Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Pi-hole

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

Pi-hole

Pi-hole Reviews and Details

This page is designed to help you find out whether Pi-hole is good and if it is the right choice for you.

Screenshots and images

  • Pi-hole Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-12

Features & Specs

  1. Ad Blocking

    Pi-hole effectively blocks unwanted advertisements across all devices on the network, enhancing the user experience by reducing clutter and improving page load times.

  2. Privacy Protection

    Pi-hole helps protect user privacy by preventing ads and trackers from collecting data on browsing habits.

  3. Low-Cost Solution

    Pi-hole can be run on inexpensive hardware like a Raspberry Pi, making it a cost-effective solution for network-wide ad blocking.

  4. Customizable

    Users can create custom blocklists and whitelists, allowing for a tailored ad-blocking experience.

  5. Network-Wide Coverage

    Since Pi-hole acts as a DNS sinkhole, it applies its filtering to all devices connected to the network without needing individual configurations.

  6. Resource Efficient

    Pi-hole is lightweight and consumes minimal system resources, allowing it to run efficiently on small, low-power devices.

  7. Open Source

    As an open-source project, Pi-hole benefits from community contributions, transparency, and regular updates.

Badges & Trophies

Promote Pi-hole. You can add any of these badges on your website.

SaaSHub badge
Show embed code
SaaSHub badge
Show embed code

Videos

Block EVERY Online Ad with THIS - Pi-Hole on Raspberry Pi

I tried Pi-Hole for the first time... (DNS level Ad Blocker)

Pi-hole -- Worth it? Gotchas?

Social recommendations and mentions

We have tracked the following product recommendations or mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you see what people think about Pi-hole and what they use it for.
  • ๐Ÿ—๏ธ Building my home server P5: Network-wide ad blocking with Pi-hole
    In my previous blog post, I covered deploying containers, configuring UFW, and setting up Nginx as a reverse proxy for my services. In this post, I'm taking things a step further by adding network-wide ad blocking to my home lab using Pi-hole. Pi-hole is a DNS sinkhole that blocks ads and trackers at the network level, meaning every device on my local network benefits from it without needing any client-side... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Pi-hole behind Tailscale
    Pi-hole is one of the many tools available that can improve your privacy. It operates as a DNS proxy, which points to a "real" DNS. You point your devices to it, and it filters out domains that are considered privacy threats. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home: DNS Server Comparison
    Pi-hole uses FTLDNS (a fork of dnsmasq) as its DNS engine. It handles DNS resolution, DHCP, and provides a query logging/analytics dashboard. DNS filtering is its core purpose. Pi-hole site. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • How I Set Up Tailscale for Secure Tunneling and Accessing Private LLMs
    So far, my primary use of the NAS has been to store pictures, videos, file backups, and host some small Docker containers. For example, I've been hosting a Heimdall instance to provide me with a customizable dashboard. A couple months ago, I decided to install a Pi-hole container for network wide adblocking. Setting up Pi-hole was a catalyst that drove me to dive deeper into what the NAS is capable of. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Blocky vs Pi-hole: Lightweight DNS Blocking
    Pi-hole is the most popular DNS-level ad blocker for self-hosting. It provides a web dashboard, query logging, analytics, DHCP, and a large ecosystem of community blocklists. Built with PHP and FTLDNS (forked dnsmasq). Pi-hole site. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • TikTok is tracking you, even if you don't use the app
    Most popular platforms are tracking and spying on you. My friends and I also believe Slack private DMs are compromised as we often times see ads directly pertaining to oddball discussions we don't have outside of Slack. Most people here probably know this already, but you can minimize some of this by using privacy browser extensions [1], containerized browsing [2], a good VPN [3], and/or Pihole [4]. 1:... - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • When internal hostnames are leaked to the clown
    - https://pi-hole.net/ (good enough but not `hardcore`). - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
    This might be useful for you: https://pi-hole.net/. You can set your own DNS server at home and block specific domains. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption
    If you have a raspberry pi or some device laying around that you're happy to act as an always-on-server you could set it up as a Layer 7 firewall using something like Nginx to act as a reverse proxy for SSL/TLS interception. Throw this into some LLM on research mode and I'm sure you could get some step-by-step instructions for setting it up. I suppose it's not much different to a [PiHole](https://pi-hole.net/) but... - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago
  • Remove Internet Junk from Ground Up: A DNS-Based Approach
    P.S. If you want even more control over your DNS resolvers, you can host one of your own using Pi-hole. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Why do we need DNSSEC?
    Your mom should be running this. It would improve her life. Set it up for her. https://pi-hole.net. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Zero Trust, One Router: Hardening Your Home Lab Like a Cyber Fortress.
    Pi-hole: Block ads and trackers at DNS level. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Tools for thoughts1 Date:03/2025 Moderator:Daniel.J.Q.Goh
    This part can be link to Pi-Hole Before proceed to configuring VPN, recommended to get "Free DNS" for yourself at MyDNS to manage your own network. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Using Raspberry Pi Computers For OSINT And Self-Quantification
    One of my favorite uses of a Raspberry Pi computer is Pi-hole. Which is promoted as a network-wide advertisement blocker. By installing Pi-hole on a RPi and attaching said device to your home LAN, a whole new world of OSINT and self-quantification is opened up. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store
    Time to set up Pi-Hole on my Rapsberry Pi 4 https://pi-hole.net/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Sniffnet โ€“ monitor your Internet traffic
    Tools like https://pi-hole.net does this for the whole house. It comes with a default set of blocked domains and you can easily add to it. It acts as your local DNS for the network. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • What if your computer beeps each time it sends data to Google?
    Https://pi-hole.net/ Easier than you might think to set up. Set and forget. Do it for your family and friends maybe. Sell routers pre-configured maybe. Not /the/ answer. Just one not-nothing step. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Turing Pi 2 Home cluster
    A Pi-hole instance to my network's DNS and block all ads in all devices at home. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Self-Hosting DNS
    Fun project. But I would just use https://pi-hole.net/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • 13ft โ€“ A site similar to 12ft.io but is self hosted
    From my experience, pihole is very easy to setup for this use case: https://pi-hole.net/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • .INTERNAL is now reserved for private-use applications
    > Home routers can simply assign pi into e.g. pi.home when doing dhcp. Then you can "ping pi" on all systems. It fixes everything- for that reason alone these reserved TLDs are, imo, useful. Unfortunately I've never seen a router do this, but here's hoping. Dnsmasq has this feature. I think itโ€™s commonly available in alternative router firmware. On my home network, I set up https://pi-hole.net/ for ad blocking,... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago

