Ghostery vs AdGuard DNS
Two of the top three ad blockers, compared rule by rule on published facts.
In short
- Ghostery has 82 points and AdGuard DNS 77, 5 apart on our ad blockers rules.
- Ghostery earns more on privacy and trust and price; AdGuard DNS earns more on where it blocks and blocking.
- Cheapest paid plan: Ghostery $0, AdGuard DNS $1.67/mo.
- Only Ghostery meets: cookie pop-up blocking and open source.
- Only AdGuard DNS meets: blocks outside the browser and your own block rules.
Ghostery82/100 #2 of 12
Best for: People who want a free, open-source blocker with cookie pop-up handling.
AdGuard DNS77/100 #3 of 12
Best for: People who want device-wide blocking and a plan with their own rules.
Points by group
| Group | Ghostery | AdGuard DNS |
|---|---|---|
| Where it blocks of 23 | 18 | 23 |
| Blocking of 26 | 13 | 16 |
| Privacy and trust of 20 | 20 | 10 |
| Price of 31 | 31 | 28 |
| Total | 82 | 77 |
Rule by rule
What each vendor publishes, and the points it earns. Sources are on each product page.
| Rule (points) | Ghostery | AdGuard DNS |
|---|---|---|
| Windows browsers (12) | Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera 12 | Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera 12 |
| Blocks outside the browser (5) | No 0 | Yes 5 |
| Phone protection (6) | iOS, Android 6 | iOS, Android 6 |
| Still works in Chrome after Manifest V2 (4) | Yes 4 | Yes 4 |
| Your own block rules (7) | Not published 0 | Yes 7 |
| Malicious site blocking (5) | Yes 5 | Yes 5 |
| Cookie pop-up blocking (4) | Yes 4 | Not published 0 |
| No ad allow-list on by default (6) | Not published 0 | Not published 0 |
| Open source (10) | Yes 10 | Not published 0 |
| No browsing history kept (6) | Yes 6 | Yes 6 |
| Works without an account (4) | Yes 4 | Yes 4 |
| Free plan (12) | Yes 12 | Yes 12 |
| Cheapest paid plan (12) | $0 12 | $1.67/mo 9 |
| Devices on one paid plan (4) | 99 4 | 20 4 |
| Money-back guarantee (3) | Yes 3 | Yes 3 |
Ghostery
Ghostery suits people who want a free, open-source blocker that also handles cookie pop-ups and works in most browsers. There is no paid plan, only optional contributions. The catch: it is a browser extension only, so it does not filter other programs, and the vendor's pages do not document custom filter rules.
AdGuard DNS
AdGuard DNS suits people who want ads, trackers and malicious domains blocked on every device by changing a DNS setting, with a free tier to start. The Personal plan adds your own rules and blocklists for $19.99 a year. The catch: custom rules need the paid private service, and DNS filtering cannot hide the blank space where an ad was.
Both products are scored by the same rules: how we score ad blockers.