The “free” web is one of the hallmarks of our generation, but it has a significant downside: advertising. A free ad blocker stops all kinds of ads while protecting your privacy.
Ad blockers are one of the best ways to secure your privacy online, reduce website clutter, and avoid ads infected with spyware. Some ad blockers offer paid versions with additional features.
But the best tools to block ads are free. We offer a list of highly effective ad blockers for Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Safari, and for Android and iOS.
The tools in this article were selected by our team and are not sponsored. Learn how to sponsor your tool.
Stand Fair AdBlocker: the best free ad blocker
- Compatible browsers : Chrome, Android, Edge, Firefox, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera
- Features : blocks ads, increases page loading speed, reduces latency
- Price : free
AdBlocker Booths is a low-impact plugin that does exactly what it is supposed to do. You can block all types of ads. The publisher believes in fair advertising and encourages users to whitelist some minimally intrusive ads from certain sites.
In short, this ad blocker is aimed at anyone who wants to free themselves from overly aggressive ads while not being opposed to a few discreet advertisements.
Adblock Plus: the most well-known free ad blocker
- Compatible browsers : Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Edge, Android
- Features : blocks intrusive ads, blocks annoying cookie banners, allows non-intrusive ads to support websites, faster browsing, secures your data
- Price : free (and open source)
With over 10 million downloads on Chrome alone, Adblock Plus is the most popular ad-blocking software. A free, open-source project.
Adblock Plus is the main codebase for many other free ad-blocking programs.
By default, Adblock Plus is not designed to block all ads, only those considered intrusive or potentially malicious.
That means you'll still encounter some ads unless you change the settings. If you want to block all ads (including autoplay video ads), you need to go to the options and uncheck "Allow some non-intrusive advertising" at the bottom of the screen.
Adguard AdBlocker: the best ad blocker for Firefox
- Compatible browsers : Firefox
- Features : blocks ads
- Price : free
If you've used AdBlock Plus to block ads, AdGuard AdBlocker it may be for you. The user interface is slightly different, but the ad-blocking functionality is just as effective.
A very good point for this extension: the developer says they removed the tracking code from the original AdBlock Plus code to ensure greater privacy. It is available on Chrome and Firefox.
Adlock: a paid online ad blocker
- Compatible browsers : all browsers for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
- Features : blocks ads (banners, pop-ups, video)
- Price : paid
Far from being just a browser extension, AdLock it also offers Windows and Android tools that help block ads across all your apps. As a free extension on Chrome, AdLock proves to be an extremely powerful and aggressive tool.
By default, the tool is designed to block all types of ads you might encounter. You can easily whitelist a site by clicking "Settings -> Whitelist." You can also add some additional filtering parameters if you wish. It is also available in a paid version, but without a free trial to test it, it's better to stick to the free versions for Chrome, Windows and Android for now.
NoScript: an open-source ad blocker
- Compatible browsers: Firefox, Tor, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi
- Features: blocks scripts
- Price: free
This ad blocker for Firefox and Chrome is less an ad blocker and more a script blocker. NoScript It prevents all kinds of scripts from loading on your web pages: JavaScript, Java, Flash, etc. You can allow certain types of scripts, but the service is a bit heavy-handed by default.
The result is that you'll block most of the ads you encounter. This includes aggressive ads that most other options on the list often struggle to block. However, NoScript does not block video ads at all, nor most autoplay video ads. It is therefore very effective at blocking one type of ad, but not very effective at blocking others.
Poper Blocker: an ad and popup blocker
- Compatible browsers : Chrome, Firefox, Edge
- Features : blocks ads
- Price : free
Poper Blocker is available for Chrome, Firefox and Edge browsers. This extension has been praised as the best pop-up blocker on the market by several tech sites, which is a fair claim.
The Chrome and Firefox versions of this plugin work well to block not only pop-ups but also site overlays that are common. This plugin lets you right-click on overlays to remove them, while other pop-ups are removed automatically.
Opera browser: built-in ad blocker
If you are looking for a built-in ad-blocking experience without using a plugin, the Opera browser is an excellent solution. Opera is one of the fastest and best-built browsers and was one of the first Web browsers to integrate an ad blocker.
After enabling it in the settings, it blocks almost all the ads you encounter.
For sites you want to support, managing the whitelist is also very simple.
This list is not exhaustive and there are many other solutions to block ads, but with this selection you should be able to browse more peacefully without being constantly bothered by overly intrusive ads.
