Can you (or someone next to you) verify that with ChromeVox off/classic, this doesn't happen?

Is there a way to only run Next code and not have Classic at all?

No, but I think Next probably uses more memory, or rather Chrome uses more memory when Next is running.

My understanding was that NExt was to be better at resource management and performance compared to Classic? I recall being able to have 40-50 tabs on Win7+FIrefox+NVDA on a dual-core 4 GB laptop...

20 tabs on Pixel 2:
1. No a11y/cvox: 6 GB RAM
2. ChromeVox Classic: 9 GB RAM
3. Next: 14 GB RAM

Right now performance (speed) is a higher priority than minimizing memory usage. Memory usage will get a lot better once we finish migration and delete the Classic code, since right now it loads the Classic content script on every page still, even if it's not used.

Performance (speed) seems to be a direct correlation of the amount of ram being used. I also am running Chrome OS on a Pixel 2 with 16 GB of RAM, and more often than I would like, I am running into web apps that hang. I don't understand all that goes into this, but it seems to me like there ought to be a way to test CVox Next without also running classic to see if the performance degredation is a direct result of running both or not, and how much memory next uses independently. When measuring speed, I am able to achieve faster speeds when navigating a site such as Facebook or Twitter, and even when traversing many messages in Inbox/Gmail by using Firefox or Chrome and NVDA on Windows than with Chrome OS and CVox next. I am glad to see that this thread is generating some thought and comments as to the best way to implement this, but from an end user perspective, I would love to be able to test the performance gains that might be afforded with next as opposed to having both next and classic running if at all possible. If there are technical limitations for why this can't be done, I understand that too, but this would be very helpful in day-to-day browsing. And, as this thread indicates, there is no reason why 20 tabs ought to be maxing out the Pixel with its great hardware.

THe excessive resource usage results in significant battery drainage. 
Pixel 2 is rated at 12 hours battery life, but I'm lucky if I get 5 hours.

With one tab open, I was at 39% SPU usage.

Performance has improved in M55, as I've been able to use 20-25 tabs without Samus freezing/crashing.

I've also been getting ~9 hours battery life, so I think it's safe for this bug to be closed.
Tested on both M54 DEv and M55 vCanary channels on Samus.
Please close. Thanks!

as per #13