AdGuard and uBlock Origin are two boats from the same fleet. They’re both extremely well-performing ad blockers, and they’re well-regarded as well. And in a lot of the cases, they work the same way, as they share a lot of the same filters. They’re also open source.
AdGuard is a Cypriot company that focuses on ad-blocking technology. So while it is open-source, it is backed by a tech company, and it’s for profit. While a lot of privacy-focused users might not like that, it’s actually a good thing. It means AdGuard has the resources that a lot of community-backed open source projects don’t have. For example, they offer public and private DNS with ad-blocking capabilities.
uBlock Origin is made primarily by a single person, Raymond Hill a.k.a. gorhill on GitHub. It is a community-backed open-source project made from Hill’s previous project, uMatrix, a firewall extension for your browser. It is beloved by a large community of developers and privacy enthusiasts. It has the largest list of filters in any ad blocker, and it is highly customizable.
Let’s explore together to see how similar they are and where they differ.
Quick Comparison Between AdGuard and uBlock Origin
| AdGuard | uBlock Origin | |
| Starts at | $29.88/year | N/A |
| Free version | Yes | Yes |
| Blocks YouTube Ads? | Yes | Yes |
| Blocks Trackers? | Yes | Yes |
| Compatibility | Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Windows, macOS, Android, iOS | Firefox, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, and other Chromium and Firefox-based browsers. |
Pros and Cons
AdGuard
Pros
- Strong ad blocking on YouTube and most websites
- System-wide blocking via desktop and mobile apps
- Stealth Mode for serious privacy tweaks
- DNS and HTTPS filtering for cleaner, faster page loads
- Good balance between “simple for most” and “deep options if you want them.”
- Official knowledge base and email support
Cons
- Full power lives in the paid apps, not just the free extension
- It can feel a bit heavy with all features enabled on slower devices
- Settings pages can overwhelm people who never tweak anything
uBlock Origin
Pros
- Completely free and open source
- Extremely lightweight, even with big filter lists
- Powerful in-browser blocking with dynamic filtering and custom rules
- Great performance on YouTube, social sites, and news pages
- Often bypasses soft paywalls and some anti-adblock tricks
- No accounts, no telemetry, everything runs locally
Cons
- Browser-only, no system-wide blocking
- Advanced features have a learning curve
- No official customer support, only community help
- Chrome’s Manifest V3 threatens some long-term functionality
Key Differences at a Glance (TL;DR)
- Both AdGuard and uBlock Origin are top-tier blockers that clean up YouTube, social feeds, and ad-heavy sites very effectively.
- uBlock Origin is the better choice if you want a free, ultra-light, in-browser blocker with deep customisation, dynamic filtering, and the ability to quietly dodge some soft paywalls.
- AdGuard is the better choice if you want system-wide protection, with ads and trackers blocked in browsers and apps, plus Stealth Mode, DNS filtering, and easier privacy toggles.
- If you like tinkering and want maximum control inside the browser, go with uBlock Origin.
- If you want a polished ad-blocking and privacy suite that covers your whole device, go with AdGuard.
Real World Ad Blocking Performance
AdGuard and uBlock Origin’s scores on Adblock Tester are respectively 98 and 96. And while we are very proud of our benchmarking tool, synthetic benchmarks aren’t everything. Especially if that doesn’t reflect the real world.
YouTube
AdGuard
On YouTube, AdGuard put the kibosh on ads big time. No more pre-rolls, mid-rolls, or those annoying masthead units plastered all over the homepage. Short ads were gone too. You even got rid of homepage banners and could watch videos without some pesky ad stutter. It was almost like using YouTube Premium, minus the cost
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin brought the same kind of performance to the table. It blocked skippable and non-skippable ads, in-feed video ads, those annoying bumper ads, masthead ads, and even Shorts ads. Scrolling through Shorts or jumping between videos became an ad-free zone.
Forbes
AdGuard
AdGuard cleaned out a bunch of ads for you on Forbes. Gone were those giant homepage banners, mid-article display units, floating video ads, newsletter pop-ups, and those annoying notification prompts. Even the paywall still showed up once your free article limit was reached, blocking further reading on that story
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin did basically the same thing with those banners, floating videos, and pop-ups. But then it took it a step further, it also managed to bypass the Forbes soft paywall, so you could keep reading past the usual limit without being locked out.
