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UBlock Origin
uBlock Origin on Firefox
Still the most complete browser blocker, and Firefox is now where it runs in full, on desktop and on Android alike. It ships with sensible filter lists switched on, stays light on memory and processor time, and lets anyone who wants more add lists, pick page elements to hide or block scripts site by site. Housemates can ignore all of that: installed with its defaults, it simply works.
The catch is the browser. With Chrome's Manifest V2 shutdown, the full extension lost its Chrome Web Store listing, so anyone tied to Chrome needs the Lite version instead. It is free and open source and asks for no donations.
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UBlock Origin
uBlock Origin Lite, the Manifest V3 version
The honest answer for Chrome and Edge users now that the full extension is gone from Chrome. It filters declaratively, so no background process runs while you browse, and its default rules cover uBlock Origin's own filters plus EasyList, EasyPrivacy and Peter Lowe's list. Ads and the common trackers still disappear on most sites.
It is not the full uBlock Origin. The browser's newer extension rules allow dynamic filtering only in part, and generic cosmetic cleanup needs the Complete mode. Custom filters and outside list subscriptions became available in June 2026, which closes much of the gap. Versions also exist for Firefox and Safari.
More about UBlock Origin3
Privacy Badger
A tracker blocker rather than an ad blocker, and that is the point. Made by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, it watches for third parties following you from site to site and learns to block them, topped up by periodic learning updates so it does not start from zero. Ads that do not track you are left alone, which keeps it friendly to sites that rely on ordinary advertising.
It also swaps embedded social buttons and similar widgets for click-to-activate placeholders, so nothing reports back until you choose to load it. It pairs well with uBlock Origin Lite on Chrome, and a site that misbehaves can have it switched off for that site alone. Available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Brave and Safari.
More about Privacy Badger4
Ghostery
The easiest one-install answer for a housemate who hates cookie banners as much as ads. Ghostery blocks ads, trackers and popups, and its Never-Consent feature answers consent banners for you by refusing tracking, which removes a daily chore that ad blockers alone leave behind.
Its tracker panel shows which trackers each page tried to load and which were stopped, a good way to make the problem visible to someone skeptical. Every feature is free with no subscription, the code is open source, and it runs in Chrome, Edge, Opera, Firefox and the other major browsers. Power users will miss uBlock Origin's fine controls, but that is exactly why it suits everyone else.
More about Ghostery5
Wipr 2
The Safari blocker to install on an iPhone belonging to someone who will never open its settings. Setup is a matter of switching it on, after which it blocks ads, popups, trackers and cookie warnings, and its blocklist refreshes itself twice a week.
One purchase covers iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro, with no subscription required; it is listed at $4.99 in the US store, and tips are optional. Like any Safari content blocker it cleans up Safari and the in-app browser windows built on it, not the apps themselves, so pair it with a blocking DNS service for whole-phone coverage.
More about Wipr 26
1Blocker
The Safari blocker for the person in the house who wants control. Where Wipr 2 hides its machinery, 1Blocker lets you write your own rules, blocking any address by regular expression or hiding any page element by CSS, and its 100,000-plus rules all run locally on the device.
The free version lets you turn on only one category, such as ads alone, so the full tracker and annoyance coverage means paying. US pricing is $2.99 a month, $14.99 a year or $39.99 for a lifetime purchase, which is steep next to Wipr 2 but buys real tuning for the sites that break. It covers iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro.
More about 1Blocker7
AdGuard
AdGuard for Android
The strongest whole-phone blocker on Android, because it filters apps and games as well as browsers. It does this by launching a small VPN server on the phone itself, so it works without rooting the device.
Two catches matter before handing it to a housemate. Google Play does not carry it, so it installs from AdGuard's site as an APK or from the Samsung Galaxy, Huawei AppGallery or Xiaomi stores. And app filtering is a paid feature after a 14-day trial; the free version cannot filter apps. For a phone where sideloading is a step too far, a blocking DNS service set in Android's Private DNS setting covers much of the same ground with nothing to install.
More about AdGuard8
NextDNS
The pick for blocking everywhere without running any hardware. Point a phone, laptop or router at your NextDNS profile and every app using it gets the same ad and tracker blocklists, updated in real time; on the router, that reaches smart TVs that take their DNS from it. Native Tracking Protection adds lists aimed at trackers built into devices.
The real-time logs are the quiet winner: when a housemate's app breaks, you can find the blocked domain and allow it. The free plan covers 300,000 queries a month, which a busy household can pass; after that it keeps resolving like an ordinary DNS service, without blocking. The paid Pro plan lifts that cap for a small monthly or yearly fee; both plans cover unlimited devices.
More about NextDNS9
AdGuard DNS
The zero-account option. AdGuard's public Default servers block ads, tracking and phishing for anything you point at them, and there is nothing to sign up for. On an Android phone, typing dns.adguard-dns.com into the Private DNS setting covers every app on the device, which makes it the easiest whole-phone fix to set up for a relative.
The trade-off is control: the public servers use AdGuard's own choice of blocking, and you get no allowlist or query log of your own, so a broken app means switching DNS off rather than unblocking one domain. Families can swap to the Family servers instead, and the private, account-based version adds per-device settings when you outgrow the public one.
More about AdGuard DNS10
Pi-hole
The classic way to clean up a whole household, smart TVs and connected gadgets included. Pi-hole runs as the DNS server for your network on a Raspberry Pi, an old PC, a virtual machine or a NAS, and blocks ads in places no browser extension can reach, such as mobile apps, TVs and IoT devices, with nothing installed on any of them.
Its dashboard shows which devices are looking up which domains, which makes a chatty smart TV easy to spot. The cost is that you now run a small server, and if it goes down, so does name lookup for every device using it. DNS blocking also cannot remove ads served from the same domain as the video, so YouTube ads get through.
More about Pi-hole11
AdGuard Home
Pi-hole's closest rival, and the better choice if you want encrypted DNS without bolting on extra software. AdGuard Home can send its own lookups upstream over DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS or DNSCrypt, and can serve DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS to your devices itself, all built in. Parental control for adult domains is included too, where Pi-hole needs extra blocklists.
Like Pi-hole it covers every device on the network, smart TVs included, with nothing installed on them, and it shares the same blind spot for ads served from the same domain as the content. It is free and open source and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, so a spare computer is enough.
More about AdGuard Home
