While not common, ad blockers can sometimes break a site. And the other times, a site might just want you to turn it off. Or maybe you wanna support some specific sites of your choosing by letting them run ads.
Whatever the reason may be, you don’t have to disable or pause your ad blocker every time you wanna visit a site without ad blocking. And the good news is that you don’t have to. Most ad blockers actually let you add site-by-site exceptions without disrupting global ad blocking in your browser. This process is called allowlisting or whitelisting.
In this article, we will be giving you step-by-step guides for allowlisting on different ad blockers, troubleshooting tips, and more.
How to Allowlist a Site in uBlock Origin?
uBlock Origin is one of the best ad blockers for its efficiency and granular control. And it surprisingly keeps things fairly easy when you want to allowlist a site.
- While on the website you wish to allow, click the small uBlock Origin icon in your browser’s extension bar.
- Click the large, bright blue power button icon in the pop-up menu. This instantly disables uBO for the current site only, and the icon will turn grey to indicate it is paused.
- Refresh the page (F5 or Command+R). The site is now allowlisted.
How to Block a Specific Element in uBlock Origin?
If you need to allow only a specific element (like a comment section that broke) while keeping ads blocked, you can right-click on that element and click “Block element” with uBlock’s icon next to it.
Moreover, you can access the Dashboard > My rules or Trusted sites tabs for more granular control.
How to Allowlist a Site in AdBlock Plus?
AdBlock Plus (ABP) is one of the OG ad blockers. And it gives a very straightforward user experience.
- Click the AdBlock Plus icon in the browser’s extension bar.
- Click the toggle next to “Block ads on:” to disable it for the current site.
- Refresh the site; it is now on your allowlist.
For Manual Control: You can also go to Settings > Allowlisted websites to manually add a URL.
Note on ABP’s Policy: ABP uses ‘smart allowlisting’ where the site will stay on your allowlist for seven days, but is removed if you don’t visit it again in that period.
Moreover, if you want to support some websites by watching the less intrusive ads, ABP also has an acceptable ads option that you can enable.
How to Allowlist a Site in AdGuard?
AdGuard places a strong emphasis on security and offers multiple versions, including a dedicated application, a browser extension, and a network-level tool (AdGuard Home).
- Click the AdGuard icon in your extension or open the desktop app.
- Locate the “Protection on this website” toggle switch.
- The current site is immediately added to the allowlist.
For Network Users: If you are running AdGuard Home, you need to log into your dashboard, navigate to Filters > Allowlist/Whitelist, and manually add the domain there.
How to Allowlist a Site in NordVPN Threat Protection?
NordVPN’s Threat Protection feature blocks ads and trackers at the network level. Which means you must manage exceptions from the main application, not the browser extension.
- Launch the main NordVPN application (Windows or macOS).
- Go to Threat Protection: Click the shield icon (Threat Protection) in the sidebar.
- Find the option to “View Activity and Customize” under Web protection.
- Look for a list of blocked/allowed URLs and manually add the site you want to allow to the list.
- Confirm and save your settings.
How to Allowlist a Site in Surfshark CleanWeb?
Surfshark CleanWeb does not have a way to allowlist. And as mentioned in our Surfshark CleanWeb review, it really lacks in terms of customizability.
However, it is also worth mentioning that there have been no reports of any site functionality breaking because of CleanWeb or CleanWeb 2.0. The only way to avoid blocking ads while using the VPN is to disable it temporarily and then manually re-enable it.
- Launch the main Surfshark application or the browser extension.
- Go to the dedicated CleanWeb section.
- Toggle the switch off or on.
How to Allowlist a Site in Ghostery?
Ghostery’s focus is on transparency and tracker control, and it offers several ways to temporarily or permanently trust a site.
- Click the Ghostery extension icon while on the website you want to allow.
- Click the “Trust Site” button.
Alternatively, you can go to the pause options and select “Always” to whitelist the site for all future visits. This option also allows you to pause blocking for one hour or one day, depending on your preference.
How to Allowlist a Site in Total Adblock?
