Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home: Which Network DNS Blocker Should You Use?

By AiCybr Editorial · Published August 13, 2026

If you want one DNS filter for every phone, TV, laptop and IoT device on a home network, Pi-hole and AdGuard Home are the two obvious self-hosted choices. Both can block domains network-wide, both provide a web interface and query logs, and both can take over DHCP when a router cannot advertise a custom DNS server.

The important differences are no longer simply “Pi-hole is mature” versus “AdGuard Home has more features.” Pi-hole v6 changed its architecture substantially, including an integrated web server and native HTTPS for its administration interface. At the same time, AdGuard Home still has a clear built-in advantage when you want encrypted upstream DNS and encrypted DNS service for clients without adding another local resolver or proxy.

For most homelabs, the decision is straightforward:

• Choose Pi-hole if you want the strongest Pi-hole ecosystem, a Linux-first appliance, straightforward DNS filtering, mature local-DNS tooling and compatibility with existing Pi-hole guides and integrations.
• Choose AdGuard Home if built-in DNS-over-HTTPS/TLS/QUIC, broader native platform support and per-client DNS policy are central requirements.
• Do not switch purely because an old comparison table says Pi-hole lacks HTTPS. Pi-hole v6 now serves its admin interface and API over HTTPS with its integrated web server. That is different from encrypted DNS transport, which still requires separate tooling for Pi-hole.

Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home at a glance

The table hides an important point: encrypted admin HTTPS and encrypted DNS are separate features. Pi-hole v6 has the former. AdGuard Home integrates both the admin side and encrypted DNS transport more directly.

Where Pi-hole is the better choice

1. You want a dedicated Linux DNS appliance

Pi-hole remains exceptionally well suited to the classic always-on DNS appliance: a Raspberry Pi, small Linux VM, LXC container, mini PC or Docker host with a static address.

Pi-hole's current prerequisites list actively maintained Debian, CentOS Stream, Fedora, Raspberry Pi OS and Ubuntu releases as supported systems. Its FTL resolver is prebuilt for x86 and several ARM architectures, making low-power Linux hardware a natural fit.

If your network design is already Linux-first, this narrow platform focus is often a benefit rather than a limitation. There are fewer deployment variations to reason about, and the Pi-hole ecosystem has years of operational material around Raspberry Pi, Docker, Unbound, VPN access and homelab integration.

2. You prefer Pi-hole's group-management model

Pi-hole's current interface supports client-to-group relationships for block and allow rules. That is sufficient for many households: one policy for normal clients, another for children, another for IoT equipment, or a temporary relaxed group for devices that break under aggressive filtering.

AdGuard Home also has per-client configuration and can be more direct for client-specific DNS controls, but Pi-hole is not limited to one global block policy.

3. You want a mature path to recursive DNS

Pi-hole is commonly paired with a local recursive resolver such as Unbound. That architecture is conceptually clean:

client -> Pi-hole filtering -> local recursive resolver -> authoritative DNS hierarchy

This is not automatically “more private” in every threat model, but it removes dependence on a single public recursive resolver and gives you direct control over the resolution path.

AdGuard Home can also forward to local or custom upstreams, so this is not an exclusive Pi-hole feature. The advantage is the maturity of the Pi-hole-plus-local-resolver operating pattern and documentation ecosystem.

Where AdGuard Home is the better choice

1. You want encrypted upstream DNS without another service

This is the clearest architectural difference.

AdGuard Home's current configuration accepts multiple upstream transports directly, including ordinary UDP/TCP DNS plus DNS-over-TLS, DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-HTTP/3, DNS-over-QUIC and DNS-stamp based encrypted resolvers.

Pi-hole's own documentation still directs users to additional software when encrypted upstream DNS is required. Its current dnscrypt-proxy guide shows Pi-hole forwarding to a local proxy, which then establishes the encrypted connection to the public resolver.

That means the two designs look like this:

AdGuard Home

client -> AdGuard Home -> DoH/DoT/DoQ upstream

Pi-hole with encrypted upstream DNS

client -> Pi-hole -> local dnscrypt-proxy/other helper -> encrypted upstream

Both are valid. AdGuard Home simply has fewer moving parts for this requirement.

2. You want to expose encrypted DNS to your own clients

AdGuard Home can be configured as a DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS or DNS-over-QUIC server. This matters if phones or laptops need to reach your DNS service across networks using an encrypted DNS protocol rather than a VPN tunnel.

For many home networks, a VPN such as WireGuard or Tailscale is still the cleaner way to use a private DNS filter remotely. But if encrypted DNS service itself is part of the design, AdGuard Home is the more integrated platform.

3. You need broader native platform support

Pi-hole's normal supported installation model is Linux or Docker. AdGuard Home distributes binaries across a broader collection of operating systems and architectures.

That can matter for unusual deployments, although Docker or a tiny Linux VM often removes the practical difference. For a critical network service, choose the platform you can patch, monitor and recover most reliably rather than choosing based only on the number of supported binaries.

Pi-hole v6 changed an important part of this comparison

A large amount of Pi-hole-versus-AdGuard material on the web predates Pi-hole v6.

