Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home: Which I'd Pick in 2026

Updated October 2026. Versions checked on 22 October 2026: Pi-hole core v6.5 (FTL v6.8, web v6.6.1) and AdGuard Home v0.107.79.

Short answer: both block ads and trackers for every device on your network, both are free and open source, and both run happily on a cheap Raspberry Pi. Pick AdGuard Home if you want encrypted DNS, parental controls and Safe Search built in, or you want to run it on Windows or macOS. Pick Pi-hole if you like its huge community, its query log and group management, and you're fine adding Unbound or cloudflared yourself. For most homes, I'd pick AdGuard Home.

That's a closer call than it was a couple of years ago, because Pi-hole v6 fixed a lot of my old complaints. Here's how they actually compare now.

Jump to:

• At a glance
• What changed with Pi-hole v6
• Where AdGuard Home is better
• Where Pi-hole is better
• What neither one can block
• Which one I'd pick
• FAQ

Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home at a glance

Quick note on fairness: AdGuard's own README has a comparison table too, but parts of it still describe Pi-hole v5, like needing lighttpd for HTTPS. That's no longer true, so don't take it as current.

What changed with Pi-hole v6

Pi-hole v6 came out in February 2025 and it's the biggest rewrite the project has had. The web server and a new REST API now live inside the pihole-FTL binary, so lighttpd and PHP are gone. All settings sit in one commented file, /etc/pihole/pihole.toml, instead of being scattered around. The web interface was redesigned with Basic and Expert modes, HTTPS works out of the box with an auto-generated certificate, and you can subscribe to allowlists the same way you subscribe to blocklists.

In plain terms, Pi-hole got lighter and much less fiddly. The old argument that "AdGuard Home is one binary, Pi-hole is a pile of parts" mostly doesn't apply any more.

If you're upgrading from v5, the Pi-hole team calls the move a one-way operation, so back up your settings first (Settings > Teleporter does this).

Where AdGuard Home is better

Encrypted DNS without extra software. AdGuard Home can send your DNS queries upstream over DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS, DNSCrypt or DNS-over-QUIC, straight from its settings page. With Pi-hole you add cloudflared for DoH, or Unbound to resolve everything yourself. Both are well documented, but it's another service to keep running.

It can be your phone's Private DNS. Because AdGuard Home can also serve DoT and DoH, you can point Android's Private DNS setting at it (you'll need a domain and a certificate). That means ad blocking on mobile data too, not just on home Wi-Fi.

Family features are toggles. Safe Search for Google, Bing, YouTube and others, a parental-control filter, and a "Blocked services" list where you can block a whole app like TikTok or a gaming service with one tick. With Pi-hole you build all this yourself out of lists and regex rules.

It runs anywhere. There are native builds for Windows and macOS. If your always-on machine is an old Windows PC rather than a Raspberry Pi, AdGuard Home is the simpler option. Pi-hole on Windows means Docker or WSL.

Where Pi-hole is better

The community. Pi-hole has been around since 2015 and has one of the biggest self-hosting communities. Whatever odd problem your router throws at you, someone on the Pi-hole forum or r/pihole has probably already fixed it. That counts for a lot when you're new to this.

The query log and groups. Pi-hole's query log is great for finding out exactly which domain broke an app, and its group management lets you give the kids' devices strict lists while the smart TV gets lighter ones. AdGuard Home can do per-client rules too, but I find Pi-hole's approach a bit clearer when you have lots of lists.

Unbound pairing. If privacy is the whole point, Pi-hole plus Unbound, so your network resolves DNS itself without trusting any upstream provider, is the most documented setup in home labs. It works with AdGuard Home too, just with fewer guides.

It's what most guides use. Lots of tutorials, including my Pi-hole + WireGuard on Raspberry Pi guide, assume Pi-hole. If you're following along with something, matching it saves headaches.

What neither one can block

Let's clear this up because it's the number one question. Neither Pi-hole nor AdGuard Home can reliably block YouTube ads, or ads inside apps that serve them from the same domains as the content. DNS blocking works on whole domain names. When the ad and the video come from the same place, blocking one blocks both.

They also can't help a device that ignores your DNS. Some smart TVs and streaming boxes have Google's or another provider's DNS hard-coded, and browsers with DNS-over-HTTPS turned on can quietly bypass your server. Blocking those public DNS servers on your router helps, but that's a router job, not a Pi-hole or AdGuard Home job.

Performance and hardware

Both are very light. Either one runs fine on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, a Pi 3 or 4, an old laptop, or a small VPS, and a home network won't come close to stressing them. Neither will slow your internet down noticeably. Repeat lookups are answered from cache, which is often quicker than going out to your ISP's DNS every time.

What matters more is that the box stays on. If your DNS server goes down, every device loses the internet until it comes back. Give it a fixed IP address, and set a second DNS server (a second instance, or a public resolver as a fallback if you accept the occasional ad).

Which one I'd pick

For a typical family home, AdGuard Home. Safe Search, blocked services and encrypted DNS out of the box cover what most households actually want, and the setup wizard is friendly enough for someone who has never used a terminal.

I'd pick Pi-hole if you're building a home lab, you want Unbound, or you're following a Raspberry Pi project like mine. With v6 it's genuinely pleasant to run, and the community is the best safety net there is.

If AdGuard Home is your pick, I've written a separate walkthrough on how to set up AdGuard Home on a Raspberry Pi, Docker or Windows.

Honestly, you can't go badly wrong. They're both free, so if you have a spare Pi, try one for a week and switch if it annoys you. If you also want to reach your Pi-hole from outside the house, my Tailscale vs WireGuard comparison covers the remote-access side.

Running one of these and hit something odd? Tell me in the comments which one and what broke.

FAQ

Is AdGuard Home better than Pi-hole?

Not across the board. AdGuard Home has more built in, like encrypted DNS, Safe Search and parental controls. Pi-hole has a bigger community and an excellent query log and group system. For most families I'd pick AdGuard Home.

Can Pi-hole or AdGuard Home block YouTube ads?

No, not reliably. YouTube serves ads from the same domains as the videos, so DNS blocking can't separate them. Use an ad blocker in the browser for that.

Can I run Pi-hole and AdGuard Home together?

You can, for example AdGuard Home handling encrypted upstream DNS and Pi-hole in front of it. For a home network it's usually overkill, and running two filters makes problems harder to trace.

Does AdGuard Home work on Windows?

Yes. AdGuard Home has native builds for Windows and macOS as well as Linux. Pi-hole doesn't run natively on Windows. You'd need Docker or WSL.

Is AdGuard Home the same as AdGuard DNS?

No. AdGuard DNS is a public DNS service run by AdGuard. AdGuard Home is free software you run yourself, so you control the lists and the logs. You can point an Android phone at AdGuard DNS with no app, using the Private DNS setting.

Do I need a Raspberry Pi for Pi-hole?

No. Any always-on Linux machine works, including an old laptop, a mini PC or a VPS, and Pi-hole also runs in Docker. A Raspberry Pi is just cheap and uses very little power.