Best Ad Blockers That Still Work in Chrome January 2025

In my tests, I've found that Total Adblock, AdGuard, and AdLock are still the best ad blockers for Chrome. Each of these helped block annoying ads, stop slow page load times, and keep your browsing anonymous without trackers.

Total Adblock shines as the best overall, with its perfect ad blocking rates and ease of use. AdGuard's paid plans can cover up to nine devices and it has apps for desktops and smartphones along with browser extensions. 

We'll go over all three of the top ad blockers for Google Chrome in detail below. 

The best ad blockers for Chrome January 2025

My tests show that the following popular ad blockers are best for the Chrome browser:

• Total Adblock: Best overall
• AdGuard: Best for multiple devices
• AdLock: Best freemium ad blocker

Top 3 ad blockers for Chrome compared

Ad blocker	Best Overall
Chrome extension
Features	Tracker blocking, whitelisting, malware protection	Tracker blocking, whitelisting, blacklisting, parental controls, VPN	Tracker blocking, whitelisting, social media filter, spyware filter
Manifest v3 compliance	Unaffected	Created a new compliant extension	Recommends switch to its desktop app
Learn more	Get Total Adblock Read Total Adblock Review	Get AdGuard Read AdGuard Review	Get AdLock Read AdLock Review

How I tested the best ad blockers for Chrome

The top Chrome ad blockers were chosen according to their ability to freely block all kinds of ads on contrasting web platforms. News websites, general content sites, social media sites, and multimedia platforms were tested. 

Free ad blocking ranks equally as highly as privacy here, with customization features following closely behind.

• The most important consideration was the elimination of intrusive ads.
• This was followed by privacy and tracker stoppage.
• Malicious content belongs here, so no malware code can be run.
• High ad blocking and anti-tracking scores based on our testing.
• Key differences between free versions and subscription models should be made clear.
• Even if it is full of customizable tools, the extension should still be easy to configure.
• With the implementation of Manifest V3, we reviewed how each product plans to  handle this transition to the new Google Chrome API.
• Finally, low system overheads go hand-in-hand with the above requirement.

Total Adblock: Best overall

I think Total Adblock includes almost everything you'd want from an ad blocker. It's easy to use, works diligently in the background, and keeps tracks of ads blocked, trackers blocked, and data saved. 

It offers a limited free version, which still has impressive ad blocking test results, and a worthwhile premium plan with unlimited ad blocking potential and TotalAV antivirus. You can't go wrong with Total Adblock.

What I liked

Total Adblock only took minutes to set up, and it got to blocking ads right away. I didn't have to do anything after installing the extension, but there are options to adjust your trusted websites and ad preferences manually if you desire. 

I was impressed by Total Adblock receiving 100/100 test score from Adblock Tester, which is designed to test how effectively an ad blocker can prevent pop-ups, banner ads, Facebook ads, and much more. 

It's also a successful YouTube ad blocker, which is handy following YouTube's latest crackdown on ad blockers.

Total Adblock's paid plan is only $1.59/mo (billed annually). The Premium plan blocks all ads, removes browser notifications, and comes with an award-winning antivirus. 

What I didn’t like

As far as free ad blocker extensions go, Total Adblock can be limiting; it excludes the top 15,000 websites listed on Alexa.com. I also found that some reviewers had trouble canceling their subscriptions, which is worth noting if you're opting for the premium plan. I haven't run into this issue myself.

I'm also waiting to learn about Total Adblock's transition plan once Manifest v3 is fully implemented. With it being such a powerful ad blocker, we hope there will still be a way to use it with Chrome. Right now, I'm not seeing a warning from Chrome, so hopefully it stays that way.

Total Adblock pros and cons

Get Total Adblock | Read Our Total Adblock Review

AdGuard: Best for multiple devices

If you pay for an ad blocker, they typically only cover one device. AdGuard stands out for its ability to cover three to nine devices, so you can give your entire household an ad-free experience. 

With AdGuard I got a cleaner, more enjoyable browsing experience. It dismisses pop-ups and banner ads, leaving plenty of resources for smooth page loading. 

What I liked

AdGuard has a wide range of compatibility for several operating systems, mobile devices, and browsers. Beyond Chrome, you can use AdGuard on Firefox, Edge, Safari, Opera, and Yandex.

With AdGuard Personal, I was able to cover up to three devices. But AdGuard Family is the best deal by far, since you can cover up to nine devices for only $6.67/mo (billed annually).

I also like that AdGuard provides plenty of details on how well its blockers perform. The extension panel integrates a statistics tab, so I could view a simple graph that shows the number of blocked ads on a website.

Finally, AdGuard has developed a Chrome extension that's compliant with Manifest V3. This beta extension still had high performance scores with the AdBlock Tester and Cover Your Tracks tests.^[2]

What I didn’t like

AdGuard isn't the most user-friendly ad blocker. The statistics tab may be overwhelming for users who just want to block ads, but you can just keep AdGuard going in the background if that's the case. 

AdGuard Plus pros and cons

Get AdGuard | Read Our AdLock Review

AdLock: Best freemium ad blocker

For a free extension, AdLock proved to be a standout. During our testing, it had a strong Adblock Tester score of 97/100. Although only the Pro plan is supposed to block all types of ads, it looks like the free version comes pretty close. 

What I liked

AdLock is another ad blocker we found easy to use. I was able to easily toggle the app on and off or add exclusions to an "allow list," supporting specific content creators while keeping the rest of my browsing ad-free.

