Blokada and Adguard have always been two relevant names in the adblocking space, and while you might be using one or the other, we wanted to present some of the differences between the two adblockers.
In this first comparison, we are going to compare Blokada to Adguard to see what each adblocker can do better than the other and what might be the best fit for you.
| COMPARISONS | BLOKADA | ADGUARD |
|---|---|---|
| Type of Ad Blocking | DNS-based Adblocking | HTTPS filtering |
| Battery Consumption | No battery impact, it might even improve your battery life | High Battery Consumption |
| Blocking Youtube Ads | There are certain configurations that can REDUCE the number of ads on youtube (but only display ads, never video ads) | Has a feature that allows you to watch Youtube without ads, but some users complain about its reliability |
| Cosmetic filtering | No (Blokada has no access to website data and thus is safer to use) | Yes (Adguard decrypts and reads all website data) |
| Requirement | None | Requires installing a root certificate |
| Pricing | Blokada 5 is free, Blokada 6: roughly 1.70€ a month depending on location | 2.59$ a month / Family plan at 5.49$ |
| Number of devices | Unlimited | 3 devices with individual plan/ 9 devices with family plan |
| VPN pricing | 5$ for a month-to-month subscription/ 4$ a month for a yearly subscription | 11.99$ for a month-to-month subscription/ 3.99$ a month for a yearly subscription |
| VPN locations | 19 | 52 |
| Number of devices | 5 | 5 |
Battery Impact
Blokada 6 has almost zero performance and battery usage overhead and might even improve your battery life, while Adguard, on the other hand, drains your battery quickly as reported by many of its users.
Type of adblocking & Cosmetic Filtering:
The two apps are also different in terms of the type of adblocking, and this is also why Blokada cannot technically offer cosmetic filtering, Blokada is using DNS filtering hence it has no access to the website data, and thus cannot remove the frame of the ads from the website, while Adguard is using HTTPS filtering, and by using this method it is possible to offer cosmetic filtering as a feature but it de-encrypts the encrypted traffic using a man-in-the-middle proxy which can be unsafe for your private data.
Blocking Youtube ads:
Blocking Youtube ads on Blokada and Adguard is not possible, with Blokada you can reduce the number of display ads by running the Blocklist “Goodbye ads”, which was made with the purpose of blocking more ads on YouTube. There are mixed reports on its effectiveness, so our recommendation is to try it yourself, and see if it works for you but it’s important to mention that it does not work with video ads, Adguard offers a solution too to block youtube ads, by sharing your Youtube video by using a new window.Requirements:
One other advantage of Blokada is that it doesn’t require root, Adguard requires installing a root certificate (not rooting your phone) which allows decrypting any traffic either on your phone or remotely (man in the middle attack).
Pricing:
In terms of pricing, the two apps are almost identical although there are some advantages to using Blokada like having the ability to use unlimited devices with Blokada Cloud for no additional cost unlike the family plan offered with Adguard which costs around 5,49$.
Adguard is coming up with Adquard DNS which is a cloud-based service that is more like how Blokada Cloud works.
VPN service
Finally, both apps offer a VPN service with the ability to connect 5 devices, and Adguard takes the lead with 52 locations compared to 19 locations with Blokada.
Thank you for reading, don’t forget to let us know what you think in the comment, this article is one of many to come, so don’t forget to follow us on social media to get notified once we drop the next one.
Don’t hesitate to share an adblocker you want us to compare to Blokada.