Total Adblock is frequently featured in reviews and offers a direct, settings-based allowlist process.
- Open the Total Adblock extension.
- Navigate to the main Settings.
- Click on Allow List.
- Add the website URL you want to allow and save the changes.
How to Allowlist a Site in AdBlocker Ultimate
AdBlocker Ultimate is known for its aggressive approach to blocking, meaning you will often need to create exceptions for functional sites.
- Open the AdBlocker Ultimate extension menu.
- Navigate to Settings > Rules & Exceptions.
- Enter the website’s domain or URL in the whitelist field.
- Apply and save the changes.
Why is the Site Still Broken After I Whitelisted It?
You followed the steps. You saw the icon change. You refreshed the page. And yet, that frustrating “Please turn off your ad blocker” notification or, worse, a broken website layout, is still staring you down. What happened?
You probably have something else blocking that site.
The most frequent offender is stacking protection. You might have:
- A browser extension
- A built-in browser blocker
- A VPN
- An antivirus suite or a local DNS blocker
In that case, you will have to disable them and turn them back on one by one to see which one is causing the issue.
If the site is still asking you to turn off your blocker, you need to go into your extension list and toggle every single ad/privacy-related extension off, then re-enable them one by one to isolate the culprit.
The anti-AdBlock wall misdirection
Some websites use sophisticated “ad-recovery tools” that do more than just detect a blocker; they deliberately break the site’s layout or display misleading error messages.
They might show confusing jargon or tell you your ad blocker broke the page when, in reality, it’s their own script removing essential elements because it detected a blocked request. Allowlisting may not work in this case because the website is actively fighting you, regardless of the exception you made.
The overly aggressive filter list
Sometimes, your main ad blocker uses multiple filter lists (like EasyList or Peter Lowe’s list). A very aggressive or manually added filter list can mistakenly block a critical, non-ad-related domain (like a CSS stylesheet or font library) by accident. You’ve allowlisted the main domain, but a crucial subdomain is still being blocked, resulting in a broken, unusable page. This requires diving into the advanced settings to find the exact blocked request, which is usually only worth the effort if you are an expert user.
Is Allowlisting Sites Safe?
Allowlisting can be safe if you know what you’re doing.
When you installed your ad blocker, you were setting up a strict boundary against pervasive tracking and invasive ads. An allowlist is essentially a trust exception you create to cross that very boundary.
So, is it “safe”? No, not in the way that having your blocker running everywhere else is safe. It’s a calculated, necessary risk.
Now here’s the deal: when you tell your ad blocker, “It’s fine, let the ads through,” you are also usually telling it, “It’s fine, let the trackers and data collection scripts through, too”. The revenue that pays for the content is typically tied to the tracking infrastructure. You are consciously re-enabling the collection of your personal data on that single domain.
That means you have to use your own high standard of scrutiny. You are the final authority here.
- Is the content genuinely worth the price of entry? If you rely on that site or genuinely value the independent work, the answer might be yes.
- Is the site respectful? If they use annoying pop-ups or auto-play videos, they don’t deserve the exception.
- Are they being honest? If a site is throwing misleading error messages that blame your ad blocker for their own failures, they are trying to trick you. That’s a huge sign of bad faith.
Allowlisting should feel like a handshake, not a hold-up. It’s a choice you make, and making an informed choice is always the best way to maintain control.
Can I Allow Ads Without Enabling All Trackers?
So you want to support the content you love while maintaining your privacy. So you’re comfortable watching ads but not at the expense of being tracked. There’s some bad news here. Generally, you cannot achieve this purely through your ad blocker’s allowlist function.
When you click that one-click “Allow ads on this site” button in extensions like uBlock Origin or AdBlock Plus, you are essentially telling the tool to disable all its blocking rules for that domain.
Ad blockers do not just target image files labeled “ad” or “banner.” They block requests to known advertising servers, which are typically the same servers used for analytics, measurement, and cross-site tracking. Because the advertising and tracking infrastructures are fundamentally interwoven, turning one back on usually turns the other back on by default.