The New York Times
AdGuard
AdGuard removed a bunch of those annoying ad slots across Forbes’ homepage and inside articles – big and small banners, including animated ad slots. The subscription paywall still popped up once you’d hit your free article quota
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin blocked the same ad placements, then went on to blow past the soft paywall that normally stops you from reading after a few articles
AdGuard
On the front page of Reddit, AdGuard got rid of all those “Promoted” posts you normally see in the feed. What was left was just organic posts, minus all those pesky tracker and ad requests behind the scenes
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin also took out the promoted posts, so you no longer saw them every few cards. The front page just felt like old Reddit again, without all the promos sticking out like sore thumbs.
X (formerly Twitter)
AdGuard
AdGuard pulled sponsored tweets and those intrusive “Promoted” units right out of the timeline on X. The feed was essentially a straight stream of regular posts
uBlock Origin
uBO managed to do the same. Removed all the sponsored content throughout the home timeline and on the sidebars too
Twitch
AdGuard
AdGuard blocked the home page banners and that annoying self-promotion on the front page of Twitch – the sorta sign-up promos and discount deals. But, if a creator threw in their own sponsor panels on their channel page, those stayed visible – as they should
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin cleaned up the Twitch homepage, removing those built-in banners and clutter while leaving all the creators’ own ads alone.
Crocs
AdGuard
On Crocs, AdGuard blocked those super annoying pop-ups on the site trying to get you to sign up for their newsletter – and all the other prompts that seem to pop up out of nowhere. But the discount banners & native promo sections stayed visible, so you could still see the deals they’re offering
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin got rid of those pop-ups and cookie prompts for you on Crocs. But it’s not all or nothing; the built-in discount banners remained, so you can still take a look at the deals you get.
Key Features
Ad Blocking Capabilities
AdGuard
AdGuard acts as a comprehensive ad blocker. At the browser level, it basically nips in the bud banner ads, video ads, pop-ups, annoying overlays, those cookie prompts you can’t avoid, search ads, the self-promotional nonsense cluttering up every other website, and a whole lot of other junk you’ll encounter these days. On top of that, AdGuard quietly takes out a lot of third-party scripts and analytics calls behind the scenes, so your pages load up much quicker.
Where it really shines is the sheer number of ways you can use it. You can run it as a simple browser extension, as a desktop app that acts as an ad blocker for every browser, or even as a DNS resolver that blocks ad and tracking domains before they even get anywhere near your network. This gives you a system-wide ad-blocking solution on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS that doesn’t require you to go through the hassle of setting up every single app individually.
You also get some nice extras like filters to block annoying stuff, social widget blocking, and the ability to invert the allowlist so only a select few websites get filtered. For most people, it feels like a default “block everything” engine that you can dial back when you need to.
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin is a browser extension, but it’s basically a content firewall for the web. Out of the box, it blocks banner ads, video ads, pop-ups, floating and overlay ads, sponsored posts, social widgets, trackers, malicious sites, notification prompts, and cookie banners across all the supported browsers – all ten of the must-have ad blocking features I mentioned get ticked by default.
Underneath that, it’s got a massive number of filter lists up its sleeve and lets you add more, then layers on dynamic filtering, script control, cosmetic filtering, and element picking or zapping. That’s what lets it handle those tricky layouts, clean up the awkward leftovers, and even find a way around some soft paywalls when combined with the right filters. In practice, it’s one of the most aggressive and precise ad blockers you can run from within a browser without having to pay a penny.
Privacy and Security
AdGuard and uBlock Origin are both serious about more than just hiding annoying ads. They’re both out to stop the systems that track you when you’re browsing around, but they do it in slightly different ways.
AdGuard
AdGuard takes a layered approach to its ad blocking. It’s got a bunch of extra features on top of ad filtering, including dedicated lists to block all the trackers, analytics scripts, and social pixels that follow you around the web. And with HTTPS and DNS filtering turned on, a lot of those requests get blocked even before the page finishes loading. That seriously reduces the tracking and potential security risks.
