Difference between Multi-Account Containers extension, Facebook Container extension, and the built-in Container Tabs features?

[lgcvsa]

Can someone please explain to me why there are three different codebases that all seem to be doing the same thing in Firefox, but slightly differently?

First there is the Facebook Container extension, which it seems has no been updated in 2.5 years.

Then there is the Container Tabs feature built-in to Firefox.

Then there is the Multi-Account Containers extension.

It seems to me that these are all somewhat redundant and overlapping efforts, and that it very confusing for users. Are all of these codebases actually recommended? Are some of the deprecated? If so, why aren't they marked as such and/or made unavailable? Is there only one of these that I should be using? Can I or should I be using them all at the same time?

[krc]

I know this a bit older question, but in case they are still wondering, or if others end up here wondering the same thing...

To my understanding (as a random user) the container tabs functionality built into FF is what the other two are built on. FB container extension focuses on automatically isolating FB/Meta as that is a common specific privacy concern of users. Multi-Account Containers focus on providing more features/control/UI to the Container Tabs.

As far as I know, both the extensions are not privileged in any way, anyone else could build the same/similar extensions based on Container Tabs.

I could be wrong about this, but if I am right, it isn't really a duplication of code or effort.

The "recommended" badge is kinda not a great name, it doesn't mean Mozilla or FF recommend installing them, it means they have had some extra scrutiny of code quality and similar by Mozilla staff, and code written by them naturally gets that badge by default.

I think you can use the FB container extension and Multi-account containers at the same time, but if you add site rules around FB domains, they may conflict with the other extension. Probably best not to use both.

If you want to set and forget and mostly only worry about FB, just use that. Otherwise just use Multi-account containers, and create an FB container and force all FB and Meta domain into it, and set the option to only cover those domains, and you largely have recreated the FB-specific extension.