Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

uBlock Origin VS SponsorBlock

Compare uBlock Origin VS SponsorBlock and see what are their differences

uBlock Origin logo uBlock Origin

Popular and efficient blocker for Chromium, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Thunderbird.

SponsorBlock logo SponsorBlock

SponsorBlock is an open-source crowdsourced browser extension to skip sponsor segments in YouTube videos.
  • uBlock Origin Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-28
  • SponsorBlock Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-01

uBlock Origin features and specs

  • Efficient Performance
    uBlock Origin is highly optimized and lightweight, consuming fewer system resources compared to many other ad blockers, which helps in maintaining smoother browsing performance.
  • Customizability
    uBlock Origin offers extensive customization options. Users can create their own filters, whitelist websites, and adjust settings to suit their specific needs.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, uBlock Origin's source code is publicly available for review and contribution, ensuring transparency and fostering community trust.
  • Wide Range of Filters
    uBlock Origin supports numerous filter lists for blocking ads, trackers, and malware, ensuring a comprehensive browsing protection experience.
  • Improves Privacy and Security
    By blocking ads and trackers, uBlock Origin helps to enhance user privacy and security online, reducing the risk of data collection and potential malware exposure.

Possible disadvantages of uBlock Origin

  • Learning Curve
    For users new to ad blockers or those without technical knowledge, the wealth of customization options and settings might be overwhelming initially.
  • Potential Website Breakage
    In some cases, uBlock Origin might block essential elements of a website, causing parts of the site not to function correctly, which can disrupt the user experience.
  • Manual Updates for Filter Lists
    Some filter lists may require manual updates, which can be inconvenient for users who prefer a more hands-off approach.
  • Dependency on Community Support
    Being an open-source project, ongoing development and support depend heavily on community contributions, which might affect the speed and efficiency of updates and bug fixes.

SponsorBlock features and specs

  • Time-saving
    SponsorBlock helps users save time by automatically skipping sponsor segments, intros, outros, and other unwanted parts of videos.
  • Community Driven
    The extension relies on user contributions to identify and skip segments, which makes it highly effective and constantly updated.
  • Customizable
    Users can choose which types of segments to skip, offering a personalized viewing experience tailored to individual preferences.
  • Open Source
    SponsorBlock is open-source software, allowing transparency and enabling users to inspect, contribute to, or modify the code.
  • Supports Multiple Platforms
    The extension is available for various browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and even on mobile platforms, providing flexibility in usage.

Possible disadvantages of SponsorBlock

  • Reliance on User Contributions
    The accuracy and comprehensiveness of skipped segments depend heavily on the community. If users fail to mark segments, they won't be skipped.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Some users might have concerns about the data collected and how it is used, even though the project's open-source nature aims to mitigate this issue.
  • Potential Abuse
    There is a risk that some users might maliciously mark segments incorrectly, which could degrade the viewing experience for others.
  • Learning Curve
    New users might experience a learning curve in understanding how to effectively use and configure the extension to suit their needs.
  • Compatibility Issues
    While SponsorBlock supports many platforms, there may be occasional compatibility issues with certain browsers or updates that temporarily disrupt functionality.

Analysis of SponsorBlock

Overall verdict

  • Good

Why this product is good

  • SponsorBlock is a useful tool for many users because it allows them to automatically skip over non-essential segments of videos on platforms like YouTube. This includes parts of videos such as sponsorships, intros, outros, and other interrupting or off-topic content. By leveraging the community-driven database of segments, users can enjoy a more streamlined viewing experience. It saves time and enhances user satisfaction by providing a cleaner and more focused media consumption experience.

Recommended for

  • Users who frequently watch YouTube and want to skip non-content segments.
  • Viewers who are pressed for time and prefer to watch only the main content of videos.
  • Individuals who are easily distracted by irrelevant parts of videos.
  • People who appreciate community-driven projects and contribute to shared databases.

uBlock Origin videos

Trying uBlock Origin w/ Brief Review of Features

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to use uBlock Origin to protect your online privacy and security | uBlock Origin tutorial 2018

SponsorBlock videos

Skip sponsor segments, intro's, subscription begging, end cards... you name it! SponsorBlock review

More videos:

