Opera is the first graphical browser to be written entirely from scratch, without borrowing old code from the obsolete Mosaic browser (as Microsoft did for Internet Explorer). It is fast, stable, and supports multiple windows and a compact e-mail client. It's my default browser both for Windows and Macintosh. (You can also get it for Linux, OS/2, BeOS, Solaris, and other systems.) The free version of Opera displays banner ads. The ad-free version costs $39 ($20 for educational use).
When Netscape lost the browser war to Microsoft, it gave away the source code to its Navigator browser. People volunteered to continue developing the browser under its code name, Mozilla, and to keep it in the public domain forever. The project has amounted to a complete redesign, eliminating the notorious quirks while conforming to new web standards. It's still a work in progress, but the final release of Mozilla 1.0 is only weeks away. Mozilla is free.
By the way, Netscape 6 is based on the Mozilla project. Unlike older Netscape browsers, this one is in sync with modern web standards. Problems with the first releases have been resolved, so it’s now safe to try it.
The Mac-only iCab browser has a built-in HTML validator and supports the LINK tags ignored by most others. It's very fast and has the best printing interface of any browser, but its CSS and scripting support are still sketchy. iCab is free.
Some Windows-only browsers, such as CrystalPort, Enigma, NeoPlanet, NetCaptor, and the homely Oligo, are actually just redesigned front-ends for the Internet Explorer software engine. Each has features unavailable in Internet Explorer. All of them display banner ads. Ad-free versions of CrystalPort, NetCaptor, or Oligo are available for $29.95. Enigma "Gold Edition" is $20.
What about the rest? Almost every browser that has ever existed has been archived at the evolt.org website. If you want to see how far we've come, take a look at Cello.
https://www.angelfire.com/al4/rob/class/apps/up2date.html