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The internet is the best thing that could have happened to us. Every possibility that we could think of is just a click away from us. The luxuries in the world are immense, and we are all here for it.
While we enjoy everything that the internet offers, there is one feature that bugs us a lot, yes you guessed it right – I am talking about the advertisements. There is nothing as annoying as a pop-up ad in between your favorite shows.
Ads not only ruin your experience of using a web-based service or product, but they also compromise your online security. There has been news of spyware inadvertently being downloaded under the pretext of ads in our system. They alter our system’s security access making everything on our computer vulnerable to unwanted access by hackers and cybercriminals.
Like everything roadblock as a workaround, the ads too can be filtered through ad blockers available for popular browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. But before we begin talking about the best ad blockers for Google Chrome and Firefox, let us understand what ad blockers are and why we should be thankful to them.
What are Ad Blockers?
Ad blockers, like their name, suggest, block random push ads from appearing on our screen. They enhance your online experience and protect your system from being the target of cybercriminals and hackers. They help secure your privacy online, reduce clutter on the websites, and avoid spyware-infected ads.
How do Ad Blockers work?
Technically, ad blockers do not block ads; they block requests that download content into your browser. In simple words, ad blockers protect third-party vendors from downloading ads on your browser, allowing web pages to load faster, thus providing you with a better experience.
Ad blockers work on the principle of filter lists. These filter lists determine what to block and what to permit to appear on your browser. These lists consist of URLs segregated under two parts, allowlist and blocklist. Clear as their names, allowlist comprises URLs that should be permitted to appear on your browser, and blocklist contains URLs that should be prevented from downloading content on your browser.
Every time you visit a website, the ad blockers check whether the URL of the website is from the allowlist or blocklist and work accordingly. If the website is from the blocklist, ad blockers prevent the website from slowing any external content to the browser.
Benefits of using an Adblockers 👍
- Get rid of unwanted ads for a smooth user experience
- Improves page loading times
- They restrict advertisers to track you across various online platforms
- Helps in reduction of bandwidth and device battery usage
- Blocks fake advertisements which can be misleading and harmful
- Protect you from malware and spam attacks
Cons of using an Adblocker 👎
- Some adblockers may interfere with your online privacy as they may track your activity.
- Ad Blockers mainly work by preventing scripts from running when a website loads. This can prevent the page from loading correctly or showing incorrect data in your web analytics report.
- It may prevent you from enjoying the content that doesn’t support Adblockers.
There are hundreds of ad blockers available in various packaging on the internet, But we are here to talk about the finest of the finest. We will discuss some of the best ad blockers for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Let’s get right into it.
Adblocker for YouTube
We all love binging on YouTube; our 3 AM YouTube history proves our indulgence in the app. However, what we do not like are the random ads that pop up in between our videos. Adblocker for YouTube is designed to get us rid of that problem.
Available as a free Google Chrome extension, this fast and lightweight ad blocker for Google Chrome doesn’t need any configuration, which means no handling of messy lists. Simply speaking, it blocks all ads on YouTube, whether pure-roll video ads, text and banner ads, video ads embedded on other sides, and everything else. And to top it all off, it is 100% free and constantly updated.
The greatness of people is measured by how far they go beyond what is expected of them. If a similar rule is applied to apps, Adblocker for YouTube would be a great example as it blocks all the ads on YouTube and enables you to watch a video in full screen and theatre mode. It also allows you to take a video screenshot and watch the video with a volume booster.
uBlocker
uBlocker boasts the fastest, most efficient, and most effective adblocker utility on the planet. And it does not fall short of its promise because it is the most advanced tool to block unwanted ad including hidden and invisible.
uBlocker blocks preroll video ads, text ads, pop-unders, banners, malware, viruses, and tracking. It prevents unsafe sources from accessing your passwords and private chats. It is also considered one of the most effective ad-block utility stops ads on Youtube, Facebook, and other popular websites.
To answer one of the primary concerns about adblockers – data breach, uBlocker, in its privacy policy, publicly communicates that it does not collect or use your data. It also declares that it is not sold to the third party for purposes unrelated to the item’s core functionality.
Adguard Adblocker is an Unmatched AdBlock extension against advertising and pop-ups. Available as a Google Chrome extension, it blocks all ads, including video ads through its sub-app YouTube Adblock, rich media advertising, unwanted pop-ups, banners, and text ads (through its Facebook AdBlock).
The effective filtering of the ads speeds up page loading and saves bandwidth because of the missing ads and pop-up windows. Adguard assists in protecting your privacy by blocking standard third-party tracking systems and blocking many spyware, adware, and dialer installers, thereby saving you from malware and phishing.
With the download of over 10,000,000 users and a rating of 4.5 /5.00, Adguard Adblocker has quickly made its name in the productivity vertical of the google chrome extension list.
Adblock for YouTube
Adblock for YouTube requires default permissions required by ad-block engines that come as an extension to web browsers. It offers content filtering and ad blocking and blocks all ads on YouTube, thus, allowing users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being displayed.
Adblock for Youtube blocks ads, banners, and pop-ups. The app also offers to block ads on external sites which load Youtube. Additionally, it prevents preroll ads from loading on Youtube. With the help of Adblock for Youtube, you can also remove annotations from videos and music and load videos and YouTube website faster.
The extension has been downloaded by over 10,000,000 users and has been 4.25/5.00 by 203,591 users.
Fair Adblocker
Adblockers, in their attempt to block all ads, often overdo their part. There have been incidences reported by users of adblockers blocking relevant content from the website. Fair adblocker understands this issue and answers it beautifully.