But its Stealth Mode is where things get really heavy on the privacy side. You can set it to automatically hide or clear cookies, strip tracking parameters from URLs, limit the info that gets shared about how you’re browsing, and a bunch of other stuff like that. On top of all that, AdGuard maintains its own lists of dodgy domains to block, so you get some basic protection from obvious malware sites.
It’s worth noting it’s not a full-on antivirus, but as an ad blocker that’s got all the bells and whistles for privacy and some security features built in, it’s way more than just “hide ads.”
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin is a bit more old school in its approach. Everything happens right in the browser itself. No data gets sent anywhere, no updates are pushed from anywhere outside, and no account is needed. All the filtering happens right in your browser.
It comes with some serious privacy lists turned on by default, and you can add more on top if you want – including lists for trackers, bad domains, and annoying stuff. It’s got dynamic filtering that lets you control what scripts and frames get loaded on a site-by-site basis, which is great for cutting off tracking infrastructure without breaking everything at the same time. And it can block all sorts of nasty tracking ads, invisible trackers, and fingerprinting scripts, especially when you pair it with the right lists, and on Firefox, you get CNAME-based tracking protections as well.
So the bottom line is this: AdGuard leans on layered filtering, Stealth Mode, and some DNS/HTTPS tricks to harden up your web traffic. uBlock Origin leans on strict, transparent local filtering with some really fine control over what your browser is allowed to load. Both are solid choices for privacy, just with different philosophies.
Performance and Resource Usage
Both uBlock Origin and AdGuard are designed to be lightweight, but they allocate their resources in different ways
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin is probably the most efficient browser extension you’ll ever run. It handles big filter lists without getting bogged down, and its CPU usage stays pretty low even with multiple tabs open. You can have dynamic filtering and extra lists running at the same time and hardly even notice it. Since it only lives in the browser and doesn’t run in the background, it’s virtually undetectable performance-wise, even on older hardware.
AdGuard
AdGuard’s browser extension is also fast and easy on the system, especially when you stick to the default filters. Pages load quickly, and ads only flicker into view just long enough for AdGuard to get rid of them.
Once you move up to the full desktop or mobile app, though, AdGuard starts doing a lot more work. It filters traffic for all your apps, uses HTTPS and DNS filtering, and sometimes sends everything through a local VPN layer. That means it’ll use a bit more resources, especially on slower devices, but in practice, you usually end up saving more by not downloading all those ads, trackers, and junk in the first place.
If you’re really concerned about in-browser performance, uBlock Origin has a slight edge, but if you want system-wide blocking and don’t mind a bit more background activity, AdGuard is actually pretty light considering all it does.
Anti Adblocking & Detection Bypass
Places that just plaster ads on their site are a doddle. The real challenge lies with sites that try to gatekeep when they detect an ad blocker in use. This is where the difference between AdGuard and uBlock Origin starts to really shine through.
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin doesn’t go around bragging about its anti-adblock bypass capabilities, but it does a pretty good job in practice. With the right nasty blocklist and anti-adblock settings set up, you can quietly nuke a lot of the overlay warnings and scripts trying to detect blockers. Dynamic filtering and script control come in handy. They let you cut off the specific bit of JavaScript that yanks up the “turn off your ad blocker” messages. Plus, the element picker gives you the power to manually remove those pesky overlays that just won’t go away. It does take a bit of tweaking to get it all sorted, but once you’ve tuned it right, uBO can slip past most of those soft barriers.
AdGuard
AdGuard takes a more aggressive approach to anti-adblock detection. On the app side, Stealth Mode does a good job of masking the tell-tale signs that might give away the fact that an ad block is in use. And in the browser, pairing the main extension with AdGuard Extra helps specifically to take down those paywall-like overlays and anti-adblock scripts. It may not win every battle, but AdGuard actively tries to neutralise detection rather than just blocking the ads and giving up.
Usability & Customization
AdGuard and uBlock Origin are both pretty easy to live with at a basic level. But they start to feel like two very different beasts the minute you start digging into the settings.
Installation & Setup
AdGuard
You get to pick your poison first with AdGuard: browser extension, desktop app, or mobile app. The extension is dead simple: install it, and it starts blocking ads right off the bat with sensible defaults. The apps add a little setup flow for system-wide filtering, stealth mode, and DNS options, but it’s all presented with nice, clear labels and toggles that even a non-techie can follow.
