily built for people who spend a lot of time reading content on various websites. It comes with all the essential options that you might need. For example, auto mode timing, whitelist, custom brightness, etc., are available in the options panel. To use the Chrome extension, you can visit a website and click on the My Dark Reader icon. Apart from that, you can tweak the brightness (overall, including image) using the corresponding bar.

my dark reader chrome extension settings

Highlights:

  • Turn on dark mode at a predefined time
  • Whitelist website to disable dark mode
  • One-click enable/disable
  • Dedicated panel to manage settings

Get My Dark Reader for Chrome

9. Lunar Reader

Lunar Reader also enables night shift in Google Chrome. Having so many options can consume more time than usual to set it up. However, once you are done with the setting, it is easy to use keyboard shortcuts to get all the basic jobs done on Windows and Mac. You can schedule dark mode and night shift so that it turns on automatically at a predefined time. On the other hand, it is possible to adjust brightness and contrast, allowing you to set a custom environment according to your requirements.

lunar reader chrome extension settings

Highlights:

  • Takes time to customize all options
  • Keyboard shortcut to enable/disable dark mode
  • Custom brightness and contrast
  • Night shift
  • Grayscale
  • Whitelist and Blacklist

Get Lunar Reader for Chrome

10. Dark Reader

Dark Reader is one of the best Google Chrome extensions to enable dark mode on all webpages at once. Apart from some browser-protected pages (Settings page, Chrome Web Store, etc.), you can have dark mode enabled for all the other pages without any problem. The best thing about this extension is that you can quickly turn on the dark mode using a keyboard shortcut (Mac: Shift+Option+A, Windows: Alt+Shift+D).

dark reader chrome extension

The next handy feature is the brightness and contrast control. In other words, you can adjust the brightness and contrast of your dark and light mode, which helps you get a better reading environment while being in a low light area.

Highlights:

  • Keyboard shortcut
  • Custom brightness and contrast
  • Custom theme for a specific website
  • Automatically turn on dark mode at a preset time
  • Import/Export settings to apply on multiple devices

Get Dark Reader for Chrome

Wrapping Up: Dark Mode Chrome Extensions

The latest version of Windows and macOS offer options to enable dark theme system-wide, which may/may not turn on dark mode in Google Chrome. Instead of relying on those options, you can use a dark mode extension in Chrome to get your job done. If you do not have much time in hand, you can choose something simple. However, it is recommended to have a look at Dark Reader, My Dark Reader, and Lunar Reader once. They offer many options, but they work seamlessly once you are done setting them up.

Read: How to Get Dark Mode on WhatsApp for Android

You may also like