All About Cookies is an independent, advertising-supported website. Some of the offers that appear on this site are from third-party advertisers from which All About Cookies receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear).
All About Cookies does not include all financial or credit offers that might be available to consumers nor do we include all companies or all available products. Information is accurate as of the publishing date and has not been provided or endorsed by the advertiser.
The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here's what you can expect from us:
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Free product blocks ads, pop-up, trackers, push notifications, social media icons tracking, and even YouTube video ads
Open-source software allows for custom filtering and community-based support
All About Cookies is an independent, advertising-supported website. Some of the offers that appear on this site are from third-party advertisers from which All About Cookies receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear).
All About Cookies does not include all financial or credit offers that might be available to consumers nor do we include all companies or all available products. Information is accurate as of the publishing date and has not been provided or endorsed by the advertiser.
The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here's what you can expect from us:
Adblock Plus is effective at removing intrusive pop-ups, autoplay videos, and relentless online trackers. Our hands-on experience shows that Adblock Plus is a user-friendly tool that removes clutter, improves page load times, and boosts your privacy.
Adblock Plus offers strong protection against ads and trackers across multiple browsers, but it's most effective if you purchase the Premium plan. Learn more about how Adblock Plus compares to the best ad blockers in our review.
Instantly blocks distracting ads on millions of websites, including Facebook and YouTube ads
Blocks third-party trackers to protect your privacy and information
Improves page load times and enables faster browsing
| Ads blocked on Forbes homepage | 37 |
| AdBlock Tester score | 100/100 |
| Can You Block It | 3/3 |
| Does it block YouTube ads? | Yes |
| Whitelisting available | Yes |
| Blacklisting available | Yes |
| Compatibility | Android, iOS, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari |
| Paid version | Starts at $4.00/mo |
| Learn more | Get Adblock Plus |
Each ad blocker we review goes through a standardized test designed to push the limits of what the software is capable of. This includes vigorous third-party testing using websites like adblock-tester.com and canyoublockit.com. We also visit popular websites to test the ad blocker’s day-to-day capabilities, including watching YouTube videos and browsing Forbes.
Once we’ve completed the testing, we calculate our editorial rating by taking into account key features you’d expect from a good product. We score each ad blocker in the following categories and use a weighted average to calculate the final rating out of 5 stars: price, test scores, features, browser support, and editorial score.
To learn more about how we test, read our full ad blocker methodology here.
Adblock Plus received a high star rating of 4.7 for its 5/5 scores in features and test results, as well as our positive testing experience.
Adblock Plus struggled most in compatibility and the customer service categories. It offers browser extensions and mobile apps, but no desktop apps. Also, it only offers email support and help guides, but no live chat.
| Decision factor | Weight | Verdict |
| Our experience | 15% | 4.5 |
| Value | 21% | 4.67 |
| Features | 15% | 5.0 |
| Test results | 37% | 5.0 |
| Compatibility | 5% | 4.0 |
| Customer service | 7% | 4.0 |
We last tested Adblock Plus on October 6, 2025.
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Free product blocks ads, pop-up, trackers, push notifications, social media icons tracking, and even YouTube video ads
Open-source software allows for custom filtering and community-based support
Adblock Plus provided a great set-and-forget ad blocker experience. We tested the Adblock Plus Google Chrome extension for desktop.
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Adblock Plus quickly got to work removing all the ads on heavily populated webpages like Forbes.
Forbes homepage, first with Adblock Plus paused and then with Adblock Plus enabled. /images/2025/10/06/adblock_plus_review_1025_refresh_forbes_test.png)
Initially, Adblock Plus scored 83/100 with AdBlock Tester. We went into the filter settings and enabled all the free feature toggles, then tried again. After this, Adblock Plus received a perfect score.
This may seem daunting for new users, but Adblock Plus has a simple, user-friendly interface, so you shouldn't feel overwhelmed when toggling more filters.
Adblock Plus also aced the Can You Block It test and successfully blocked YouTube ads.
We liked that you can enable or disable Acceptable Ads. These are noninvasive advertisements, and you can add certain sites to an "allowlist" so that their ads display. This gives back to creators, like your favorite blogger, who rely on ad revenue for the content they create.
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Adblock Plus offers a free tool and a premium option that runs between $3.33-$4.00/mo. Adblock Plus Premium allows for even more options, like blocking site notifications and floating videos. Anyone who’s visited a recipe blog knows how these can overwhelm the page to the point of making it nearly unreadable.
The Premium subscription also supports the work of the Adblock Plus team, allowing them to continue providing a powerful, useful tool to all internet users. Adblock Plus promises that it exists solely on paid subscriptions and donations. This means your data is never for sale.
| Free | Premium | |
| Price | Free |
|
| Blocks ads and pop-ups | ||
| Blocks trackers | ||
| Blocks push notifications | ||
| Blocks social media icons tracking | ||
| Blocks site notifications | ||
| Blocks survey requests | ||
| Blocks floating videos | ||
| Blocks cookie consent pop-ups | ||
| Details | View plan | View plan |
The paid Adblock Plus plans are on the higher end compared to other ad blockers:
Although you can use the free version of Adblock Plus, you won't have the premium features that block most ads.
Adblock Plus is a web browser extension that comes with a clean, user-friendly interface and increased functionality. The free version may be all you need to enhance your webpage experience.
Not all the features worked perfectly on every browser. Per usual, the Apple option, Safari, had far fewer features available than Chrome or Edge. However, Adblock Plus still held up by blocking ads on Safari.
Adblock Plus blocks floating video ads, display ads, and banner ads. The paid version can even get rid of those annoying videos that pop up as you’re scrolling.
