4 ms·

Semi-off topic, but do you recommend using both uBlock and Pihole? I'm currently a uBlock user (on Firefox), and I was thinking of setting up a Pihole. Thanks!

jve 3y ago
pihole works by filtering whatever device is on your network, even if it doesn't support ublock... and coming changes in Google Chrome manifest v3 doesn't impact pihole. Cannot judge on the quality filtering tho.
andrewaylett 3y ago
They might have similar results in many cases, but they're very different things. For a start, if uBlock blocks a domain then it's a click away from accessing it just this once. On the other hand, it only helps in browsers it supports. On the gripping hand, uBlock Origin can block individual resources, not only entire domains. I'm a happy user of NextDNS rather than a PiHole, but the rationale is the same: use DNS blocking to block stuff that you never want anything on your network to see, and use uBlock Origin for fine-grained blocking of the rest. I wouldn't want to rely exclusively on DNS blocking, because it won't block at the right level of granularity. I wouldn't want to rely exclusively on uBlock Origin either, because it doesn't work everywhere I want to block stuff.
- civilitty 3y ago
  Agreed, I also use both. NextDNS/PiHole are great because you can configure them as the root DNS providers at the router level and give everyone in your household and guests on WiFi a painless ad-free experience while layering uBlock on top for the sneakier ads like Youtube. The only downside is email unsubscribe links. Those annoyingly tend to be on domains blocked by the various block lists NextDNS uses.
  - andrewaylett 3y ago
    NextDNS have a checkbox labeled "Allow Affiliate & Tracking Links" for domains used in unsubscribe links -- I check it, and rely on uBlock Origin blocking them unless I'm trying to unsubscribe from something.

jve 3y ago

pihole works by filtering whatever device is on your network, even if it doesn't support ublock... and coming changes in Google Chrome manifest v3 doesn't impact pihole. Cannot judge on the quality filtering tho.

andrewaylett 3y ago

They might have similar results in many cases, but they're very different things. For a start, if uBlock blocks a domain then it's a click away from accessing it just this once. On the other hand, it only helps in browsers it supports. On the gripping hand, uBlock Origin can block individual resources, not only entire domains. I'm a happy user of NextDNS rather than a PiHole, but the rationale is the same: use DNS blocking to block stuff that you never want anything on your network to see, and use uBlock Origin for fine-grained blocking of the rest. I wouldn't want to rely exclusively on DNS blocking, because it won't block at the right level of granularity. I wouldn't want to rely exclusively on uBlock Origin either, because it doesn't work everywhere I want to block stuff.

civilitty 3y ago
Agreed, I also use both. NextDNS/PiHole are great because you can configure them as the root DNS providers at the router level and give everyone in your household and guests on WiFi a painless ad-free experience while layering uBlock on top for the sneakier ads like Youtube. The only downside is email unsubscribe links. Those annoyingly tend to be on domains blocked by the various block lists NextDNS uses.
- andrewaylett 3y ago
  NextDNS have a checkbox labeled "Allow Affiliate & Tracking Links" for domains used in unsubscribe links -- I check it, and rely on uBlock Origin blocking them unless I'm trying to unsubscribe from something.