Ad Blocking & DNS Filtering

Why Self-Host Your Ad Blocking and DNS Filtering?

Browser-based ad blockers only protect individual devices and browsers. A self-hosted DNS-level ad blocker protects every device on your network — smartphones, smart TVs, IoT devices, and anything else that makes DNS queries — without installing software on each one. This is the difference between blocking ads in Chrome on your laptop and blocking telemetry from your smart refrigerator.

Pi-hole is the most widely deployed self-hosted DNS sinkhole, blocking ads and trackers by intercepting DNS requests before they leave your network. AdGuard Home provides similar functionality with a more modern interface and built-in support for DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS encryption. Technitium DNS Server is a full-featured authoritative and recursive DNS server with ad-blocking capabilities, suited for users who want complete DNS infrastructure control. Blocky offers a lightweight, configuration-file-driven alternative for those who prefer managing settings in YAML rather than web interfaces.

Multi-site management is where tools like AdGuardHome-Sync become essential — it synchronizes blocklists and settings across multiple AdGuard Home instances, keeping your DNS filtering consistent across locations. For mobile management, Pi-hole Client, Pi-hole Remote, AdGuard Home Manager, and AdGuard Home Remote provide iOS and Android interfaces to monitor queries and toggle filtering on the go. Gravity manages and optimizes blocklist updates for Pi-hole installations, ensuring your filter lists stay current without manual intervention.