Real ads from legitimate companies are annoying on their own, but some online advertisements can be downright dangerous. For example, you may have encountered malicious scareware ads that look like antivirus alerts. Other ads impersonate law enforcement and demand hefty fines. You should also want advertisers to know less about you. Ad blockers not only drastically reduce the ads you encounter online, but they also prevent advertisers from tracking your online activities. The best news? All of the ad blockers on this list are free. Read on to find out which extensions we recommend and how to choose the right one.
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
EDITORS’ NOTE
October 20, 2025: With this update, our lineup of recommended ad blockers remains unchanged. The existing picks have been vetted for currency and availability. Since our last update, we reviewed and evaluated five ad blockers for potential inclusion in this roundup.
(Credit: Adblock Plus/PCMag)
(Credit: Adblock Plus/PCMag)
Adblock Plus is an old and recognizable name in the ad-blocking space. In testing, the free version of the extension functioned well. I could block ads and other inline page elements on PCMag without having to fiddle with the Settings menu.
If you open the extension’s Settings, you’ll see additional blocking options available for Premium subscribers. Adblock Plus Premium costs $40 annually or $4 per month. It allows you to block cookie consent pop-ups and other page elements. The latter is a free feature found in uBlock Origin.
If you don’t want to block all ads on a page, you can leave the Acceptable Ads setting checked in the Settings menu. This option allows advertising that Adblock Plus deems unobtrusive to appear on websites. If you uncheck this setting, as I did, all ads should disappear after a page refresh. The Firefox extension also effectively blocked pre-roll and mid-roll ads on YouTube.
Adblock Plus received middling scores from both AdBlock Tester and EFF’s Cover Your Tracks website because the extension failed analytics and error monitoring tests, the browser had a unique fingerprint, and the extension failed to block some invisible ads and tracking ads during the testing period.
(Credit: AdLock/PCMag)
(Credit: AdLock/PCMag)
AdLock is an accurate and very easy-to-use ad-blocking extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. I tested it using Firefox.
AdLock is also available as a total system solution, which purports to block ads within games or other apps on up to five devices. To use this version of AdLock, you’ll need a paid subscription, which starts at $3.50 per month.
The extension blocked all ads on PCMag immediately, without requiring any adjustments to privacy settings. If you visit the Settings menu within the extension, you can enable or disable rules for different sites. I also tested the Firefox extension while watching YouTube videos, and didn’t encounter any ads during the evaluation period.
Regarding the other independent tests, EFF’s “Cover Your Tracks” reported that AdLock effectively blocked tracking ads but failed to block invisible trackers. The score from AdBlock Tester was significantly better, at 95/100. It only lost points due to a failed sentry script execution test.
(Credit: Ghostery/PCMag)
(Credit: Ghostery/PCMag)
Overall, I liked how easy it was to use the Ghostery extension. It doesn’t offer the level of customization found with uBlock Origin, but it blocks ads effectively and received top scores from the AdBlock testing website and EFF’s Cover Your Tracks.
The Ghostery browser extension for Firefox has an attractive blue and purple-accented interface. In testing, it had no trouble blocking ads on PCMag’s homepage. Like AdBlock Plus, Ghostery blocked ads before and during YouTube videos and ads on the YouTube homepage.
Remember that you have to enable the extension’s privacy settings before Ghostery can block ads for you. I recommend reading privacy policies and terms of service documents whenever you download a new app or browser extension. I read Ghostery’s privacy policy and didn’t notice anything unusual.
(Credit: Privacy Badger/PCMag)
(Credit: Privacy Badger/PCMag)
Privacy Badger is a tracker-eliminating extension created by the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and it was effective during the most recent testing period. Tracking your activity across the web is a significant part of an advertiser’s job, so naturally, Privacy Badger’s tracker detection filter can also eliminate ads.
You can adjust the blocking you want on each page by moving the bars to green, yellow, or red for each ad tracker. Green means all ads and cookies are allowed to load on a page. Yellow blocks cookies only. Red blocks ads and cookies.
Last year, I only encountered one ad while watching YouTube videos with Privacy Badger enabled. This year, I encountered many ads during the evaluation period. Here’s the explanation for the extension’s inefficacy from Privacy Badger’s website: “Are you surprised that ads aren’t being blocked on YouTube? Privacy Badger is primarily a privacy tool, not an ad blocker. When you visit YouTube directly, Privacy Badger does not block ads on YouTube because YouTube does not use “third-party” trackers. If you really dislike ads, you can also install a traditional ad blocker.”
The privacy rating for EFF’s Privacy Badger was excellent on EFF’s Cover Your Tracks website. That said, the extension scored the lowest (62/100) on the AdBlock Tester website among all ad-blocking extensions I tested. The most significant issues were failures in the flash banner, GIF, and static image tests.
(Credit: uBlock/PCMag)
(Credit: uBlock/PCMag)
If it’s an ad, uBlock Origin can block it. Even if it’s not an ad but instead an annoying image or video on a page, the open-source browser extension can still hide the offending element from your view with its handy Element Zapper mode. In testing, I used the extension to block all ads on the PCMag homepage, as well as any mid- or pre-roll ads encountered on YouTube.
That said, uBlock Origin doesn’t work on all popular browsers. When you try to download uBlock Origin from the Chrome Web Store, you’re greeted with a notice stating that the browser extension doesn’t follow best practices. In other words, uBlock Origin doesn’t work with Manifest V3, which is Google’s new platform for browser extensions.
In a GitHub post, the uBlock Origin developers stated that, while a Lite version of the extension is available to comply with Manifest v3, no full version is currently available. The full version still functions for users of Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Thunderbird’s productivity interface.
During the latest round of testing, uBlock Origin received top marks from Adblock Tester and a decent rating from EFF’s “Cover Your Tracks” initiative. Although it doesn’t work well with Chrome, uBlock Origin is the most customizable ad-blocking extension I’ve tested.
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Buying Guide: The Best Ad Blockers for 2025
Is Google Blocking Your Ad Blocker?
For years, tech behemoth Google threatened to crack down on browser extension activity within its Chrome browser to improve security. Now, the company is making good on its threats and disabling browser extensions that don’t comply with Manifest V3, its browser extension framework.
Security experts, such as those at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), argue that Manifest V3 is not a viable solution for addressing real security concerns, including browser extensions that scrape users’ browsing histories and sell the data to the highest bidder. For its part, Google states that Manifest V3 isn’t designed to stifle adblocker development.
Currently, uBlock Origin is the only ad-blocking browser extension on this list that is affected by the changes within Chrome. However, some of your other extensions may also be affected. You can re-enable these extensions temporarily by opening Chrome, selecting More > Extensions > Manage Extensions, and then toggling them on.
Though Chrome is a wildly popular browser, it’s not the only game in town. Most of the ad blockers on this list are also available for other popular browsers, such as Edge and Firefox. If you’re looking for something totally different, try one of these alternative browsers.
How We Test Ad Blockers
I tested all browser extensions on a desktop computer running Windows 11 Pro, including each ad blocker’s Firefox extension.
Recommended by Our Editors
For functionality tests, I click around PCMag’s homepage and other well-known news and social media websites. I also watch YouTube videos to see how many pre-roll, mid-roll, and overlay advertisements I encounter while they run. During the test, I note the aesthetic choices for each extension and give preference to those with attractive and easy-to-use layouts. I also factor in scores from extension testing websites such as AdBlock Tester and the EFF’s browser testing site.
