Current versions of K-Meleon use the Goanna layout engine, a fork of Gecko created for the browser Pale Moon.

K-Meleon supports macros, which are small browser extensions that users can examine, write, or edit in a text editor.

[7] Thibault designed K-Meleon to combine Gecko with native Windows interface elements, an approach that was less resource-intensive and allowed the browser to blend into its environment.

[12] Thibault handed the project over to new developers,[13] including Brian Harris, Sebastian Spaeth, Jeff Doozan, and Ulf Erikson,[1] who began implementing browser functions through modular Kplugins.

[18][19] Early reviews described K-Meleon as small, fast, limited, and visually similar to Internet Explorer.

[20][21] To create a stand-alone browser, the Galeon project embedded Mozilla's rendering engine.

[26] K-Meleon was smaller and more closely integrated into the Windows desktop than Mozilla's browser, and could use the native bookmarking system to access Internet Explorer's favorites.

[27] Despite AOL disbanding upstream parent company Netscape in 2003, the development of K-Meleon continued.

[33] K-Meleon 1.0 maintained support for its existing system of text-based configuration files and introduced a new graphical interface to change preferences from within the browser.

Due to accusations of abusing its market position to promote Internet Explorer, Microsoft introduced a browser ballot in the European Economic Area (EEA).

[38] By 2010, it offered Windows users a choice of the 12 most popular web browsers, including K-Meleon.

[39] In 2011, Mozilla ended support for embedding the Gecko layout engine; because K-Meleon had previously relied on this API, the browser's future became uncertain.

[47][31] Outside the new engine, version 74 brought small improvements, including better CPU use and minor bug fixes.

[49][50] Boissonnade began work on version 76 but suffered a hard disk drive failure during beta testing.

[51] Active development on K-Meleon takes place using Goanna,[52] a fork of Gecko created for the browser Pale Moon.

[56] K-Meleon on Goanna remains compatible with deprecated versions of Windows and can run with smaller amounts of RAM than those required by mainstream web browsers.

[58] By default, the browser is a multi-lingual portable application that can directly run from the host computer or removable media.

program could be written in K-Meleon's macro language that would pop up a small window with the message "Hello world!".

[70][71] Because of its flexibility, K-Meleon was useful for environments in which the browser needed to be customized for public use, such as libraries and Internet cafés.

[76][e] The latest major browser releases to support these operating systems are Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 (2014),[78] Google Chrome 49.0.2623.112 (2016),[79] and Mozilla Firefox 52.9.0 (2018).

[19] K-Meleon 74 can access secure websites on Windows 2000 using an old version of the Goanna engine combined with up-to-date ciphers.