Unlike other adblockers, Fair Adblockers gives users complete control of blocking ads. It means that users can decide what to permit and deny from being displayed and downloaded on the browser. This comes as a relief to many internet users because you do not always want to block all the ads. There are times when you want to be aware of a specific type of ad. With Fair Adblocker, you get to control your experience by allowing particular types of ads you wish to support.
Fair Adblockers sells itself as the absolute best adware and pop-up protection on the web. It blocks auto-play video ads, youtube text, and banner ads, expanding ads, interstitial page ads, overlay ads, Facebook ads, webmail ads, search ads, and more.
Adblock Plus
Adblock Plus is one of the most popular and trusted ad-blocking extensions on the market. It is 100% free and provides 24/7 free and consistent support.
Adblock Plus blocks annoying video ads and banners, blocks pop-ups, stops tracking, and provides you more privacy while letting you enjoy the faster browsing and enhanced experience. Adblock Plus also fights off destructive mar retiring that often hides in ads.
The unique feature of Adblock Plus is its support for acceptable ads. Acceptable Ads(AA) is an initiative by default. This project looks for a middle ground and supports websites that depend on revenue generation through ads while also considering users’ experience. The AA feature of Adblock Plus comes with a switch and can be turned off anytime the user wants.
The Adblock Plus has over 500 million downloads and has been rated 4.25 by 173,138 users.
Ghostery
Ghostery is a powerful privacy extension for Mozilla Firefox with an inbuilt adblocker that removes advertisements from the webpage, clearing them from clutter and thus making your experience much more enriching, immersive, and fulfilling.
Ghostery provides control in the hand of users when it comes to selective filtering the ads. This means that you get to choose before blocking trackers on websites. This enhanced anti-tracking functionality anonymizes your data to secure your privacy further.
While most adblockers available in the market are not upgraded frequently, and most of them involve machine learning and artificial intelligence in their work. Ghostery’s new update has reeled in enhanced anti-tracking, enhanced ad blocking, intelligent blocking, AI-powered filtering, and so much more to deliver a cleaner, faster, and safer browsing experience from the get-go.
uBlock Origin
uBlock Origin by Raymond Hill does not want to sell itself as an adblocker. Instead, it wishes to be recognized as an efficient wide-spectrum content blocker that is also easy on CPU and memory.
uBlock Origin puts memory efficiency as its cornerstone while delivering the best experience possible for blocking ads efficiently and effectively. Instead of dividing URLs into binary lists, uBlock has an out-of-the-box approach towards it. The following lists are loaded and enforced:
- EasyList (ads)
- Peter Lowe’s Ad server list (ads and tracking)
- EasyPrivacy (tracking)
- Malware domains
Since this is an open-source extension, it is created for users by users, making it the most effective ad-blocking tool on the face of the internet. With uBlock, users can also point-and-click to block javascript locally or globally and create their own local or global set of rules to override entries from already existing filtering lists.
Adblock for Firefox
Adblock for Firefox is already one of the most popular adblocking tools appreciated by Google Chrome and Apple Safari users. It is also available for Mozilla Firefox. With the help of Adblock, you can now block all advertisements on web pages. The adblocking feature of this tool extends to platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Hulu.
Adblock blocks all ads by default and lets you customize the filter lists while also allowing you to see the ads that have been blocked by the tool. The systems using Adblock have been reported to speed up substantially, providing quick and easy in-page ad reporting.
The popularity of this tool can be measured by the fact that it is now available in whopping 30 languages.
Adblock Plus
Adblock Plus is one of the leaders of the market. It has an audience of over 500 million users, and it provides the most flawless service to them. It blocks annoying ads and pop-ups on websites and extends its services to social media platforms like Youtube, Facebook, etc.
The blocking of ads results in a faster browsing experience and less loading time on pages. It also prevents malvertising, wherein malware is embedded into ads and is forced to be downloaded by the browser. Adblock Plus prevents such activities and protects your privacy, and secures your system from online cyber threats.
Adblocker Ultimate
AdBlocker Ultimate is a free extension that blocks advertisements and malicious domains that are known to distribute malware. It also blocks sly tracking. We offer a wide range of filters that block annoying video and display advertisements (including YouTube).
In contrast to other ad blockers, they do not offer “acceptable advertising” and an advertiser’s whitelist (i.e., specific advertisers have to pay to get around ads filters). The blocking of ads also has the benefit of speeding up the browsing since filtering ads can reduce CPU and memory use.
AdBlocker Ultimate lets you easily accept advertisements from websites that you prefer in situations when you wish to grant credit for advertising to certain trusted websites. It can block different ads such as text ads, banner ads, pop-up advertisements, pop-under ads, overlay ads, interstitial page ads, video advertisements, webmail advertising, and Facebook ads.
How to choose the right adblocker?
The majority of the top advertising blockers are offered for free in the form of extensions or standalone applications; however, some are paid. Find out if the free options can provide enough ads-blocking to satisfy your requirements or if the paid apps offer more value for the dollars. It is also essential to determine whether a browser extension can help you with your ad blocking requirements or if you should think about switching to a browser with additional privacy features.
You can narrow your options for ad-blocking apps by deciding what you’re hoping to accomplish using this application or extension. Are you looking to block annoying pop-up ads from popping up? Or do you wish to avail the entire array of features, such as privacy options and a stop to tracking ads? Get the ad blocker that checks every box you’ve put on your wish list.
