This page is just a place for me to keep track of comparative memory usage over time. Screenshot before/after reference benchmark. The memory was garbage collected before taking the screenshots. Forcing memory garbage collection occurred by leaving the browser idle for more than 1 minute, then the dev console of each extension opened, Timeline tab, then clicked twice on the trash can icon.

• Chromium 39.0.2171.65 64-bit (Linux)
• uBlock Origin (uBO) 0.8.2.2
• AdBlock 2.15
• Adblock Plus (ABP) 1.8.8
• Adguard AdBlocker 1.0.3.8

Before benchmark started:

After benchmark completed:

Observations during benchmark:

• ABP/AdBlock/Adguard are CPU intensive. uBO consistently shows at most low single-digit CPU usage, other blockers are most often showing double-digit CPU usage, and sometimes in the high double-digit range.

Settings:

• uBO 0.8.2.2: EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Peter Lowe's, Fanboy’s Social Blocking List‎, all malware lists (3). Launched with a valid selfie (less memory churning at launch).
• AdBlock 2.15: AdBlock custom filters, EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Peter Lowe's, Fanboy’s Social Blocking List‎, Malware protection.
• ABP 1.8.5: EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Peter Lowe's, Fanboy’s Social Blocking List‎, Malware Domains. Acceptable ads disabled.
• Adguard AdBlocker 1.0.3.8: English filters, Spyware filter, Peter Lowe's, Social media filter‎, Phishing and malware protection. Allow acceptable ads disabled.
• Browser's Click-to-play enabled
• Browser's Block third-party cookies and site data checked

Notes:

• Users should mind privacy issues raised when enabling AdGuard's Malware/phishing protection.

• Chromium 37.0.2062.94 64-bit (Linux)
• uBO v 0.6.2.1
• AdBlock 2.7.13
• ABP 1.8.5
• Ghostery 5.4.0
• Disconnect 5.18.15

Before benchmark started:

After benchmark completed:

Observations during benchmark:

• AdBlock is very CPU intensive. ABP also, although to a lesser degree compared to AdBlock.

Settings:

• uBO v 0.6.2.1: EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Peter Lowe's, Fanboy’s Social Blocking List‎, all malware lists (3). Launched with a valid selfie (less memory churning at launch).
• AdBlock 2.7.13: AdBlock custom filters, EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Fanboy’s Social Blocking List‎, Malware protection.
• ABP 1.8.5: EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Fanboy’s Social Blocking List‎, Malware Domains. Acceptable ads disabled.
• Ghostery 5.4.0: Blocking all trackers. Ghostrank not selected. Alert bubble disabled.
• Disconnect 5.18.15: Default settings.

Notes:

I chose not to benchmark AdGuard, because of the privacy issues when enabling Malware/phishing protection.