Ad blockers are one of the best ways to help secure your privacy online, reduce clutter on websites, and avoid spyware-infected ads. Although it’s certainly possible to find a paid ad blocking software, there’s no reason to spend money on one. Most of the best ad blockers are completely free to use. This list of the best free ad blockers includes a mixture of highly effective tools for Chrome, Firefox, and more.
The best free ad blockers
From our research, the best free ad blockers are:
Save 80% on Total AdBlock here
- Adblocker Ultimate – Best all-around ad blocker on the market
- Stands Fair Adblocker – Ethically-centered ad blocker with favorable whitelisting features
- Total AdBlock – Offers a free trial for ad-blocking via Chrome extension, iOS, or Android, and includes a complete antivirus tool as a bonus
- AdLock – A great free ad blocker which works well across all devices.
- AdBlock Plus – Carries a useful element blocking feature to extend its usefulness
- Poper Blocker – Provides a distinct focus on removing overlay ads
- AdGuard – Excellent ad blocker, but no longer always free
- Trustnav Adblocker – Blocks most ads and is excellent when combined with its antivirus tool
- NoScript – Technical-level ad blocking for Firefox users (and only Firefox)
- Opera Browser – One of the best built-in ad blockers of any browser
Ad blockers are the obvious solution to removing unwanted ads on the web. Paid ad blockers are typically the best option if you want something that works the best, but many free ad blockers might just get the job done for you.
Below, you’ll find our detailed overview of the best free ad blockers available. No ad blocker is perfect, however, so you’ll find you may need to try out multiple options to find the right fit.
Note: If all you’re looking to do is get rid of annoying pop-up advertisements, check out our guide on the best popup ad blockers.
Best Ad Blockers- Browser plugins and apps
Your best ad blocking option is to install a browser plugin or utilize a web browser that already has a built-in blocker. Browser plugins or built-in ad blockers can interact with the websites you’re using much more accurately than a standalone program operating on your computer in the background.
1. Adblocker Ultimate
Another open-source project, AdBlocker Ultimate is good at removing most ads you might come across. In testing, it was able to dispel ads on YouTube and most display ads on various sites we tested. This ad blocker is also widely used and highly rated. It has 4.8 out of 5 from Google Chrome users, and over 800,000 installs.
When we first tested this product, it struggled with a few ad types. Since then, and after a retest of all the tools on this list, we’re inclined to give this one a perfect score thanks to how vastly it’s improved its blocking capabilities.
Score: 7/7
Pros:
- Exceptional ad blocking across all types of ads
- Free for all time
- Windows app available for ad blocking across all apps
- Tool for blocking individual website elements
- Extensive support for a large number of web browsers
Cons:
- None. This is the single best tool on the market
Works with: Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, Windows, Android, iOS
2. Stands Fair AdBlocker
This Chrome-only ad blocker is a low-impact plugin that does exactly what it’s intended to do. You can block all types of ads using this plugin, with the most obvious limitation being that it’s only available as a Chrome addon. The Stands Fair AdBlocker is not designed for wholesale ad blocking, although you can use it for that. The company believes in fair advertising and encourages users to whitelist certain ads from different sites.
Thankfully, Stands lives up to its promise of blocking ads. That included the more aggressive advertisements found on Orlando Sentinel, as well as other display ads, autoplay video ads, and ads on YouTube.
Highly flexible blocking settings
Blocks all types of online advertisements
Completely and always free to use
Effective whitelisting features
Only works on Chrome
Works with: Chrome
3. Total Adblock
Total Adblock is the only option on our list that is not free. However, you can get this high-powered adblocking tool with a hefty introductory discount. This adblocker filters out the biggest advertising nuisances you’ll experience across the web, including pop-ups and auto-play advertisements.
We’ve found Total Adblock goes a step further than your typical adblocker. The company’s website states that it blocks ads on YouTube (which it does). But in testing, we also found it blocks ads on other video streaming sites that use free-with-ad models, as well, such as Crunchyroll and Tubi. It even removed the pop-up on Tubi requesting the users’ age, which was a bit surprising. The price might be worth the feature list and functionality, especially given TotalAV lumps in a lifetime subscription to its award-winning product and its PC Tune-Up software.
