# Alternatives to Pi-hole

The network-wide DNS sinkhole standard.

Pi-hole ranks #5 of 6 in Network ad blockers, with an Alt Score of 85. It is licensed under EUPL-1.2, donationware from Free and available on Linux. 8 of 9 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pi-hole/
Category: Network ad blockers

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Home users, small offices, and self-hosters who want to block ads and trackers across every device on their network at once, rather than installing per-browser extensions—especially useful for devices like smart TVs and mobile apps where extensions aren't an option.
- **What you get**: A DNS-based ad and tracker blocker that filters traffic for every device on the network from a single install. Includes a web admin dashboard for real-time query logs, network statistics, whitelist/blacklist management, and blocking on/off controls. Also bundles an optional DHCP server for centralized device management and supports VPN setups to keep blocking active when away from home.
- **How it works**: Pi-hole runs as a DNS server (on a Raspberry Pi, other Linux host, or Docker container) that your router or devices point to; it checks each DNS lookup against blocklists and returns a blocked response for known ad/tracker domains before the ad content is ever downloaded, while normal domains resolve as usual.

## Profile

- **License**: EUPL-1.2 (verified 2026-07-08)
- **Pricing model**: Donationware (verified 2026-07-08)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-08)
- **Platforms**: Linux
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-08)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [AdGuard Home](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/adguard-home.md) | 100 | GPL-3.0 | Linux, Windows, macOS |
| 2 | [Blocky](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/blocky.md) | 90 | Apache-2.0 | Linux, Windows, macOS |
| 3 | [ControlD](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/controld.md) | 85 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 4 | [NextDNS](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/nextdns.md) | 85 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 5 | [Technitium](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/technitium.md) | 85 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, Linux, macOS |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Network ad blockers checklist | Pi-hole | AdGuard Home | Blocky | ControlD | NextDNS | Technitium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Donationware | Free | Free | Freemium | Freemium | Donationware |
| Starts at | Free | Free | Free | ? | €1.99/month | Free |
| License | EUPL-1.2 | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | GPL-3.0 |
| Platforms | Linux | Linux, Windows, macOS | Linux, Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web | Windows, Linux, macOS |
| DNS-level blocking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Blocklist management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-device policies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| DoH / DoT support | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Query logging & dashboard | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Whitelisting UX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Parental controls | ? | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Open source | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Pi-hole. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Pricing model**: Donationware — <https://pi-hole.net/donate/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “You can make a recurring monthly donation via GitHub Sponsors or Patreon.”
- **Status**: active — <https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/releases> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “v6.4.3 · July 6, 2025”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/blob/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Free: open source software that helps ensure you are the sole person in control of your privacy”
- **License**: EUPL-1.2 — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “EUROPEAN UNION PUBLIC LICENCE v. 1.2”
- **Platforms**: Linux — <https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/blob/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Network-wide ad blocking via your own Linux hardware”
- **DNS-level blocking**: Yes — <https://docs.pi-hole.net/ftldns/blockingmode/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “blocked queries will be answered with the 'unspecified address' (0.0.0.0 or ::)”
- **Self-hostable**: Yes — <https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/blob/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Network-wide ad blocking via your own Linux hardware”
- **Blocklist management**: Yes — <https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/blob/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Updating Ad Lists”
- **Per-device policies**: Yes — <https://docs.pi-hole.net/database/domain-database/groups/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “it is possible to associate domains (and clients!) with any number of groups”
- **DoH / DoT support**: Partial — <https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/dns/cloudflared/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: No native DoH/DoT; requires cloudflared/unbound upstream.
  - Quote: “Cloudflare implemented DNS-Over-HTTPS proxy functionality into one of their tools: cloudflared.”
- **Query logging & dashboard**: Yes — <https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/blob/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “a beautiful responsive Web Interface dashboard to view and control your Pi-hole”
- **Whitelisting UX**: Yes — <https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/blob/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Allowlisting, Denylisting (fka Whitelisting, Blacklisting), and Regex”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/blob/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Free: open source software that helps ensure you are the sole person in control of your privacy”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/