How to block ads on every device at home

Start with your browser, because it's free and takes a minute. If you also want ads and trackers blocked on phones, smart TVs and other devices where you can't install a blocker, run Pi-hole or AdGuard Home on a small always-on computer at home.

Step one: a browser that blocks by default

Brave blocks third-party ads and trackers out of the box with its Shields feature. It's free and open source; paid extras such as its VPN are optional. Firefox, from Mozilla, has tracker and fingerprinting blocking built in and runs on every major desktop and phone system.

A browser only protects itself. Apps on your phone, your TV and anything else on the network are still untouched.

Step two: block at the network

Pi-hole and AdGuard Home work as your home's DNS server, the service devices ask to turn a web address into a location. When a device asks for a known ad or tracker address, the blocker refuses to answer, so the ad never loads. Every device on the network is covered without installing anything on it. Ads that come from the same address as the content itself can't be told apart this way, so some still get through.

Both are free and open source. You need a computer that stays on, such as a Raspberry Pi, a home server or a NAS that runs Docker, and you point your router's DNS setting at it.

Pi-hole

Pi-hole runs on Linux or in Docker, with a web dashboard that shows every lookup and what was blocked. It needs a fixed IP address on your network, which you can set as a reservation in your router. It's maintained by volunteers and funded by donations.

AdGuard Home

AdGuard Home does the same job and adds encrypted DNS (DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS), different settings for each device, parental controls and safe search. The official installers cover Linux and macOS; on Windows it's only available through a third-party package.

Our Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home comparison goes through the differences in detail. If you want encrypted DNS or per-device rules without extra setup, AdGuard Home is the easier start.

If something stops working

Now and then a blocker catches an address a site needs, such as a shopping link or a login page. Both dashboards let you allow a single address in a few clicks, and you can switch blocking off for a few minutes while you check.