Summary of the public mentions of Pi-hole

Pi-hole, a network-wide advertisement and tracker-blocking application, has garnered significant attention and discussion among tech enthusiasts and privacy advocates. Known for its ability to filter unwanted content at the DNS level across entire networks, Pi-hole is often highlighted for its robust features and flexibility.

Overview

Pi-hole is frequently described as a powerful tool that provides an effective, network-wide ad-blocking solution. It operates by acting as a local DNS server that filters domain queries and blocks those associated with advertisements and trackers, making it a preferred choice for users seeking to enhance privacy and reduce unnecessary bandwidth consumption.

Key Features

One standout feature of Pi-hole is its informative web interface, which offers comprehensive insights into domain queries on the network, allowing users to monitor and manage their network traffic effectively. The platform can be deployed using an automated installer, making setup relatively straightforward for users, including those utilizing devices like Raspberry Pi. Pi-hole's versatility is also demonstrated by its ability to be run in a container or directly on supported operating systems.

Community Perception

Pi-hole has a dedicated following, particularly among users who implement it on devices like Raspberry Pi as part of personal projects related to OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) and self-quantification. It is recognized for its simplicity and effectiveness, with many users describing the setup process as easy and the platform's operation as largely "set and forget."

Users often highlight Pi-hole's ability to serve as a significant enhancement to home networks, providing DNS filtering not only for ads but also for potential security threats. Its integration with tools like Dnsmasq further emphasizes Pi-hole's capability to efficiently manage and secure a household's internet traffic.

Comparison with Competitors

Despite its popularity, Pi-hole is not without competition. Alternatives like NextDNS and AdGuard offer cloud-based solutions that boast additional features such as portability across devices and ease of remote management, albeit often at a recurring cost. These competitors are increasingly attractive to users willing to trade some local control for increased ease of use and comprehensive features.

Pi-hole is often compared to uBlock Origin and other browser-based ad-blockers. While browser-based solutions are user-friendly and require minimal setup, they lack the network-wide coverage that Pi-hole provides, which is particularly useful for protecting less technically savvy family members or guests connecting to home networks.

Challenges and Limitations

Despite its strengths, some users encounter challenges with Pi-hole, particularly with maintenance and troubleshooting when issues arise. Stability and performance can be occasional concerns, prompting some users to explore other options like NextDNS, which offers simplicity and a service-based approach with potentially less hands-on maintenance.

Conclusion

Overall, Pi-hole remains a valuable tool for users who prioritize privacy and ad-blocking at a network level. Its ease of use, effectiveness, and informative interface contribute to its positive reception. While there are more seamless and feature-rich alternatives available, Pi-hole's community-driven nature and open-source foundation continue to make it a beloved choice for tech-savvy users who prefer a hands-on approach to network management and security.

Do you know an article comparing Pi-hole to other products?
Suggest a link to a post with product alternatives.

Suggest an article

Pi-hole discussion

Log in or Post with

Is Pi-hole good? This is an informative page that will help you find out. Moreover, you can review and discuss Pi-hole here. The primary details have not been verified within the last quarter, and they might be outdated. If you think we are missing something, please use the means on this page to comment or suggest changes. All reviews and comments are highly encouranged and appreciated as they help everyone in the community to make an informed choice. Please always be kind and objective when evaluating a product and sharing your opinion.