When comparing Pi-hole vs AdBlock Plus, the Slant community recommends Pi-hole for most people. In the question“What are the best ad blockers?” Pi-hole is ranked 5th while AdBlock Plus is ranked 21st.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro You can select a DNS like 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 and others
Pro Does not need a Pi
You can install this on any posix device that can run bash scripts eg your linux or unix server it also can run on windows with the subsystem for linux or with a docker container.
Pro Blocks ads for all network devices and browsers
No need to install blockers at the browser or OS level. Pi-hole works at the DNS (network) level so you only have to maintain and manage one authority.
Pro Frequent updates are easily applied
It takes one mouse-click to keep pi-hole updated and current with new blocked-site lists.
Pro Low-cost deployment
Installs on a $35 Raspberry PI SBC. Open-source software (donations accepted).
Pro Can whitelist blocked sites on the fly
If a blocked site comes up and pihole is set to display the block page, you can add it to the whitelist there and then.
Pro Can be used with a vpn from anywhere in the world
Pro Easy installer
It includes an easy shell installer.
Pro Regex blocking
Supports now regex blocking.
Pro Free & open source
Pro Blocks a wide selection of annoying ads
Video ads on YouTube, Facebook ads, flashy banners, pop-ups, pop-unders and much more.
Cons
Con Requires some advanced devOps skills
The tutorial and installation is pretty straight-forward but requires some technical chops to install. You should be comfortable with the Linux command line.
Con Can inadvertantly block sites that are required for other web-based services
For example, using pi-hole for websites that rely on 3rd-party sites can be broken by pi-hole if the 3P site references black-listed sites.
Con Unreliable because of Pi architecture
If you use it with a Pi, however, Pi-hole can run on any POSix device that can run curses like: Any Unix/Linux server, Windows servers with the Linux subsystem, routers, even toasters if they run on Linux.
Con Setup horror
Con Pages
It blocks the ads but doesn't delete the location of an ad.
Con Uses too much RAM
AdBlock+ tends to use a lot of memory, which has been documented in many use cases as well as admitted by AdBlock themselves. Considering there are alternatives out there that can block ads successfully with half the RAM usage as AdBlock, one has to wonder why this is a problem specific to AdBock.
Con Users automatically opted in to whitelist
AdBlock+ has an automatic whitelist when installed that allows certain advertisers through the blocking mechanism. The fact that these advertisers pay for this privilege makes this particular scenario rife with conflict of interest.