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AdGuard Home -- Opensource DNS Adblocker like PiHole

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Dec 25th, 2020 7:04 pm
weedb0y [OP]
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Dec 25th, 2020 7:04 pm

AdGuard Home -- Opensource DNS Adblocker like PiHole

AdGuard Home seems to be a secret among the hobbyists that leverage Raspberry PI for adblocking by using software like Pi Hole. So sharing this here and keeping this thread alive to help RFD community with any install questions, etc.

I had been an avid Pi-hole user for years, till I tried AdGuard and I am superbly impressed by the UI, along with advanced features like customized upstreams, encryption out of the box, safe-search for kids, parental blocks etc. It also updates itself via the web menu and is rock solid in stability and performance.

It is from the makers of Adguard, and is an opensource product. It works on Raspberry Pis, Linux, Mac, Windows PCs.

https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardH ... ng-started

Image

Installation Instructions for Raspberry Pi

Let's download AdGuard Home and unpack it:

Code: Select all

cd $HOME
wget https://static.adguard.com/adguardhome/release/AdGuardHome_linux_arm.tar.gz
tar xvf AdGuardHome_linux_arm.tar.gz
It will unpack into a new directory called AdGuardHome.

All you have to do is simply type this command to the Terminal:

Code: Select all

cd AdGuardHome
sudo ./AdGuardHome -s install
Last edited by weedb0y on Dec 27th, 2020 3:32 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Dec 25th, 2020 7:25 pm
kramer1
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Dec 25th, 2020 7:25 pm

Same. Switched over to AdGuard a few months ago, and liking it so far. Like the fact the UI can do everything and there is no need to mess around in config files to add custom DNS entries to Pi-Hole. Also unlike Pi-Hole which uses several services/apps to get the blocking done, this has everything built-in and so should be faster, with less overheads
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Dec 25th, 2020 8:08 pm
Menace
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Dec 25th, 2020 8:08 pm

I have it setup on my 2nd Pi-hole box a few months ago, but I haven't played around with it much. Yes, the update via web is much user friendly. Adguard Home is my 3rd DNS for my network clients.
Dec 25th, 2020 9:12 pm
chroma_cg
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Dec 25th, 2020 9:12 pm

million-dollar question: is it capable of blocking youtube ads?
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Dec 25th, 2020 10:02 pm
Dave98
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Dec 25th, 2020 10:02 pm

chroma_cg wrote: ↑ million-dollar question: is it capable of blocking youtube ads?
Nothing DNS based will do that very well, if at all.

Does AdGuard support using Unbound? Although I don't see why not.
Last edited by Dave98 on Dec 25th, 2020 10:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Dec 25th, 2020 10:03 pm
weedb0y [OP]
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Dec 25th, 2020 10:03 pm

chroma_cg wrote: ↑ million-dollar question: is it capable of blocking youtube ads?
Nope, the ads are streamed from the same servers as the content.
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Dec 25th, 2020 10:19 pm
Menace
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Dec 25th, 2020 10:19 pm

chroma_cg wrote: ↑ million-dollar question: is it capable of blocking youtube ads?
If you want to block the ads, you use Smart Youtube, Smart Youtube Next or Vanced Youtube in Android. MyTube or Awesome Tube in Windows. I don't think there is any in IOS.
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Dec 27th, 2020 4:38 am
weedb0y [OP]
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Dec 27th, 2020 4:38 am

MonsieurX wrote: ↑Image
https://www.ricardocuisine.com/en/recip ... am-canapes
Pretty sure the smartadserver.com is blocked and https://creatives.sascdn.com too since they seem linked but I'm still seeing them... any tips?
Check your query log to see if it’s blocked or not. You could also query the domain the blocklist to see if it’s there
Dec 27th, 2020 8:52 am
von Monster
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Dec 27th, 2020 8:52 am

I've used both and gone back to pi-hole. I've found it to be the easier and better supported of the two, especially after the 5.x release.

AdGuard also likes to be a little overblown on its 'features', which I find petty. I'm leaving a link from Reddit from a pi-hole dev with him comments to the AdGuard comparison chart.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pihole/comment ... &context=3
Dec 27th, 2020 10:53 am
Gangsta101
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Dec 27th, 2020 10:53 am

I just installed this last week. Pretty straightforward. For Windows users, I'd strongly recommend installing it as a service. That way it starts up automatically when the system boots.
Dec 27th, 2020 12:44 pm
MonsieurX
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Dec 27th, 2020 12:44 pm

weedb0y wrote: ↑ Check your query log to see if it’s blocked or not. You could also query the domain the blocklist to see if it’s there
According to my log, the smartadserver is blocked but I still see it. That is under Opera.
With Firefox, I have ublock origin so I guess it was already blocked.

Did the same test on my phone, Firefox I see the ads, Chrome I don't.
Dec 27th, 2020 12:51 pm
Dave98
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Dec 27th, 2020 12:51 pm

MonsieurX wrote: ↑ According to my log, the smartadserver is blocked but I still see it. That is under Opera.
With Firefox, I have ublock origin so I guess it was already blocked.

