Chrome extensions and Firefox add-ons are great to enhance an internet browser’s capabilities. Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey, available for both Chrome and Firefox, allow you to run custom user scripts that modify website behavior and appearance.
Greasemonkey is only available for Firefox while Tampermonkey is both available on Firefox and Chrome. There are some features you cannot find an extension to do, but you can choose from thousands of scripts. So, in this article, I will show you my top 16 Tampermonkey scripts that you should use.
Install and Use Tampermonkey
I use Chrome more often than Firefox, so I will take Tampermonkey as an example to show you how to install and use it. Once you install Tampermonkey on your web browser, there is a toggle on the address bar. You can use this toggle to turn its functionality off and on, check for updates, create your user script, and opens a dashboard where you manage the Tampermonkey settings and therefore the installed scripts.
To install Tampermonkey on Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Opera Next, visit the extension’s official website and follow the instructions specific to your browser. You can also refer to the video below to install and use Tampermonkey.
1: Local YouTube Downloader
You probably know many ways to download YouTube videos, but I guarantee you will like this one. With this script, it adds a download to every YouTube video you are watching without 3rd-party service, whether it is a private video or public video.
You can choose the video quality as high as 8K if available. Unlike other YouTube Downloader extensions, this script will automatically combine video and audio for very high quality YouTube videos. I think this is the best way to download private YouTube videos because you don’t have to share your login info to other programs or services.
Update: Combining video and audio may not work recently. In that case, you can click Show/Hide Links to download the video in your preferred quality.
2: Anti-Adblock Killer
You probably already have an adblocker program or extension to block ads. However, many websites either recommend or force you to disable ad-blocking programs. This Anti-Adblock Killer script overrides that restriction in some cases and allows your ad blocker to function needless to say. This is not a universal solution for all anti adblock, but I have tested it working with Hulu and a few other sites
3: Direct Links Out
Many websites display a warning and need user interaction once you click a link that redirects to a different site. This script disables that functionality on many popular domains, including Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
4: Lift Web Restrictions
This is an enormous userscript that improves the user experience on the web by installing modifications, hacks, new features, and other enhancements on hundreds of websites. It contains lots of features (in beta) such as automatic link redirection and bypassing of linkvertise, a fully functional MooMoo.io hack, a dark mode for Google Classroom, mass deletion of discord messages, the removal of ads from Baidu, the deactivation of Google Analytics, and a Facebook ad blocker, etc.
5: Instagram: Download Photo & Video
It adds a download button to every Instagram post. You can now view and download full-size images and videos from Instagram with one click. It is perfect for downloading private Instagram videos.
To my surprise, this script also works on iPhone. You can watch the video below to add it to Safari on iPhone. However, it does have support for Instagram stories.
6: Picviewer CE+
Picviewer CE+ is a powerful picture viewing tool online. It offers various features for pictures, such as popup, scale, rotate, batch save, load from next pages, search, and more. You can use customization options to enhance your browsing experience.
7: SoundCloud Downloader
As the other downloader script listed here, this SoundCloud Downloader adds a download button on the SoundCloud page. You can just click the download button to download any SoundCloud music directly.
8: Spotify Genius Lyrics
If you use Spotify web player and want to sing along with the lyrics, Spotify Genius Lyrics script is definitely for you. It shows the full Genius lyrics of the song that you are listening to. If you also want synced Spotify lyrics on Spotify app, you can check this post.
9: Login Reminder Popp Remover [Update Ceased]
This script allows you to browse Facebook, Reddit, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram without login. However, it is not perfect. It may not work on all pages or in all locations.
10: HTML5 video player enhanced script
This script supports all H5 video playback websites, full-length shortcut key control, supports double-speed playback / accelerated playback, video screenshots, picture-in-picture, full-page webpage, brightness, saturation, contrast, custom configuration enhancement, and other functions.
11: Disable YouTube Autopause userscript
Sometimes, you may get interrupted by the message, “Video paused. Continue watching?”, while playing YouTube videos. This userscript disables YouTube’s default autopause function, which pauses movies when you move tabs or minimize the window.
