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Comparison
Running your own AdGuard Home server allows you to do much more than using a public DNS server. It's a completely different level. See for yourself:
- Choose what exactly will the server block or not block.
- Monitor your network activity.
- Add your own custom filtering rules.
- Most importantly, this is your own server, and you are the only one who's in control.
At this point, AdGuard Home has a lot in common with Pi-Hole. Both block ads and trackers using "DNS sinkholing" method, and both allow customizing what's blocked.
We're not going to stop here. DNS sinkholing is not a bad starting point, but this is just the beginning.
AdGuard Home provides a lot of features out-of-the-box with no need to install and configure additional software. We want it to be simple to the point when even casual users can set it up with minimal effort.
Disclaimer: some of the listed features can be added to Pi-Hole by installing additional software or by manually using SSH terminal and reconfiguring one of the utilities Pi-Hole consists of. However, in our opinion, this cannot be legitimately counted as a Pi-Hole's feature.
| Feature | AdGuard Home | Pi-Hole |
|---|---|---|
| Blocking ads and trackers | ✅ | ✅ |
| Customizing blocklists | ✅ | ✅ |
| Built-in DHCP server | ✅ | ✅ |
| HTTPS for the Admin interface | ✅ | Kind of, but you'll need to manually configure lighthttpd |
| Encrypted DNS upstream servers (DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS, DNSCrypt) | ✅ | ❌ (requires additional software) |
| Cross-platform | ✅ | ❌ (not natively, only via Docker) |
| Running as a DNS-over-HTTPS or DNS-over-TLS server | ✅ | ❌ (requires additional software) |
| Blocking phishing and malware domains | ✅ | ❌ |
| Parental control (blocking adult domains) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Force Safe search on search engines | ✅ | ❌ |
| Per-client (device) configuration | ✅ | ✅ |
| Access settings (choose who can use AGH DNS) | ✅ | ❌ |
It depends.
"DNS sinkholing" is capable of blocking a big percentage of ads, but it lacks flexibility and power of traditional ad blockers. You can get a good impression about the difference between these methods by reading this article. It compares AdGuard for Android (a traditional ad blocker) to hosts-level ad blockers (which are almost identical to DNS-based blockers in their capabilities). However, this level of protection is enough for some users.