When testing the paid plan, AdLock’s extension has an integrated spyware filter with rules that stop websites from tracking your activity. AdLock Pro also comes with a social media filter which protected my data from being tracked as I visited Facebook, Instagram, and other social media networks. 

I was also impressed by AdLock's transparent privacy policy. Its written in plain language, making it easy for any to read, and it doesn't sell my data, even if I chose the free plan. AdLock only collects data for analytics and usage purposes. 

What I didn’t like

There's not much to complain about when it comes to AdLock. Some features, like the social media blocker, are only available with paid plans, so that's something to keep in mind when picking your plan.

I also noticed AdLock only accepts Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal, which is limiting if you're looking to pay with other credit cards, payment processors, or even cryptocurrency. 

Unfortunately, AdLock doesn't seem to be developing an extension for Manifest V3. Instead, it suggests you opt for its desktop apps, which require a paid subscription.^[3]

AdLock Plus pros and cons

Get AdLock | Read Our AdLock Review

Honorable mentions

There are lots of ad blockers on the market, especially for Google Chrome. Although these ad blockers didn't make my top list, I still can recommend them based on my extensive testing and research.

• NordVPN Threat Protection: Threat Protection is more than just an ad blocker — it also blocks trackers, malware, and phishing scam attempts to keep your device and your personal data safe as you browse online.

  Get NordVPN Threat Protection | Read NordVPN Threat Protection Review

• Surfshark CleanWeb: Surfshark CleanWeb is a ad blocker feature included with a secure VPN. Along with encrypting your online activities, you can browse without ads, trackers, and malicious sites.

  Get Surfshark CleanWeb | Read Surfshark CleanWeb Review

• Adblock Plus: From malware contained in troublesome ads to cryptocurrency mining, Adblock Plus can block all kinds of content. It also supports whitelisting natively.

  Get Adblock Plus | Read Adblock Plus Review

Why isn't uBlock Origin on this list?

uBlock Origin was originally one of of our favorite ad blockers for Chrome. It's completely free and open-source, plus endlessly customizable with several filters to block ads, trackers, malware, and other web annoyances. 

Unfortunately, uBlock Origin was affected by Google's Manifest V3 update. Having personally used the ad blocker, I noticed it was turned off by Chrome and listed as no longer supported (as of December 2024). 

Although I asked around and it's still working for some people, it looks like Google will actually be taking down uBlock Origin for all its users slowly but surely. That's why I no longer recommend uBlock Origin for Chrome, but I do recommend it for other browsers.

uBlock Origin did develop an extension that's compliant with Manifest V3, it's just not as effective as the original version. You can test it out yourself by searching uBlock Origin Lite.

How will Manifest V3 affect Chrome ad blockers?

Manifest V3 is Google Chrome's latest browser extension framework. This new framework will limit extensions to just 30,000 rules. 

Although this seems like a high number, it's proven to be incredibly limiting to ad blockers. For instance, uBlock Origin used around 300,000 rules so you can block all kinds of ads and trackers. 

Thus, extensions created with Manifest V3 will have a more limited feature set and, by extension, less extensive ad-blocking capabilities. Ad blockers with Chrome extensions will either need to create an extension that's compliant with Manifest V3 or develop desktop apps that won't need to work on Chrome. Alternatively, some ad blockers may encourage their users to switch browsers.

We've researched several ad blockers for Chrome to learn more about their action plans for the Manifest V3 update.

	Manifest V3 update
Total Adblock	TBD
NordVPN Threat Protection	Chrome extension isn't impacted
AdLock	Recommends switching browsers or using its desktop app
AdGuard	Created Manifest V3-compliant extension
uBlock Origin	Created Manifest V3-compliant extension

Manifest-V3 extension test results

I put AdGuard and uBlock Origin's newly compliant extensions to the test. See the results for these extensions below:

	AdGuard (MV3 Beta)	uBlock Origin Lite
AdBlock Tester results	100/100	100/100
Cover Your Tracks results	2/3	0/3
Does it block YouTube ads?

AdGuard (MV3 Beta) and uBlock Origin Lite both took some tinkering before they worked at their full potential. Both had AdBlock Tester scores that were about 70/100, but I went into the settings for each and turned on every toggle and checked every filter we could find. 

Then, I retested AdGuard (MV3 Beta) and uBlock Origin Lite. Both still maintained perfect AdBlock Tester scores. I was also pleased that both still blocked YouTube ads as well.

When it came to the Cover Your Tracks tests, only AdGuard still blocked trackers. My browser still had a unique fingerprint, but it successfully blocked tracking ads and invisible trackers. 

uBlock Origin Lite failed all three Cover Your Tracks tests. Although I hope the extension improves in the future, AdGuard may be the better option if you're looking to stay anonymous online. 

FAQs

Bottom line

Total Adblock, AdGuard, and AdLock are the three best Chrome ad blockers, and there’s good reason for their lofty positions. Beyond offering compatibility with Chrome, they're user-friendly and come with extensive features where you can customize your ad-blocking experience and protect yourself from malicious ads.

3 best ad blockers for Chrome 2025

	Best for	Compatibility	Learn more
	Best overall	Chrome, Edge, Opera, Safari, Android, iOS	Get Total Adblock Read Total Adblock Review
	Best for multiple devices	Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Android TV, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera, Yandex	Get AdGuard Read AdGuard Review
	Best freemium ad-blocker	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Chrome, Firefox, Safari	Get AdLock Read AdLock Review