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This not only improves convenience but also protects you from ads or pop-ups that may contain malware.
Adblock Plus also allows you to browse anonymously without trackers creating a profile of you. You can select which trackers you want enabled or disabled.
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One of the more helpful features is the allowlisting toggle. You can permit a site to always allow ads or toggle off the blocker for a specific page. There’s no need to create a block list, as the plugin does that for you.
There are even options to disable tracking features on social media sites so they can’t build a profile of you. This is all extremely useful, especially for a free product.
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Because Adblock Plus is open-source software, users have the ability to use custom filters. In addition to using the built-in filter lists, you can add community-trusted filters, create your own filters, or add filters based on the URL.
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To test Adblock Plus, we used AdBlock Tester and Can You Block It.
AdBlock Tester looks at specific forms of ads like contextual advertising, banner advertising, analytics tools, and more. Adblock Plus scored a clean 100/100, blocking all the ad types thrown at it.
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The Can You Block It test is designed to check if your ad blocker actually works. We opted for the simple test and Adblock Plus passed all the tests this time around.
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| AdBlock Tester | Can You Block It | |
| Adblock Plus score | 100/100 | 3/3 |
YouTube videos have increasingly become filled with advertisements in the company’s efforts to push its subscription-based services. It can be frustrating when you’re trying to watch a longer video or follow a recipe, and an ad interrupts your flow.
Although Adblock Plus has struggled in our previous YouTube tests, this time it passed with flying colors. We watched an episode of Chicken Shop Date without interruptions from pre-roll ads and mid-roll ads. There were also no banners cluttering the page.
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Ad blockers, free or paid, typically can't bypass hard paywalls like the ones you'd see on national news sites. But some of the most powerful ad blockers can bypass soft paywalls like the ones you'd see on local news sites.
That's why we put all the ad blockers we review to the test on sites like The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. Unfortunately, Adblock Plus wasn't able to bypass any paywalls.
| Adblock Plus compatibility | |
| Google Chrome | |
| Mozilla Firefox | |
| Safari | |
| Microsoft Edge | |
| Other browsers | Yes — Opera, Yandex Browser |
| Android | |
| iOS | |
| Desktop apps |
Adblock Plus has a decent offering of browser compatibility and mobile apps for Android and iOS.
Additionally, you can download the Adblock Browser for Android from the Google Play Store and for iPhone or iPad from the Apple App Store. The Android app has a 4.0-star rating and over 220,000 reviews while the iOS app has a 4.4-star rating and over 15,000 ratings.
| Support type | Adblock Plus |
| Email or live chat | |
| Phone | |
| Online guides or forums |
If you want human support from Adblock Plus, then you can submit a ticket. Visit the Adblock Plus Help Center, then scroll all the way to the bottom to find the Submit a ticket button.
Adblock Plus also has articles to help with troubleshooting, account issues, and for optimizing your ad blocker experience.
Adblock Plus for iOS has a solid rating above four stars. The positive reviews praise how well Adblock Plus removes ads. On the other hand, the Adblock Plus extension for Samsung Internet has a middling rating with most reviewers mentioning that it doesn't work.
Furthermore, Adblock Plus has a poor rating on Trustpilot. The largest percentage of star ratings are for one-star reviews, although 40% of ratings are five-star reviews. Most negative reviews call out the excessive ads to upgrade to premium and inability to block ads on some sites, like YouTube.
Adblock Plus is easy to use. After navigating to the website to download the extension on our preferred browser, we just needed to enable it. Open the extension in your browser and toggle to enable/disable.
To set up more advanced features, select the settings icon in the upper right-hand corner of the extension management view.
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In Settings, you have the option to enable/disable special tracking features, show Acceptable Ads, add "allowlisted" websites, create custom filter lists, and get in touch with customer support.
If you’re not sold on Adblock Plus, there are plenty of options for ad blocking software. Here are some of the best ad blockers you can consider instead. Plus, all of these tested and recommended ad blockers can block YouTube ads.
 Total Adblock |
 Aura Ad Block and Anti-Track |
 Surfshark CleanWeb |
|
| Best for | Best for blocking YouTube ads | Best for identity protection | Best for unlimited devices |
| Lowest starting price | $1.59/mo | $1.67/mo | $1.99/mo |
| Adblock Tester score | 100/100 | 89/100 | 96/100 |
| Can You Block It score | 3/3 | 2.5/3 | 3/3 |
| Blocks YouTube ads? | |||
| Compatibility | Android, iOS, Chrome, Edge, Safari | Chrome, Edge, Safari |
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Fire TV |
| Learn more | Get Total Adblock | Get Aura Ad Blocker | Get Surfshark CleanWeb |
Adblock Plus is solid, especially for a free ad blocker. It allows you to browse the internet without having a million distractions — and possibly malicious files — overwhelming you.
Using Adblock Plus was easy and made browsing the web, watching videos, and visiting blogs far more enjoyable. You don’t realize how annoying visual clutter is until you don’t have to worry about it anymore.
See how Adblock Plus compares to the best ad blockers:
Yes, Adblock Plus is a free extension that can block most ads. There's also a Premium subscription, with bonus features like blocking cookie consent pop-ups and other distractions.
Yes, Adblock Plus is safe to use. Just be sure to download Adblock Plus from the official site or an official browser extension store. If you download Adblock Plus from any other location, it could contain malware.
Adblock Plus makes money from donations as well as its Premium subscription, which costs $3.33-$4.00/mo.
Free product blocks ads, pop-up, trackers, push notifications, social media icons tracking, and even YouTube video ads
Open-source software allows for custom filtering and community-based support
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