In the context of most extensions, “allow ads” means you are granting the site the special privilege to run its full advertising stack, trackers included.
But you can kind of achieve it by using multiple tools
If your goal is to see an ad banner (to support the site) but prevent personalized tracking, you need a more surgical, multi-tool approach. This is where you use the features of your operating system and your browser extensions in tandem:
The Cookie Barrier: The best and easiest workaround is to utilize the site’s own cookie consent banner. When you allowlist the site in your ad blocker, the site still has to abide by regional laws (like GDPR) and its own privacy policy. When the cookie consent pop-up appears, you can often:
Accept only Necessary Cookies: By clicking a “Manage Preferences” or “Customize Settings” button, you can decline tracking, analytics, and marketing cookies while allowing “functional” cookies. You’ll likely see ads (since the main page elements are now loading), but the site won’t be able to drop those deeper, persistent tracking cookies on you.
However, not all sites offer granular controls, and many simply use a single, vague “Accept All” button. Moreover, some privacy tools offer the ability to separate ad blocking from privacy protection.
Ghostery is a key example. The community has pushed for the ability to allowlist a site for the ad-blocking feature (so ads show up) while keeping the anti-tracking protection fully enabled. This puts Ghostery in a unique position for the user who wants to support content creators without being anonymized.
Even with these surgical methods, it’s important to remember that some tracking persists through other means, such as browser fingerprinting and contextual ads (which don’t rely on cookies to be targeted to the content of the page).
By layering your tools and selectively engaging with cookie banners, you can achieve a level of control that moves you much closer to that ideal balance.
How to bypass an anti-adblock wall without disabling the ad blocker or allowlisting the site?
Here are the most effective, principle-driven methods for bypassing an anti-adblock wall without disabling your blocker or allowlisting the site:
Cosmetic Filter Kill
Most ad blocker walls aren’t true functional blocks; they are cosmetic layers placed over the content. They simply detect a blocked ad and then inject an element (a <div> overlay) that prevents you from scrolling or reading.
The most elegant solution is to block that overlay directly using your ad blocker’s cosmetic filters:
For uBlock Origin: Use the Element Picker tool (the eyedropper icon) from the extension menu. Click on the anti-adblock wall and the background layer. The tool creates a custom filter that tells your blocker, “For this specific site, hide this specific element.” This removes the pop-up without allowing any new tracking scripts.
DNS or VPN Override
If your ad blocker is an extension, the site can often “see” it. The solution is to move your ad blocking one layer deeper and try network-level blocking.
Use a VPN with built-in ad protection (like NordVPN Threat Protection or Surfshark CleanWeb) or DNS-based blocking (like NextDNS or AdGuard DNS).
Since the blocking happens at the network connection level (before the request even reaches your browser) the site never sees a browser extension to detect. You keep your extension enabled for extra protection, but the DNS does the heavy lifting, often bypassing the anti-adblock script entirely.
Temporal Disable
If the wall is persistent, you may need to temporarily disable the very thing that is detecting your blocker: JavaScript.
Use your browser’s site settings (often the padlock or information icon next to the URL bar) to block JavaScript for that domain. Since the anti-AdBlock detection script requires JavaScript to run, the wall often disappears.
However, disabling JS can break videos, complex menus, or sign-in forms. Only use this method if you just want to read the article text.
Wrapping Up
We’ve dissected the how-to, the why, and the inevitable troubleshooting headaches of creating site exceptions. This entire process, from that first click to add a domain to the final decision to bypass an aggressive wall, boils down to a single principle: conscious control.
Your ad blocker establishes a clear boundary in your digital life, and the allowlist is simply your way of defining where the exceptions to that boundary lie. It is a nuanced, active choice that puts you, the user, back in the driver’s seat. You now know how to support the content you value while maintaining a layered defense, and you know how to bypass the sites that aren’t playing fair.
The modern web is a constant negotiation between content creators and user privacy. By understanding these mechanics, you are equipped not just to browse the internet, but to actively shape your experience of it.