It disables the autopause event listeners, enabling videos to play in the background uninterrupted. It is useful for playing music, songs, lectures, and other stuff continuously. Once installed, it operates automatically; no setting is required.
12: IMDb Scout Mod
When you land on an IMDb title page, this script will search for the title on torrent, subtitles, streaming, and other sites. IMDb Scout Mod adds links to IMDb pages from hundreds of various sites. You can customize which sites to include in settings.
It also adds external ratings from Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd, Douban, etc. What’s more, it removes Ads and adds a Dark theme/style for Reference View. 13: Twitter Media Downloader
14: Simple YouTube Age Restriction Bypass
This allows you to watch all age-restricted videos on YouTube without needing to be signed in. Once installed, you don’t have to do anything. It just works like magic. You may also want to learn other ways to bypass YouTube age restriction.
15: M3U8 Video Detector and Downloader
Many websites serve videos and audio with HLS technology. In that case, you can use this M3U8 Video Detector and Downloader to detect the M3U8 URLs and download the media file. For example, I can use this script to download videos from Fmovies.
16: Userscript +
To help you find more useful userscripts, you should get this Userscript +. It shows all the available userscripts for the site you are viewing. You can simply click one to install it.
Find More Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey User Scripts
As you can see, Tampermonkey user scripts are very powerful. If you want to get more scripts, you can get started from these sites. Well, not every script works across all browsers, so verify the corresponding description and notes before installation.
Greasy Fork: Greasy Fork may be a terrific source for user scripts. It offers a rapidly growing compendium of over 10,000 scripts, a well-maintained and easy-to-use interface, and a lively forum.
OpenUserJS: OpenUserJS offers a good range of scripts. It provides a user-friendly repository with a continually expanding selection.
Github: You can search Github for scripts and install them with a click on the “Raw” button.
Use Tampermonkey on Android or iPhone
For iOS users, you can install the Userscripts extension for Safari to run any userscripts. Before the script does its magic, you should allow access to certain websites.
For Android users, you can download Firefox Nightly web browser. Within the browser, you can install the Tampermonkey add-on through my custom add-on collection. For details, you can check how to run Tampermonkey scripts on mobile.
Wrap up
These are my favorite 16 Tamoermonkey user scripts that certainly have made my life easier. Unlike Chrome extensions, user scripts have not been tested by Google or other official programs, so you use scripts at your own risk. The scripts listed here have a big user base and have proven to be relatively safe. However, there is no guarantee when it involves overall safety.
I hope you find them helpful as well. Now it is your turn. What’s your favorite user script? Leave your thoughts in the comments to help others.
very helpful
nice 🙂
I am personaily use tempermonkey after read your article it’s awosome
i am very thankful to you for this kind of information
keep it up
tysm, this is kinda helpful to be honest :).
Hmm,
Thanks for letting me know. I just updated the article. It is one man’s job. I will try my best to update all content and write something new.
It may be a good thing to be suspicious of everything on the internet. As for me, I trust all the open source projects.
Captcha link not working (file not found).
Google search buttons don’t do anything in Chrome 108.0.5359.72 (Official Build) (64-bit)
I’m suspicious of the Instagram script as it may steal your login & password info.
As others have said, most of the links either dead or the scripts are useless.
Observer,
The captcha script was working in earlier 2022 and there is a link to a post showing you how to add scripts to Safari in iOS.
Supposedly this list has been updated? Well, don’t believe it. The captcha script hasn’t worked in years.
Then there’s the lack of explanation how to exactly add a script to Safari in iOS. The most important script is in fact the one I’m using right now via an adblocker blocking all the ads and other nasties that want to run in the background.
Anyway, before you go and install any of the scripts recommended, be skeptical, very skeptical they in fact have been updated and actually work. Most importantly, assume each and every script recommended here is malicious.
A lot of these have been deleted.
Thanks
Thank you so much!
thank you!
Nice scripts…. there are 3 that I really needed or could use at the moment… 👍👍👍💯💯💯😎😎👌👌