Hey folks, I just realized my pihole server, running on a Ras Pi 3 needs to be rebuilt from scratch. I’ve seen many mentions of AdGuard DNS here though. What’s your thinking on which is better now?
We’re a small family, looking for a basic ad blocking, set it and forget it, solution.
EDIT: I’d prefer the software be open source.
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i switched from pihole to adguard because adguard is bsd compatible and runs on my opnsense router. for linux, the main benefit of adguard is that it is a self-contained app-image. pihole is a bit of a mess of packages that it installs (if installing on pc rather than a pi) , rather than being part of a distribution’s native ports. upgrading adguard is also trivial.
I use both. For most of the time I use AdGuard, with the same block lists I use in Pi-Hole. The reason for this is I can set it up on devices and use it everywhere, not just at home. This is very easy on both iOS and Android. I also have my home router setup to use AdGuard. My electricity provider has more small outages than I would like which caused issues when things tried to come back online.
I use my Pi-Hole for my VPN which has a dedicated IP address. So when I’m out of the house working I can use the VPN and still take advantage of the Pi-Hole.
I’ve run a Pi-Hole for years, and AdGuard for the past year or so. Honestly, I’ve had zero issues with AdGuard and it requires zero maintenance. The Pi-Hole I still have to update and apply patches, to Pi-Hole and the OS. It’s not a big deal, but AdGuard is set it and forget it.
Just my experience.
I’ve not used anything other than pihole (and browser adblocks), so I can’t speak on them. But pihole seems to do well for me. Granted I do have a bigger Blocklist than what ships. ~1.6 million domains. Some custom to my environment. Also using Wireguard so the blocking happens on smartphones while not at home.
I’ve got Wireguard set up too, for when I’m out of the house. Works really well.
Same; with Tasker tasks setup to automatically enable/disable when I join or leave the home WIFI. Literally set it and forget it.
With so many people complaining about installing/upgrading pihole… Does no-one else use Docker for pihole?
I did, but still encountered issues with the databases going read-only meaning I couldn’t whitelist without going into the container and chown/chmodding them before restarting it.
Yeah the issues are literally why containers are useful.
If you care about DoT or DoH Adguard Home will support it out of the box (which is why I use it)
you can make pi-hole also support DoH/DoT albeit little bit more complicated with an extra service like stubby/unboundotherwise it really doesn’t matter, both are open source and easy to setup for unencrypted dns requests
When I saw that there was a pihole update to a new major version I got so excited hoping it would finally support DoH or DoT - nope. So disappointed.
Sticking with Adguard then.
They’re both good at what they do. Personally I switched from pihole to adguard, only because adguard let’s you use wildcard domains. This lets me point all of *.mydomain.com to one IP address.
PiHole is a pain in the ass to install in x86 Arch Linux, so I installed Technitium on my old laptop to be my home DNS server.
I have a laptop at my home that I use as a VPN exit node from Tailscail, and I installed Technitium there, to works also as a ad blocker. Really sweet to my needs.
It works pretty well
+1 for the Technitium DNS server. I run it in Docker on a pi4 because I need a proper local dns server first that does DoH and ad and tracker blocking second. It does the latter just as well as pihole and adguard with support for many more list formats but pihole and adguard do dns just on a really basic level.
Installing pihole on raspbian ‘just works’ but OK.
Does it include filter lists and do those get auto-updated like pihole? What about whitelists and blacklists?
Yes, it does.
Actually with Technitium you can add a list from the internet, so it’s always up-to-date with the deny list you want… And yes, it does have whitelist and blacklist. Is a pretty complete DNS server
AdguardHome has those features as well. What made you choose Technitium over AdguardHome?
I didn’t know AdGuardHome while back when I was looking for a PiHole alternative. That’s why I chose Technitium over AdGuardHome
Neither. Nextdns can block ads plus much more.
That’s what I’ve been using too. You can combine them to have a local dns with more restrictions too.
Personally I just run named/bind for my local(lab) dns with NextDNS as the forwarders. Everything else use uses their app and/or gets the resolved configured to use it. Keeps everything safe and fast. Well worth a small fee imho.
Highly recommend NextDNS!!!
And much more? Can you elaborate on how NextDNS does “much more” than PiHole? PiHole is a DNS server, not an adblocker, though most people use it in that capacity.
NextDNS is also a DNS server. It is a much more robust service but it is not self-hosted.
I use it because it’s insanely easy to use and isn’t limited to my own network. For internal DNS I use PowerDNS with NextDNS upstream. Since I have 6 users and 4 servers (3 of which are VM hosts) I pay for it, but most home users would never need to.
Check it out, NextDNS.io
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I stopped using PiHole, or more accurately, it stopped working with my router after my provider, TalkTalk UK, updated the firmware. I didn’t want to invest a lot of time finding a workaround so went back to application layer processes like uBlock Origin, etc.
I’d be interested to hear from people who have something working with a Sagecom Fast 5364. I imagine it’s possible to configure it as modem only and leave routing duties to a Pi.
I’ve never used AdGuard, and I don’t know exactly what the ease-of-use is or how configurable it is, but I think that Pi-Hole is a better option nonetheless. It’s built by the community instead of a corporation, and likely has more/better documentation than its peers.
They both do about the same thing, so whichever one you like the interface on better.
I went from pihole to adguard home for the native DoH/DoT, but it had a broken upgrade not too long ago that prevented it from running.
I ran Pihole for many years, but a few months ago moved my home to Adguard. Both as docker.
My main issue with Pihole was that the database get going readonly which prevented my from whitelisting domains. It got progressivly more irritating when a 10 second operation would take a quarter of an hour and this randomly happened over at least two of those years with seemingly increasing frequency. A secondary reason was curiosity - what does Adguard do differently?
Piece of cake to set Adguard up in docker - even though I have two servers running with primary/secondary failover. In terms of features, it “just works”. User experience is identical. The lists seem equally as effective. Adding a local dns entry was a little more complicated, but not difficult by any means.
Is pihole bad? No, it’s great. I don’t think many other people encounter my specific issues.
Is Adguard better? Not by any massive margin. Both do what they claim to do without fuss.
Is browsing the internet without either of them considerably more awful? Yes.
I’m using nextDNS so I can have it outside of home too. If you want someone to use on your phones when you’re away from home wifi, I’d give that or AdGuard a try. But PiHole is easy to do for home in an SBC or container.
I use PiHole away from home easily with a VPN…
Yup, you can do this pretty easily. But I didn’t want the added latency of another hop wherever I’m on cell service.
I’ve been running pihole for nearly 2 years now and it’s been great, it’s automatic integration with PiVPN being a nice bonus
Adguard is a little more refined imho.
Ran pinhole for ages and used scripts to update it.
Adguard, everything is built into the UI. Although custom rules for certain clients are a little hard in Adguard.
Now I have a dual system.
Adguard is a secondary and DoH as my primary. That way I have DNS services regardless of if the internet is up or down.
