AdBlock Features — Ad Blocking, Privacy & Speed Benefits

Core Features

What AdBlock Does for You

From blocking intrusive ads to protecting your personal data, AdBlock gives you full control of your browsing experience.

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Comprehensive Ad Blocking

Blocks banner ads, skyscraper ads, floating overlays, auto-play video ads, sponsored search results, and pop-under windows across all websites using regularly-updated filter lists maintained by the community.

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YouTube Ad Removal

Eliminates pre-roll ads (the ones you wait 5 seconds to skip), mid-roll interruptions during videos, sponsored cards, info card overlays, and YouTube's own homepage ads — before they ever appear on screen.

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Tracker & Spy Script Blocking

Prevents tracking pixels, session recording scripts, cross-site cookies, and analytics beacons from loading. Covers Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, TikTok trackers, and thousands of other data collection scripts.

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Page Speed Improvement

Ad payloads, tracking scripts, and retargeting libraries can easily add 1–3 seconds of load time. By blocking them at the network level, AdBlock measurably reduces page weight and speeds up every site you visit.

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Cookie Banner Removal (Premium)

Those "Accept All Cookies" banners that cover page content on virtually every European and regulated website are automatically dismissed and hidden by AdBlock Premium, keeping your viewport clean.

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Image Swap (Premium)

Replace the blank spaces left by blocked ads with custom images — cats, dogs, artwork, or your own photos. Turn the downside of blocked ads into a more delightful browsing experience.

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Custom Element Hiding

Use the built-in element picker to hide any element on any page — comment sections, paywalls, newsletter sign-up modals, or any persistent element you don't want to see using CSS selector rules.

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Filter List Management

Enable or disable community filter lists like EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Malware Domains, and regional lists for specific languages and countries. Power users can also write and import their own filter rules.

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Per-Site Whitelist

Pause AdBlock on websites you want to support with ad revenue using a single click from the toolbar. Re-enable at any time. Supports both domain-wide and per-page pausing for granular control.

Better. Safer. Faster.

AdBlock has been the web's most trusted ad blocker for over a decade, used by more than 65 million people across every continent. It's open-source, independently developed, and built around user privacy — not profit from your data.

Unlike some "ad blockers" that participate in acceptable ads programmes and charge companies to show you "approved" ads, AdBlock's free tier gives you true control over what loads in your browser.

Open-source codebase — auditable by anyone
No selling your browsing data to advertisers
Over 127 volunteer translators in 40+ languages
Regular updates to catch new ad networks
Works after Chrome's Manifest V3 transition

Get AdBlock Free

Privacy Deep Dive

How AdBlock Protects Your Privacy

Ad blocking and privacy protection go hand in hand. Here's exactly how AdBlock keeps your data safe.

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Stop Cross-Site Tracking

Advertisers place cookies on your browser as you move between websites to track your journey. AdBlock blocks the scripts that set these cookies before they have a chance to run.

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Prevent Fingerprinting

Browser fingerprinting identifies you by combining device specs, fonts, screen resolution, and other attributes without cookies. AdBlock blocks known fingerprinting libraries.

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Block Data Brokers

Data broker networks aggregate your browsing data to build profiles sold to insurers, employers, and marketers. AdBlock's tracker lists include known data broker domains.

FAQ

Features — Common Questions

Does AdBlock block all ads on all websites?

AdBlock blocks the vast majority of ads across all websites using industry-standard EasyList and supplementary filter lists. Some obscure or self-hosted ad systems may occasionally slip through, but these are rare and filter lists are updated regularly to cover them.

What permissions does AdBlock need and why?

AdBlock requires access to all website data in order to read and filter network requests before they load. This is the only way to block ads at the network level. AdBlock does not read, store, or transmit the content of any pages you visit. The open-source code can be audited to verify this.

Does AdBlock affect website functionality?

Occasionally, overly aggressive filter rules can break website features. AdBlock's default configuration is carefully tuned to avoid breakage. If you experience an issue on a specific site, you can use the whitelist to pause blocking, or report the problem to the filter list maintainers.

What's the difference between free and Premium?

The free version blocks ads and trackers comprehensively. Premium adds cookie banner removal, distraction control (newsletter pop-ups, floating videos), image swap, and AdBlock VPN. See the Pricing page for a full comparison.

Powerful Features, Simple to Use