You can read our full TotalAV review here.
Get TotalAV free with TotalAdblock
Score: 6/7
Effective blocking of most annoying online ads
Easy whitelisting and a quiet mode
Completely blocks ads on YouTube and other video streaming sites
Works on multiple web browsers and iOS devices (Android coming in the future)
Not a free option
Works with: most major web browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari, as well as iOS devices
4. AdLock
Far from being just a browser plugin, AdLock also offers Windows and Android tools that help block ads across your apps. Its feature set is long, especially for a free adblocker, which helps make it one of the better options on our list for wide-ranging usefulness beyond just blocking ads.
AdLock is designed to get rid of all forms of ads, and with but one exception, cleared away all of the ads that we tested across a variety of sites. This service blocked every ad on the various websites that we tested for this article, including ads on YouTube and other ad-supported streaming sites.
By default, the tool is designed to block every possible type of ad you might encounter. You can easily whitelist a site by clicking on “Settings” and then “Whitelist”. You’ll also be able to toggle a few additional filter settings in there if you so choose. Chances are, though, that you’ll likely want to leave those alone.
You can download AdLock free here.
Blocks all types of advertisements
Removes ads on videos
Numerous add-on features, including warning against spam and scam links
Can block ads across all apps and browsers through Windows app
Some of its best features are locked behind a paywall
Only blocks all ad types through the paid version
Works with: Chrome, Safari, iOS, macOS, Windows, Android
5. Adblock Plus
With over 10 million downloads on the Chrome browser alone, Adblock Plus is the most popular ad blocking software around. A free and open-source project from the eye/o, Adblock Plus is the primary source code for many other free ad blockers available to download.
By default, Adblock Plus is not designed to block all ads, only those deemed intrusive or potential malware. The service has a nicely detailed explanation of why it has an Acceptable Ads policy and why this feature is turned on by default. That doesn’t mean you’re stuck with those ads. If you want to turn off the acceptable ads, you can easily do so in the settings.
It blocked most of the ads we found but was among the many ad blockers that couldn’t seem to deal with all of the ads on Orlando Sentinel’s website. That being the case, ABP is exceptionally good, but not a perfect solution.
Completely free for all features
Provides a “block element” feature for ads that are not automatically blocked
Offers language settings
Allows you to build custom lists or upload pre-built block lists from third parties
Does not work on all types of ads, even with the Acceptable Ads feature turned off
Works with: Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Yandex Browser, iOS, Android
6. Poper Blocker
This plugin has been hailed as the best pop-up blocker on the market by several other tech sites, which is a fair claim, although not necessarily the case from our testing. Poper Blocker works well, and we can certainly recommend it for most ad-blocking. However, it does leave many ads that the top free ad blockers on our list completely block every time.
Both the Chrome and Firefox versions of this plugin work well to block not just pop-ups, but website overlays that are exceedingly common as well. For example, this tool blocks the ad blocking overlay used by Orlando Sentinel, as well as the age verification overlay used by Tubi. If it fails to block an overlay, you can right-click the overlay to remove it. And, as with other blockers, whitelisting is available, as is the option to report when a pop-up fails to get blocked by the plugin.
Poper Blocker hits most of the criteria we look for in a blocker. It’s completely free to use and doesn’t lock any of its features behind a paywall. There’s no sign-up required, so you don’t have to give over personal information to use it, either. The only thing you may be concerned about is the fact that Poper Blocker collects and uses data anonymized — but you can opt-out of data collection services for even more privacy.
Completely free to use at all times
Advanced overlay blocking features
Separate tool for blocking ads that don’t get removed automatically
Fails to block ads on videos
Does not block every type of pop-up ad
Limited features
Works with: Chrome and Firefox
7. AdGuard
This tool has made one major improvement since we first wrote our list: It’s now competely free. Where AdGuard once tried to charge for this product, it now provides it for free. Instead, it now has other products it’s trying to sell, including a VPN.
AdGuard does exactly what you want it to do. You can block all of the types of advertisements that we tested, which is positive. It also carries a wide range of adjustable features that make it exceptionally useful for privacy and security, such as anti-phishing, anti-malware, and a cookie destroyer that deletes third-party cookies after an amount of time that you can independently set.
