AdGuard Home vs Blocky
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
AdGuard Home
Network-wide DNS ad and tracker blocker
VS
Blocky
Fast DNS proxy and ad-blocker for local networks
| Feature | AdGuard Home | Blocky |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 91 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 37,045 | ★ 6,969 |
| First released | 2018 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Pi-hole, NextDNS | Pi-hole, AdGuard Home |
What are AdGuard Home and Blocky?
AdGuard Home
AdGuard Home is a network-wide software for blocking ads and trackers that operates as a DNS server with a web dashboard and filtering rules. It is self-hosted to protect all devices on a network.
- Network-wide ad blocking
- Encrypted DNS support
- Web dashboard
- Parental controls
Blocky
Blocky is an open-source DNS proxy and ad-blocker written in Go for local networks. It filters queries against blocklists, supports DNS over HTTPS, and is designed to be self-hosted on small hardware.
- Blocklist-based filtering
- DNS over HTTPS and TLS
- Prometheus metrics
- Tiny footprint
AdGuard Home vs Blocky: key differences
AdGuard Home is written in TypeScript, while Blocky is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for AdGuard Home versus Apache-2.0 for Blocky. AdGuard Home has the considerably larger community, at 37,045 GitHub stars versus 6,969.
Why pick each one
Choose AdGuard Home if…
- Easy setup and dashboard
- Encrypted DNS support
- Per-client controls
Watch out for
- Cannot block YouTube ads
- Needs network DNS changes
Choose Blocky if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 7k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuard Home or Blocky better?
Neither is universally better. AdGuard Home has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are AdGuard Home and Blocky free and open-source?
Yes. AdGuard Home is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Blocky under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AdGuard Home and Blocky with Docker?
AdGuard Home: yes. Blocky: yes.