Did the same test on my phone, Firefox I see the ads, Chrome I don't.
Chrome and some other Chromium based browsers have a built-in async DNS setting so that it can bypass other DNS servers you have set

there may be updated ways to disable that so you might have to do some research. There used to be a flag in chrome://flags that did it but it's no longer there
Dec 27th, 2020 3:19 pm
weedb0y [OP]
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Dec 27th, 2020 3:19 pm

von Monster wrote: ↑ I've used both and gone back to pi-hole. I've found it to be the easier and better supported of the two, especially after the 5.x release.

AdGuard also likes to be a little overblown on its 'features', which I find petty. I'm leaving a link from Reddit from a pi-hole dev with him comments to the AdGuard comparison chart.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pihole/comment ... &context=3
I'd imagine they are responding to the community's inquiry on their package vs pi.hole which came first. I don't see anything wrong and the new features are much better than Pi.Hole's, including more efficient way of handling filters, updates and pre-client based DNS filtering, which isn't available on Pihole.

I had felt the same about the support but the package does get updates frequently and developers are active on telegram etc. (Specially if you are on their beta stream).

None the less, more choice is better.
Dec 27th, 2020 3:43 pm
von Monster
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Dec 27th, 2020 3:43 pm

weedb0y wrote: ↑ I'd imagine they are responding to the community's inquiry on their package vs pi.hole which came first. I don't see anything wrong and the new features are much better than Pi.Hole's, including more efficient way of handling filters, updates and pre-client based DNS filtering, which isn't available on Pihole.

I had felt the same about the support but the package does get updates frequently and developers are active on telegram etc. (Specially if you are on their beta stream).

None the less, more choice is better.
Except all of those things are available for pi-hole, so they're not even correct about what features they have that are 'better'. Per-client filtering has been available since the 5.x series was released, pi-hole is technically more efficient with filters (no a dev but I've read developer Dan's input on this), and if sshing into a pi and running 'pihole -up' once every few months when FTL gets updated I would seriously consider using nextdns.io (actually a great service for people who don't want the headache of running their own DNS server).

They might have a point about having secure DNS available off the start, but installing cloudflared or unbound are relatively simple and they guides provided are pretty much cut and paste.

I do agree, more choices are better. I didn't even mind AdGuard when I was testing it I just find configuring pi-hole easier for me and the AdGuard 'we're better than pi-hole, if we move the goalposts far enough' chart really doesn't sit well with me.
Dec 27th, 2020 4:25 pm
weedb0y [OP]
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Dec 27th, 2020 4:25 pm

von Monster wrote: ↑ Except all of those things are available for pi-hole, so they're not even correct about what features they have that are 'better'. Per-client filtering has been available since the 5.x series was released, pi-hole is technically more efficient with filters (no a dev but I've read developer Dan's input on this), and if sshing into a pi and running 'pihole -up' once every few months when FTL gets updated I would seriously consider using nextdns.io (actually a great service for people who don't want the headache of running their own DNS server).

They might have a point about having secure DNS available off the start, but installing cloudflared or unbound are relatively simple and they guides provided are pretty much cut and paste.

I do agree, more choices are better. I didn't even mind AdGuard when I was testing it I just find configuring pi-hole easier for me and the AdGuard 'we're better than pi-hole, if we move the goalposts far enough' chart really doesn't sit well with me.
Individual upstream config per client is not available on pihole. One of the killer features for me, given I can easily enable parental, safe search and also enable family shield dns from opendns.

I have both running and my recco still stands for AdGuard for extended features for anyone looking to filter per client, specially with kids. That chart of theirs can be updated and AdGuard could checkmark few other boxes.
Dec 27th, 2020 4:35 pm
von Monster
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Dec 27th, 2020 4:35 pm

weedb0y wrote: ↑
Individual upstream config per client is not available on pihole. One of the killer features for me, given I can easily enable parental, safe search and also enable family shield dns from opendns.

I have both running and my recco still stands for AdGuard for extended features for anyone looking to filter per client, specially with kids. That chart of theirs can be updated and AdGuard could checkmark few other boxes.
Is this not per-client blocking? Simply assign which lists you want per user?

https://docs.pi-hole.net/database/gravity/example/

EDIT - I'm not trying to be obstinate here either, I'm genuinely curious what Adblock does with individual client configuration that you cannot achieve in pi-hole with the supplied documentation.
Dec 28th, 2020 1:35 am
Gee
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Dec 28th, 2020 1:35 am

I've been using Ad-Guard Home for a year now. I keep Pi Hole as a secondary DNS

Ad-Guard is a lot lighter on resources compared to Pi-Hole

I run everything on a virtual environment (Proxmox) and it works great.
Dec 28th, 2020 10:31 am
sprung
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Dec 28th, 2020 10:31 am

Once configured how is AdGuard on apps like Tubi and Roku channel? Also does it block ads on the Global TV, CTV, City TV apps?
"I felt a great disturbance at KFC as if millions of chickens suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced." RFD user stephroll
Dec 28th, 2020 3:31 pm
Gee
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Dec 28th, 2020 3:31 pm

sprung wrote: ↑ Once configured how is AdGuard on apps like Tubi and Roku channel? Also does it block ads on the Global TV, CTV, City TV apps?
I don’t personally use any of those apps, but if they use a separate ad server, it should block the ads
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