Since we first tested this product, it’s also been improved on what ads it will block. A retest shows that it blocks all types of ads, including on websites with ads that are often difficult to block.
Now free forever
A long list of interesting features, including anti-phishing and a cookie deleting tool
Prevents tracking cookies
Blocks Youtube and other video ads
Charges for mutli-platform support
Works with: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Microsoft Edge, Yandex.Browser, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
8. Trustnav Adblocker
Trustnav is an antivirus company developed in Andorra that provides a combination adblocker and antivirus Google Chrome plugin. The antivirus solution, which is premium and costs $1.99 per month, is currently unavailable. For now, you can use the solo adblocker plugin for free.
Trustnav also currently has a “Safesearch” Chrome plugin that’s separate from the adblocker. Be sure to install the adblocker version directly from the Chrome Store.
As far as functionality goes, Trustnav presents a very easy-to-use adblocker with a slim user interface. It’s simple and effective at most things. However, the biggest problem you’ll find with this adblocker is that you can’t adjust many settings. Trustnav lets you toggle whether the adblocker is on or off, whether it is blocking all ads or just some ads, and whether you want to get alerts. Beyond that, there’s no fine-tuning, no real whitelisting, and no way to view all of your adblocking stats outside of how many ads were blocked on the site you’re visiting at the time.
Additionally, we’ve found that this ad blocker is terrible at removing ads on videos. In fact, some video streaming websites even detect its use and disallow you to stream videos if it’s turned on. That’s a big failing for an ad blocker that claims to block ads on videos.
Score: 5/7
Beautifully simple interface
Always free
Blocks most static webpage ads
Fails to block video ads
Gets detected by anti-adblocking filters
9. NoScript Security Suite
This Firefox-only ad blocker is not so much an ad blocker, but a script blocker. NoScript prevents all types of scripts from loading on your web pages: Javascript, Java, Flash, and a number of other plugins. You can allow certain types of scripts, but the service takes a bit of a heavy hand by default.
The result is that you’ll block most display ads you come across. This included the aggressive blocking of most webpage advertisements, even the more pernicious types that other ad blockers struggled to stop. However, the biggest limitation of this tool is that it does not block most video ads, and it fails to block many overlay ads. It’s also a more technical tool than most other ad blockers and requires a broader technical knowledge of browser architecture, making it not ideal for average users.
Score: 5.5/7
An exceptionally granular-level approach to ad blocking
Includes features to block other digital threats, such as tracking cookies and cross-site scripting requests
Only works on Firefox
Fails to block several types of ads, including video ads
Not user-friendly for most people
Best feature: Complete script blocking
Works with: Firefox
10. Opera Browser
If you’re looking for an all-inclusive ad blocking experience without the hassle of plugins, the Opera browser is an excellent source. Opera is one of the fastest and most well-built browsers around and was among the first web browsers to have a built-in ad blocker.
Opera’s ad blocker also works well. After turning it on in the settings, you’ll find it blocks almost every ad you come across. The only exception I found was that it failed to block the interstitial ads common on Forbes (the quote ad that often pops up before reading an article). Most of the other ad blockers we tested did block that ad from Forbes. That said, Opera blocks every other ad type that we tested, including those on Orlando Sentinel.
As good as it is, and despite the score, we listed this one lower on our list because it’s a limited option. As this is a web browser and not a separate tool that can be used as an extension, it’s ultimately less useful than the other options listed.
Built-in ad blocking functionality
Easy whitelisting
Blocks all types of advertisements
Completely free forever
Only available on Opera browser (because it is a browser)
Works with: Opera
Why are Privacy Badger and Ghostery missing?
You may have heard of the popular ad blockers Privacy Badger and Ghostery. While we like and respect these two ad blockers, neither met our criteria based on how they function. Neither of these plugins is designed to block ads, specifically, but to deny website ads and other website elements that betray user privacy. As a result, both will block some ads some of the time but are primarily focused on privacy instead of complete security online.
That means you won’t get the kind of ad-blocking you might want from either of these plugins. Additionally, they don’t allow you much control over the type of ads they block, given their desire is to allow good ads to pass through and not block all ads wholesale.
