AdBlock Review 2025: Is the Premium Version Worth It?

AdBlock is a freemium ad blocker that can sufficiently block ads but not much else. You can use the free product and donate if you think it’s worth it, or you can purchase the Premium version and get advanced features. 

We found both plans blocked all ads during our testing, but not trackers. The best ad blockers offer a variety of features and provide broad blocking capabilities, but AdBlock doesn’t hit every mark.

AdBlock overview

Ads blocked on Forbes	14
AdBlock Tester score	100/100
Cover Your Tracks score	0.5/3
Can You Block It score	3/3
Does it block YouTube ads?	No
Whitelisting available	Yes
Blacklisting available	Yes
Compatibility	Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Android, iOS
Paid version	Starts at $3.33/mo (billed annually)
Learn more	Get AdBlock

We last tested AdBlock on January 2, 2025.

Our experience

We tested Adblock Premium on a Lenovo laptop running Windows 11. We opted to use the extension on Google Chrome. Installing AdBlock was easy, and we had it up and running quickly.

We went to work testing it using our three ad sites, AdBlock Tester, Cover Your Tracks, and Can You Block It. We also tried bypassing paywalls and checked to see how it held up against YouTube.  Overall, it aced all the ad blocking tests but didn’t hide us from trackers the way we hoped.

Overall, the free version of AdBlock is more useful than not having anything installed, but there are better ad blockers out there. If you think you want to try AdBlock, we’d suggest upgrading to Premium since it offers more features than the free product.

AdBlock paid plan

AdBlock maintains that you can always use it for free. If you find it useful, you can donate to AdBlock since it has a “pay what you can” model. If you want additional features like distraction control and a cookie consent cutter, you can purchase the Premium version.

	AdBlock Free	AdBlock Premium
Price	Free	Starting at $4.00/mo
Backup & sync
Distraction control
Cookie consent cutter
Learn more	View plan	View plan

The distraction control feature can prevent video ads from following you down the page, block newsletter pop-ups, and eliminate allow requests. 

The cookie consent cutter auto-rejects cookies, which is more useful than you might think. As you browse the web, AdBlock will remove these so you’ll never need to configure the cookie settings on a website again.

Main features

AdBlock is a simplistic ad blocker, but it still offers a variety of features. There are whitelisting and blacklisting capabilities — and the Premium features — which block advanced ads like video follow ads and even cookie requests.

There aren’t a lot of other features offered, although the Premium version does include a virtual private network (VPN) for the Safari extension.

AdBlock’s test results

We test ad blockers by running them through three different testing sites. AdBlock Tester includes a lot of code that mimics a variety of ads to see if the ad blocker can block them.

Cover Your Tracks sees how well the ad blocker works at hiding you from trackers and allowing you to browse anonymously online.

Finally, Can You Block It performs a series of tests to see how well ad blockers handle ads like pop-ups when a site first loads and banner ads.

AdBlock scores

	AdBlock Tester	Cover Your Tracks	Can You Block It?
AdBlock score	100/100	0/3	0.5/3

Test results as of 01/02/2025.

We started by navigating to the AdBlock Tester site and our score was originally 75/100. After we navigated to the settings, we toggled on all possible filters and signed up for an AdBlock Premium free trial. AdBlock Premium passed the test with flying colors. 

However, we didn't have the same luck with Cover Your Tracks. It failed to block tracking ads and invisible trackers. It also only partially obscured our fingerprint. 

If you're in need of privacy protection, we'd recommend other ad blockers like Total Adblock. 

Finally, AdBlock Premium also received a perfect score with Can You Block It, easily taking down ad blocker detectors, interstitial ads, and banner ads. If you strictly need an ad blocker, AdBlock is great for the job.

YouTube ad test

YouTube seems to be serving more and more ads, which can really ruin your viewing experience. A good ad blocker extension stops these ads from playing when you access YouTube through your browser.

That's why we always test our ad blockers to see if they can block YouTube ads. Fortunately, AdBlock Premium blocked all YouTube ads during our most recent tests. 

We watched through an entire episode of Hot Ones and received no pre-roll ads, mid-video ads, or banner ads cluttering the page. 

Bypassing paywall test

Paywalls are those annoying little pop-ups that happen when you’re in the middle of reading an article that block you from finishing it without purchasing a subscription. Sometimes an ad blocker can circumvent those for you. We test each ad blocker to see if it can.

Unfortunately, AdBlock wasn’t able to block paywalls from places like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. It also wasn’t able to block soft paywalls (the ones that limit you to a certain number of articles in a time frame).

What browsers and software is AdBlock compatible with?

AdBlock offers broad compatibility with several browsers as well as iOS and Android devices. The free version of the ad blocker works on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, iOS, and Android, while the Premium version only works on desktop versions of Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

AdBlock Free compatibility:

• Chrome
• Firefox
• Edge
• Safari
• iOS
• Android

AdBlock Premium compatibility:

• Chrome
• Firefox
• Edge

How to use AdBlock

1. Download AdBlock from its site.
2. Run the installer.
3. Enable the extension on your browser.
4. Grant AdBlock the permissions it requires.
5. Enjoy!

The whitelisting capabilities are fairly straightforward. When you click on the extension, you can choose to allow ads on a page or a site.

You can manage the white- and blacklists in the dashboard.

Top alternatives

We know that software is personal, so if AdBlock isn’t for you, we have a roundup of the best ad blockers on the market. Each has various features, like tracker and YouTube ad blocking.

FAQs

Bottom line: Is AdBlock good?

AdBlock Free is okay and AdBlock Premium is better, but both products only excel at blocking your standard ads. If you’re looking for a blocker with strong tracker blocking capabilities and a variety of features, there are better options. 

While this is a perfectly acceptable program, if you want the best ad blocker, you can find ones that block YouTube ads as well as stop online trackers.