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Free ad blocker with the option to watch ads for money
Even blocks YouTube video ads
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:
Pie Adblock surprised us with the clean online experience we had while using it. It’s not the most robust security tool because it barely protects against trackers, but we did find it blocked almost all ads we came across in the wild, including YouTube ads. We also like the premise of profit sharing from the ads you do choose to watch.
If your goal is a seamless browsing experience rather than stopping online trackers, Pie Adblock’s setup and structure may be worth it. You get financial rewards for watching ads and shopping, and who couldn’t use a little extra cash in this economy?
Below, we outline our experience with Pie, what kinds of tests we threw at it, and its ability to block ads online. Plus, we recommend our top ad blocker if you're concerned about being tracked online.
| Ads blocked on Forbes | Unknown — no ad counter |
| AdBlock Tester score | 63/100 (desktop) 52/100 (mobile) |
| Cover Your Tracks score | 1/3 |
| Can You Block It score | 2/3 |
| Does it block YouTube ads? | Yes |
| Whitelisting available | Yes |
| Blacklisting available | Yes |
| Compatibility | Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave, Safari iOS |
| Paid version | Free |
| Learn more | Get Pie Adblock |
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, coveryourtracks.eff.org, 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.
We last tested Pie Adblock on April 3rd, 2025.
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
Pie Adblock is surprisingly user-friendly and good at what it does. We tested it both on our MacBook Pro and our iPhone. On our MacBook, we had to use the Chrome browser because Pie doesn’t yet integrate with Safari on macOS, but the iOS integration was seamless. Setup on both Chrome and Safari iOS was easy, and the ad blocker worked just as it claimed.
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Once we had Pie Adblock set up, it was easy to use. It required zero effort, and the off/on toggle worked on both Chrome and Safari for iOS. The one thing we did miss was an ad block counter. It’s not a deal-breaker to not have one, but it is weird as most other ad blockers show you how many ads and trackers they’re blocking.
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There’s some controversy over whether Pie is a scam and doesn’t actually pay you. Ryan Hudson co-created the browser extension Honey via The People's Internet Experiment (pie.org), a start-up company. He’s also one of the people responsible for Pie Adblock, and he’s made several posts in Reddit threads explaining how extensions like Honey and Pie work. He even did his own AMA on the platform so people can feel confident trying Pie Adblock. We love transparency, so this move gave Pie some extra validity for us.
Honestly, Pie surprised us. It was easy to install and use, and although we’ve only earned a little so far, we like the fact that it participates in revenue sharing with the average person. Being forced to watch ads is annoying, and getting paid to choose to watch them is obviously much better.
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Even though Pie Adblock doesn’t require a lot of effort to use, you still have the option to enable the white- and blacklisting of sites. You can also choose to use only the ad blocker and not participate in the incentive program.
Whitelisting allows you to choose sites where ads will always be allowed. Whether you want to support a specific creator or think that the ad revenue from these sites is worth your time, the whitelisting feature gives you the option to choose.
On the opposite end, blacklisting gives you the option to block specific sites from ever running ads. You may find them too spammy or are tired of being bombarded with ads from that page. Whatever your reason, you can set that site to always be blocked.
If you’re after an ad blocker to clean up your online experience but don’t want the option to collect rewards, you can toggle this feature off. The nice thing about Pie is that you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to.
Pie Adblock did okay in its testing. AdBlock Tester presents a variety of ad codes to see if the ad blocker in question would protect against it. Pie did so-so on Chrome and a little worse on Safari for iOS, getting a mid-level average score.
Cover Your Tracks determines how well your ad blocker protects you from trackers or helps you avoid profiling. Pie did the worst in this test, though even premium ad blockers typically receive only a 2 out of 3 here.
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We also ran Pie through Can You Block It, which offers a variety of ads, including banner ads and interstitial ads. Pie did a little better on average here than the other two tests but still let through more than most quality ad blockers.
| AdBlock Tester | Cover Your Tracks | Can You Block It? | |
| Pie Adblock score | 63/100 (desktop) 52/100 (mobile) |
1/3 | 2/3 |
YouTube is where we were definitely impressed with Pie. It blocked everything, didn’t glitch, and allowed us to watch YouTube videos on both browsers we tried seamlessly. We also had the option to turn off ad blocking for creators we liked, so we could still support Hot Ones while blocking ads on major corporations. It was a win-win.
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We were surprised that we were actually able to bypass some paywalls. While the paywall blocker appeared on The Atlantic, that wasn’t the case on Bloomberg or The Wall Street Journal. We’ve tested a lot of ad blockers, and it’s rare to find one that bypasses hard or soft paywalls, so we were impressed.
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Pie didn’t mention specific operating systems, but it does tell you it isn’t available yet for Safari on macOS or PC. It can be added to Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave, and Safari for iOS. We tested it on Chrome and Safari for iOS and found it worked perfectly on both.
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Pie Adblock is a little different from its competitors. It allows you to earn money by choosing to watch ads, which is definitely a unique perspective. With Pie, you can cash in on the ad revenue companies make from us. If that’s not something you’re interested in, however, then consider our top rec. We’ve tested Total Adblock ourselves, and we love how it works.
Total Adblock is our top choice for an ad blocker because it stops unwanted ads and trackers, and the premium plan includes the award-winning antivirus software TotalAV for ultimate online protection. Plus, it’s compatible with Windows, macOS, Chrome, Safari, Edge, Opera, Android, and iOS, and it has excellent ad-blocking test results across the board.
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
We saw many discussions online about Pie being a scam, but we also found its creator openly and honestly answering questions. With our testing experience and what we read, we think it’s probably okay. You should still update your privacy settings for good measure, whether you’re concerned about data sharing or not.
Pie Adblock isn’t the most robust ad blocker, and the tracker-blocking technology is almost nonexistent. This isn’t an ad blocker for people who want privacy or want to stop online profiling. We’d recommend a paid alternative if you’re concerned about third-party trackers collecting and sharing your data.
You won’t get banned per se, but Google did say it might block your ability to watch videos. You are violating YouTube’s terms of service by using an ad blocker on the site, so be aware of that. If you want to watch YouTube without ads legally, consider signing up for its Premium service. Or, check out our top ways to watch videos ad-free on the YouTube app, which Pie Adblock can’t do.
Based on our testing, we think Total Adblock is the safest ad blocker. The paid version gets nearly perfect test scores, starts at a low monthly price, and includes the award-winning antivirus software TotalAV.
Yes, we think Pie Adblock is legit because it’s honest and transparent about how it works. Obviously, based on our testing, there are some gaps in ad and tracker blocking, but if you’re comfortable with its shortcomings, you should be able to use it as intended.
We were expecting it to be terrible, but it surprised us by being a decent ad blocker. The fact that Pie participates in ad revenue sharing is a unique and interesting feature.
It is worth noting that an ad blocker that doesn’t stop trackers isn’t great for helping you stay anonymous online. Pie falls short in that regard, so some of the best ad blockers available may be a better option if you’re security-focused.
Free ad blocker with the option to watch ads for money
Even blocks YouTube video ads
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