Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home

Pi-hole and AdGuard Home both sit on your own hardware and block ads and trackers for every device on a network, and neither charges anything we could find on the pages read. Pi-hole is under the EUPL v1.2 and is run by three named volunteer developers with no stated owner. AdGuard Home is under GPL v3.0 and speaks encrypted DNS upstream and as a server, under a company footer that names no country. Neither hosts authoritative zones, so the choice rests on features, platforms and how much you trust a volunteer team.

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Both are reviewed in full in our DNS server software ranking: Pi-hole and AdGuard Home.

1. 01

   EUPL v1.2 beside GPL v3.0

   Pi-hole's repository carries the European Union Public Licence v1.2, although the homepage itself states no licence. AdGuard Home's repository shows the GNU GPL v3.0, and its README calls the project free and open source. Both licences let a household or small office read, change and host the code with no fee, so the money question is settled on both sides. Only the licence text differs, and which one suits you depends on your own redistribution plans.

   Depends on the buyer

2. 02

   Raspberry Pi shelf or six operating systems

   Pi-hole runs in a Docker container or on a supported Linux distribution, and its page says a Raspberry Pi, old PC, VM or NAS will do. AdGuard Home names macOS, Windows, Linux including Raspberry Pi, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD, installed once on your own router or device. Neither mentions a cloud-hosted service. The wider list of named platforms, with Windows and the BSD family included, gives AdGuard Home the edge for anyone who is not already running Linux.

   Edge: AdGuard Home

3. 03

   Encrypted lookups upstream and downstream

   AdGuard Home supports DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS and DNSCrypt as upstreams, and it can run as a DoH or DoT server itself, so phones can reach it privately from outside the house. The Pi-hole text has no mention of encrypted DNS in either direction. If the goal is to keep your provider from reading your lookups, AdGuard Home is the sole tool of these two whose pages say so, and the setup is a setting rather than an extra tool.

   Edge: AdGuard Home

4. 04

   Groups, regex lists and the API

   Pi-hole's homepage lists group management with different rules per device, allow and deny lists with regex support, a query log with a web interface, a full REST API and Teleporter for backing up and restoring settings. AdGuard Home names a choice of blocking policy, custom filtering rules and network activity monitoring, and it says nothing about an API or a backup tool. For someone who scripts changes or moves a configuration between machines, Pi-hole gives more to work with.

   Edge: Pi-hole

5. 05

   Parental control and a built-in DHCP server

   AdGuard Home lists Parental Control and enforced Safe Search for kids, along with dozens of ad filters and phishing and malware domain filtering. Both products include a built-in DHCP server, and Pi-hole adds optional IPv6 support on its own. Pi-hole's page mentions blocking in apps, smart TVs and IoT devices but no child-safety feature. A family that wants to restrict a tablet without installing anything on it will find the matching tool on the AdGuard side.

   Edge: AdGuard Home

6. 06

   Three volunteers or Adguard Software Ltd

   Pi-hole names three core developers, calls the team remote and volunteer, states no owner, and the imprint shows no company country or address. AdGuard Home's footer reads Adguard Software Ltd with a 2009 to 2026 copyright, but no country or owner is stated, and the pricing and terms pages we tried returned a 404. Neither gives a buyer a clear legal entity to place, and the pages show no support offer, so this round is level.

   Depends on the buyer

Can either blocker host my own domain's records?

No. Both are described as filters that block and forward lookups, not as servers for authoritative zones. If you must publish zones, look at the other tools in this category.

Is there a hosted version of Pi-hole or AdGuard Home to avoid running hardware?

Pi-hole's homepage describes only self-hosted use and mentions no cloud service. For AdGuard Home the pages say it is installed on your own router or device. We did not find a hosted plan with a price for either.

Which one has a licence connected to the European Union?

Pi-hole's repository uses the European Union Public Licence v1.2. AdGuard Home uses the GNU GPL v3.0. The licence is not a statement of where either team is based, since neither page gives a country.

• Pi-hole homepage: Docker or Linux install, Raspberry Pi hosting, groups, regex lists, REST API, Teleporter, volunteer developers.
• Pi-hole licence file: EUPL v1.2 text.
• AdGuard Home repository: GPL-3.0, free and open source tagline, DoH, DoT and DNSCrypt support.
• AdGuard Home overview: named operating systems, parental control, safe search, filter policy, footer company name, missing pricing page.