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin installs just like any other extension. One click in the store, and it’s up and running with default filter lists. There’s no onboarding process, no tutorial, and no account. If you never bother to open the dashboard, it just behaves like a super-efficient ad blocker.
Day-to-day Experience
AdGuard
Day to day, AdGuard feels like a tool that lets you set it and forget it. Most people can just leave it running on autopilot, but if something starts breaking or a site starts acting up, you can quickly pause protection, add a site to your whitelist, or turn off specific things like “annoyances” or “social widgets”. The interface is a bit text-heavy, but it’s well organised so you’re rarely left wondering what a toggle does.
uBlock Origin
uBO is super simple on the surface, but once you start digging deeper, it gets a whole lot more technical. The popup’s got a big on/off button for the current site and a basic counter of blocked items. Easy peasy. But things start getting complicated when you switch on advanced mode or open up the dashboard. That’s where you get into request logs, dynamic filtering matrices, and per-domain controls. It’s all very powerful, but it can feel a bit overwhelming if you’re not used to messing about with it.
Customization
AdGuard
AdGuard gives you a lot of control without feeling like you need to be a developer to use it. You can:
- Turn individual filter lists on and off
- Add your own filter lists with just a URL
- Write your own user rules
- Toggle stealth mode options one by one
- Decide which apps or browsers get filtered in system-wide mode
It’s flexible, but everything’s just a checkbox or text field away.
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin is the one that really lets you get under the hood and mess about with things if you’re into that sort of thing. You can:
- Load up dozens of community filter lists
- Create cosmetic and network rules
- Use the element picker to surgically remove bits of a page
- Use dynamic filtering to control scripts and third-party domains on a per-site basis
- Inspect every request in the logger and build your own rules from there
If you like the idea of treating your browser like a firewall, uBO gives you that level of control.
Customer Support
AdGuard
AdGuard has a proper support system up and running. It is a pretty detailed knowledge base, and email support to fall back on when things go wrong. If your licence isn’t working right, or you run into some other issue, you can open a ticket and, eventually, you’ll get a response from a human being. No 24/7 live chat to be found here, but at least you have a place to turn to when you need help.
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin is a project that runs almost entirely on volunteer power. There’s no help desk, no email address to contact, and no paid tier that’ll get you priority support. If you hit a problem, you’re on your own – expect to have to search through GitHub issues, Reddit threads, or user-maintained guides. Often enough, you’ll find the answer to your question, but it’s a bit of a gamble; the help you get is entirely at the mercy of the volunteers.
Final Verdict
AdGuard and uBlock Origin are some of the best. uBlock Origin is a force to be reckoned with in the browser alone. It’s free, open source, ridiculously lightweight, and gives you an incredible amount of control over what does (or doesn’t) load on a page. With the right filters, it can even outsmart some of the tougher paywalls and anti-adblock tricks.
AdGuard, on the other hand, casts a wider net. It blocks ads across your entire device, not just the browser. It’s got features like Stealth Mode, DNS filtering, and HTTPS filtering too, all wrapped up in an interface that’s smooth to use, but still lets you dig deep if you want.
If you’re trying to decide which one to go for, well, here are a few things to consider:
- You’re a power user who loves tweaking filters, logs, and per-site rules? uBlock Origin is probably your best bet
- You’ve got a lower-end machine and just want the basics in the browser? Same answer as above
- You’re a Firefox user and want to squeeze every last bit of performance out of your browser extension? uBlock Origin should be your go-to
- You just want ads gone, full stop, not just in the browser? AdGuard is the way to go
- You care more about Stealth Mode, DNS filtering, and easy-to-use privacy controls than fiddling about with options? Same deal
- You’re willing to pay for a top-class, all-encompassing ad blocker that still respects your privacy? AdGuard’s probably your best bet.
So yes, both are bloody excellent. But if you live in the browser and want every last bit of control for free, uBlock Origin is pretty hard to beat. If, on the other hand, you want a dedicated ad-blocking and privacy suite that covers your whole device with minimal fuss, AdGuard is probably the better choice overall.