Google Chrome Ad Blocker
Despite its bit of scaremongering, Google’s built-in ad blocker does not seem to do much. After putting it through the same tests as the other ad blockers listed above, it allowed every ad through that we could find. The built-in ad blocker is also very limited. Even finding a website where ads were blocked was difficult. And since the Chrome ad blocker is designed to only block certain types of ads, most ads you’ll find are not blocked, especially if they are ads sourced through Google’s own advertising wing.
It almost goes without saying, but Google’s ad blocker is somewhat of a joke. It might have forced some websites to clean up their act a little bit with more intentionally intrusive advertisements, but you really won’t be able to use to block ads.
Ad Blocker Testing Methodology
Not only are there multiple types of advertisements you might run into, but there are also multiple ways to block advertisements. Ultimately, how an ad-blocker goes about blocking ads does not matter so much as long as it doesn’t complicate your ability to effectively browse the web and doesn’t invade your privacy. Additionally, a good ad blocker will block most types of ads and not just certain types of ads.
When researching the best free ad blockers, we looked for the following criteria:
- Always free, without a paywall for important features
- Good user ratings
- Do not require an account to use services
- Recently updated (within the past 12 months)
- Readily available as a plugin for at least one browser or operating system
- Blocks “display ads” (floating, pop-up, banner, video, static image, wallpaper, text ads)
- Blocks streaming video ads (such as on YouTube)
We initially also tested for prestitial and interstitial ads (those that load a screen before your content and often include a countdown). However, since Google launched its built-in ad blocker on Chrome and began punishing sites with Google search downgrades for unfavorable ad practices, most reputable sites have reduced or eliminated this style of advertisement.
Google still allows interstitials for a select few reasons, such as cookie usage notifications and age verifications. Where relevant, we identified ad blockers that block interstitial ads, although it’s not a separate rating criterion.
We tested each ad blocker using the same list of sites to and pages to ensure consistency with results. Examples of sites we used for testing include Forbes.com, Fark.com, YouTube, Tubi, and OrlandoSentinel.com. We focused on sites that utilize a variety of ads to ensure we gathered a broader understanding of each ad blocker’s effectiveness.
We scored each ad blocker a 0-7 score based on those 7 testing criteria.
See also: How to stop your internet provider tracking your activity
A note on ad blockers and website revenue
Advertisements come in many flavors, from pop-up ads to on-page advertisements and more. Some websites have even started throwing up a separate page for their ads (such as Forbes) or using autoplay video ads as soon as the page loads.
In general, consumers hate ads for a variety of reasons, including:
- They can slow down page loading
- Many are now intrusive and annoying
- They can use up precious data for those with data-limited internet plans
- The ads are often irrelevant to user interests
- The ads may interrupt the browsing or viewing experience (particularly ads on video streaming sites like Hulu or Crunchyroll)
- Many ads contain tracking cookies that send user behavior back to third parties
The quality of ads has gotten so bad that even Google includes an ad blocker in its Chrome browser now, targeting “substandard ads.” Google’s intentions might be a bit suspect, however, as the company operates a large advertisement wing of its own and likely doesn’t block any Google-sourced ads from AdSense.
Still, thanks to ads, we can enjoy most of the content we watch and read online for free, but ads do have various drawbacks. They can also serve as a vector for computer viruses or third-party hacks.
Before you dive into blocking ads on your favorite websites, we’d like to point out that those websites you’re using often rely on ad revenue to survive. While many websites are now diversifying their revenue streams (often because of increased ad blocker usage), ad revenue is still a major source of income for many websites. The use of ad blockers resulted in an estimated loss of $15.8 billion for websites in recent years.
If you like the services you receive from certain websites that you trust, we suggest you whitelist those sites in your ad blocker settings. Whitelisting is the opposite of blacklisting. Instead of telling your ad blocker to block certain sites, you’re telling it that the list of sites are ones you don’t wantrct to block.
Whitelisting is a good way to help guarantee the sites you like and trust continue to get the ad revenue they need. Even if you never click on the advertisements, many sites get some revenue by page views, making it still beneficial for those websites if you allow their ads to show.
Here are answers to some of the most common free ad blocker questions.
