AdBlocker Ultimate
- ad-blocking performance 9.5
- featured set 8.0
- coverage 8.5
- overall experience 8.5
uBlock
Origin
- ad-blocking performance 9.0
- featured set 7.5
- coverage 6.0
- overall experience 8.0
AdBlock
Plus
- ad-blocking performance 6.5
- featured set 7.5
- coverage 8.0
- overall experience 7.5
AdBlock
- ad-blocking performance 5.5
- featured set 7.0
- coverage 8.0
- overall experience 6.5
Fair
AdBlocker
- ad-blocking performance 9.0
- featured set 5.0
- coverage 6.0
- overall experience 6.0
Just like most things in life, the Internet got ruined and flooded with ads. They are literally everywhere. You open your inbox and voila, a ton of promo mails overwhelm it. Trying to play a video on YouTube, a miracle, an ad plays before, during and after the video. Even simple Google searches leave you with a few search ads. Browsing a website and suddenly, Sasha texts you that she is looking for a partner for the night. The list goes on and on and on. A decade ago, a new software category appeared, named “ad blockers”. Very straightforward, isn’t it?
So why use ad blockers?
If being bombarded by advertisement isn’t enough for you, please let me give you a few other reasons, why you should consider installing an ad blocker:
- Can prevent access to domains known for malware distribution;
- Can block phishing and spam ads;
- Can prevent access to inappropriate content for you kids;
- Can dramatically speed up loading web pages flooded with ads;
- Can block online trackers from spying every step you make on the web;
- Can block crypto miners, which use your system resources without your knowledge;
- Can save battery life of your mobile devices.
Today there are probably hundreds of different ad blockers out there. Everybody has their opinion, about which one is the best based on subjective preferences. But they do not tell the whole story. Thus we decided to show you all aspects of top 5 ad blockers out there. We believe this will make it easier to choose the right ad blocker for you.
We will order them based on the following criteria: performance, features, coverage and overall experience.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
AdBlocker Ultimate |
uBlock Orgin |
AdBlock Plus |
AdBlock |
Fair AdBlocker |
|
Ad-blocking Performance |
9.5 |
9.0 |
6.5 |
5.5 |
9.0 |
|
Featured Set |
8.0 |
7.5 |
7.5 |
7.0 |
5.0 |
|
Coverage |
8.5 |
6.0 |
8.0 |
8.0 |
6.0 |
|
Overall Experience |
8.5 |
8.0 |
7.5 |
6.5 |
6.0 |
Total |
34.5 |
30.5 |
29.5 |
27.0 |
26.0 |
1. AdBlocker Ultimate
Source: Chrome Web Store
AdBlocker Ultimate is number 1 in our list basically because it checks all the boxes. AdBlocker Ultimate blocks all kinds of ads with no exceptions (like others do). It keeps you away from suspicious domains known for distributing malicious software and stops online trackers for monitoring each and every step you make. It is available for most popular browsers, even offers an ad-free Android browser and a desktop app, which works across many Windows-based applications. AdBlocker Ultimate showed the most consistent performance among other ad blockers and seems to offer the complete package.
2. uBlock Origin
Source: Chrome Web Store
uBlock Origin is a free extension available for Chrome. Even though its developer claims that it is not an “ad blocker”, it pretty much acts like one. During our test it proved to be very CPU- and memory-friendly. uBlock shares some of the filter list of AdBlock Plus and it manages to block suspicious domains and online trackers. It could deliver more consistent performance across different ad types.
3. AdBlock Plus
Source: Chrome Web Store
AdBlock Plus is the granddad of today’s ad blockers. It comes with many different filter lists, which offer a wide-range of ad-blocking capabilities. “Why is it at 3rd place then” you might ask. Two words – “acceptable ads”. By default, AdBlock Plus comes with a predefined list of acceptable ads. According to us, this “feature” compromises its main functionality, but it still manages to deliver decent performance.
4. AdBlock
Source: Chrome Web Store
AdBlock is one of the most popular ad blockers out there. Besides blocking all kinds of ads, it also prevents access to suspicious domains and blocks trackers. Unfortunately, AdBlock participates in the same Acceptable Ads program, just like AdBlock Plus does. However, it seems to miss ads here and there, regardless of their type.
5. Fair AdBlocker
Source: Chrome Web Store
Fair AdBlocker is a free ad blocker, which took part in our list due to its pop-up-blocking capabilities. However, it lacks in coverage. Fair AdBlocker Is only available for Chrome and that’s it. Currently, it takes last place in our list, but this might change in the future.
Conclusion
This review is based on criteria that our team believes are what matters the most. Personal experience is very subjective, but when it is personal experience of a tech-savy person, then it becomes more and more objective. At the moment, we are pleased the most by AdBlocker Ultimate, which was not always the case. Some of the other participants in this list are not that far back. We mentioned our remarks. Can’t wait to see how this list will look like next year. Stay tuned for our future comparisons of the most popular ad blockers.