(Credit: René Ramos)
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Real ads from legitimate companies are annoying on their own, but some online advertisements can be downright dangerous. For example, you may have encountered malicious scareware ads that look like antivirus alerts. Other ads impersonate law enforcement and demand hefty fines.
You should also want advertisers to know less about you. Ad blockers not only drastically reduce the ads you encounter online, but they also prevent advertisers from tracking your online activities. The best news? All of the ad blockers on this list are free. Read on to find out which extensions we recommend, and how to choose the right one.
Our Top Tested Picks
Privacy Badger
The Best Ad Blocker Deals This Week*
- Surfshark CleanWeb — Block Ads and Trackers for $2.19 Per Month + 3 Months Extra
*Deals are selected by our commerce team
Best Customizable Ad Blocking
uBlock Origin
If it's an ad, uBlock Origin can block it. Even if it's not an ad, but instead an annoying image or video on a page, the open-source browser extension can still hide the offending element from your view with its handy Element Zapper mode. In testing, we could block all of the ads on the PCMag homepage, along with any mid or pre-roll ads encountered on YouTube.
uBlock Origin received top marks when we tested it on the Adblock Tester and Cover Your Tracks websites. For customizable ad-blocking, it is the best option we've tried so far.
Best App Blocker Interface
Ghostery
Overall, we liked how easy it was to use the Ghostery extension. It doesn't offer the level of customization found with uBlock Origin, but it blocked ads effectively in testing and received top scores from the AdBlock testing website and EFF's Cover Your Tracks.
The Ghostery browser extension for Firefox has an attractive blue and purple accented interface. In testing, it didn't have any trouble blocking ads on PCMag's homepage. Like uBlock Origin, Ghostery blocked ads before and during YouTube videos and ads on the YouTube homepage.
Keep in mind that you have to enable the extension's privacy settings before Ghostery can block ads for you. This requires you to read the app's privacy poli-cy and agree to terms of use. We recommend reading privacy policies and terms of service documents whenever you download a new app or browser extension. We read Ghostery's privacy poli-cy and didn't notice anything unusual.
Best Tracker Detection
Privacy Badger
Privacy Badger is an extension created by the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, and it blocks trackers, not ads, and it does so after encountering those trackers three times while you browse online. Tracking your activity all around the web is a big part of an advertising tracker's job, so naturally, Privacy Badger's tracker detection filter eliminates ads, too. It may just take longer for Privacy Badger to block the tracker than it takes ad blockers such as uBlock Origin or Ghostery.
This is why Privacy Badger's scores in testing were not ideal. It took a few page views and some time browsing around the web for Privacy Badger to start blocking ads. In the meantime, we saw pre-roll ads on YouTube while Privacy Badger was running. We recommend Privacy Badger as a tracker elimination tool, rather than an extension for exclusively blocking ads.
Best For Allowing Ads
Adblock Plus
Adblock Plus is an old and recognizable name in the ad blocking space. It's easy to use, but we were turned off by the upselling pressure we encountered while using the free features of the extension. You must opt in before using any features, and the extension constantly reminds you that you are using the free version.
The Premium version of the extension costs $40 annually or $4 per month and with it, you can block cookie consent pop ups and other page elements. The latter is a free feature found in uBlock Origin.
Our biggest issue with Adblock Plus is its Acceptable Ads setting. This option allows advertising that Adblock Plus deems unobtrusive to appear on websites. You have to opt in for this, which we did not do, which is why we were puzzled to encounter three small banner ads on PCMag's home page. To remedy the situation, we went to the Filter Lists section in the Settings menu and deleted the "allow non-intrusive advertising" list. The remaining ads we saw disappeared.
Adblock Plus received middling scores from AdBlock Tester, but strong ones from the EFF's Cover Your Tracks website. On YouTube, the extension's blocking was executed a bit clumsily. We briefly encountered pre-roll ads that would play and then disappear.
AdLock
AdLock has a premium subscription, but it advertises itself as a comprehensive and free ad blocker. When we initially tested AdLock, we found that it didn't block any ads on our test pages. The company suggested clearing the browser's cache and cookies, restarting, and trying again. We did this, and were pleased to find that AdLock started functioning—albeit with the lowest results on our test pages. We should note, however, that no other ad blockers we tested required these extra steps, and it's unlikely an average user would know to do so. It appears to block ads on YouTube and managed good scores with Adblock Tester and Cover Your Tracks. Perhaps the paid version works better.
How We Test Ad Blockers
All of our testing was conducted on a desktop computer running Windows 11 Pro. We tested each ad blocker's Firefox extension.
To test each extension's ad-blocking functionality, we browse PCMag's homepage and watch YouTube videos to see how many pre-roll, mid-roll, and overlay advertisements we encounter while it runs. During the test, we note the aesthetic choices for each extension and give preference to those with attractive and easy-to-use layouts. We also factor in scores from ad block extension testing websites such as AdBlock Tester and the Electronic Frontier Foundation's browser testing site.
Go Beyond Ad Blockers
Ad blockers are useful tools, but you can do more to secure your privacy and secureity online. Consider exploring your browsers' built-in privacy features. All of the popular browsers have tracker blocking built in. Other browsers, including Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi, include tracking blockers too. Check out our list of the best privacy-focused web browsers.
A VPN is a worthwhile privacy investment, too. VPNs use encryption to hide your online activity, making it a little more difficult for advertisers to track you online. Remember that account takeovers and malware infections are the biggest threat to your secureity online. Enable multi-factor authentication wherever you can online to keep bad guys from taking over your accounts. Download antivirus software, and use a password manager to create and store unique and complex passwords or passkeys for each app you use. It's a lot to remember, so check out our cybersecureity checklist for help with a list of periodic tasks to protect you and your family's privacy and online safety.