  • Review - [Sponsorblock] YouTube's Dirty Little Secret

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to uBlock Origin and SponsorBlock)
Security & Privacy
47 47%
53% 53
Ad Blockers
63 63%
37% 37
Privacy
100 100%
0% 0
Video
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare uBlock Origin and SponsorBlock

uBlock Origin Reviews

The Best Ad Blockers for YouTube 2024
We also like that uBlock Origin is an open-source platform. Applications with open-source code often give transparency into vulnerabilities that can be found and fixed quickly. uBlock Origin also has advanced settings that allow users to customize the ad-blocking features. However, these are focused more on power users who understand how to manage and change these settings....
List of 10 Best Ad Blockers in 2024
With its powerful fеaturеs and widеsprеad popularity, uBlock Origin has еstablishеd itself as a rеliablе and еfficiеnt tool for blocking intrusivе advеrtisеmеnts. It is highly rеgardеd for its ability to еffеctivеly block ads across various platforms, including wеb browsеrs and mobilе dеvicеs. uBlock Origin boasts a lightwеight dеsign that minimizеs its impact on systеm...
Best Ad Blockers in 2023: Adblock Plus vs AdGuard vs uBlock Origin and More
Any of these options will block ads without a second thought, but they’re not all the same. uBlock Origin, for example, works on all types of ads, whereas Adblocker for YouTube blocks autoplay video ads only. Let’s take a closer look so you can see which of these options is the right one to block ads and trackers on your device.
Best Ad Blockers
uBlock Origin (not to be confused with uBlock or µBlock) is a stellar extension that runs on a wide variety of browsers. But be careful which version you’re installing — those with similar names are not the same program. The project went through several name changes as different people contributed or modified it, but the most advanced version and the one sustained by the...
22 NextDNS Alternatives
uBlock Origin is an effective ad blocker that is sleek on memory and CPU to lets you have a frustration-free atmosphere. uBlock Origin is a wide spectrum content blocker with security-enhanced functionality that doesn’t harm your online activities. More lists are also available for you so you can select from Fanboy’s Enhanced Tracking List, spam404, Dan Pollock’s host's...

SponsorBlock Reviews

We have no reviews of SponsorBlock yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, SponsorBlock seems to be a lot more popular than uBlock Origin. While we know about 374 links to SponsorBlock, we've tracked only 3 mentions of uBlock Origin. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

uBlock Origin mentions (3)

  • Donefirst reviews
    They're advertising on this sub? They can go fuck themselves. I've got ad-blocking enabled (and mods can't see ads on their own subs anyway) so I had no idea. I super recommend ublock origin for ad and content blocking. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Browsing in 2022
    No, it does not. It's open source and non profit. If you want you could make your own adblock with it's source code. https://github.com/gorhill/ublock. Source: over 3 years ago
  • cURL to add native JSON support
    Firefox has its own "Enhanced Tracking Protection", Which is eclipsed by pretty much any specialized content blocker (such as uBlock Origin). Anyone who cares for that stuff has probably turned it off And installed a better extension for that, And for people who don't, well, it's completely unnecessary. Source: over 3 years ago

SponsorBlock mentions (374)

  • We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]
    Another tip for youtube is to use https://sponsor.ajay.app/ -- helps skip the ads that are increasingly embedded in the video itself. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Block YouTube Ads on AppleTV by Decrypting and Stripping Ads from Profobuf
    SponsorBlock works great. https://sponsor.ajay.app/. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Show HN: A personal and minimal YouTube front end based on yt-dlp
    Make chapter entries for, or remove various segments (sponsor, introductions, etc.) from downloaded YouTube videos using the SponsorBlock API (https://sponsor.ajay.app). - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Premium Lite: Watch your favorite creators ad-free
    I use https://sponsor.ajay.app/ to skip over them. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Material Theme has been pulled from VS Code's marketplace
    Ad block: https://ublockorigin.com/ Skipping sponsored sections: https://sponsor.ajay.app/ Remove shorts: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/remove-youtube-shorts/ Return dislike: https://www.returnyoutubedislike.com/ Forgot to mention returning the dislike in my original comment. At least I can use these extensions and get something resembling the service I want to pay for. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing uBlock Origin and SponsorBlock, you can also consider the following products

AdGuard - Surf the Web Ad-Free and Safely. Shield up!

Pi-hole - Pi-hole is a multi-platform, network-wide ad blocker.

Adblock Plus - AdBlock Plus is a browser extension for Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and several other popular browsers that prevents intrusive ads like pop-ups and malicious code from appearing on websites you visit.

AdBlock - Ad blocker for Chrome, Safari and Opera on desktop and Safari for iOS devices.

Ghostery - Privacy tool for transparency and control

Blokada - The best ad blocker for Android. Free and open source.