Pi-hole v6 integrated the web server into pihole-FTL. Current Pi-hole documentation lists HTTP and HTTPS ports directly for FTL, and the TLS documentation says Pi-hole creates a self-signed certificate during installation for encrypting the web interface and API. You can also provide your own certificate.

Therefore this older claim is now misleading:

“Pi-hole needs a separately configured web server to provide HTTPS for its admin interface.”

That was historically relevant. It is not an accurate description of a current Pi-hole v6 installation.

However, this does not mean Pi-hole has gained native encrypted upstream DNS. Pi-hole's current DNS-over-HTTPS documentation still uses a separate local proxy such as dnscrypt-proxy. Keep the two encryption layers distinct when comparing the products.

DHCP: both can do it, but your router is usually preferable

Both products can act as a DHCP server.

A typical network should use the existing router's DHCP service if that router lets you advertise the DNS server you actually want. That keeps one device responsible for address leases and avoids making the DNS host responsible for another foundational network function.

Pi-hole's own post-install documentation recommends configuring the router's DHCP clients to use Pi-hole as DNS, and using Pi-hole's built-in DHCP server when the router cannot do that.

AdGuard Home likewise includes DHCP. Its documentation notes an important platform caveat: DHCP is not supported on Windows.

The operational rule for either product is the same: never leave two competing DHCP servers active on the same broadcast domain unless you intentionally designed the network that way.

Client visibility matters more than blocklist size

Users often compare Pi-hole and AdGuard Home by counting built-in lists or toggles. That is usually the wrong priority.

The more consequential question is whether the DNS server can identify clients correctly.

If every query reaches the filter from the router's address, your dashboard may show one client instead of individual devices. That weakens per-device policy, troubleshooting and attribution regardless of which product you choose.

Before switching DNS filters, verify how your router handles DNS:

1. Does DHCP hand clients the filter's IP directly?
2. Does the router proxy all DNS queries through itself?
3. Are IPv6 clients receiving a different DNS server through router advertisements?
4. Are browsers or operating systems bypassing local DNS through encrypted DNS?

A correct network path usually produces a bigger improvement than changing from Pi-hole to AdGuard Home or vice versa.

Encrypted DNS does not make DNS filtering complete

Neither product is a browser content blocker.

DNS filtering sees domain lookups. It cannot reliably remove individual ad elements served from the same domain as legitimate content, understand page structure, or replace browser-level cosmetic filtering.

It is therefore normal to use network DNS filtering and a browser content blocker where appropriate. Network DNS filtering remains valuable for smart TVs, mobile apps, IoT devices and other clients where browser extensions are impossible.

Encrypted DNS also solves only a transport problem. DoH or DoT can protect the DNS request between your resolver and an upstream service, but the upstream resolver can still observe the queries it receives. If your threat model is concerned about that operator, consider a recursive resolver architecture instead of assuming that encryption alone removes trust.

Performance: do not choose based on synthetic DNS latency alone

On a normal home network, both Pi-hole and AdGuard Home are lightweight enough that raw DNS processing speed is rarely the deciding factor. Cached responses occur very quickly, while uncached responses are dominated by upstream or recursive resolution latency.

A more useful reliability checklist is:

• Is the DNS host on wired Ethernet?
• Does it have a static address or DHCP reservation?
• Is storage reliable?
• Can you restore the configuration quickly?
• Is there a secondary DNS design that actually preserves filtering behavior?
• Are IPv6 clients configured correctly?
• Can the service recover automatically after a host reboot?

Be careful with “secondary DNS.” Many clients treat two advertised resolvers as alternatives rather than primary/failover. Advertising one filtering DNS server and one unrestricted public DNS server can therefore create intermittent bypass rather than true redundancy.

Maintenance and upgrades

Pi-hole

Pi-hole has separate Core, FTL and web components, although v6 tightened their integration substantially. Bare-metal systems normally use Pi-hole's own update mechanism; Docker deployments should be updated through container image lifecycle rather than treating the container like a mutable server.

The current Pi-hole Core release line is v6.4.x. As with any infrastructure service, review release notes for security fixes rather than blindly holding an old image indefinitely.

AdGuard Home

AdGuard Home is distributed as a relatively self-contained service with native binaries and container images. Its stable and beta release trains should not be confused: if the releases page shows a newer 0.108.0-b.* build, that is a prerelease, not automatically the version a conservative home server should install.

The safer policy for either product is simple: pin to a deliberate release/update channel, monitor security fixes, back up configuration, and keep a rollback path.

Which one should you choose?

Choose Pi-hole when:

• you already run Linux, Raspberry Pi OS, Docker, Proxmox or a similar homelab platform;
• network-wide filtering is the primary requirement;
• you value Pi-hole's ecosystem and established operating patterns;
• you are comfortable pairing Pi-hole with Unbound or another local resolver/proxy when needed;
• you want a dedicated appliance with relatively few responsibilities.

Choose AdGuard Home when:

• encrypted upstream DNS should work without adding another local daemon;
• you need to serve DoH, DoT or DoQ directly;
• per-client DNS behavior is a major part of the design;
• you want broader native OS deployment options;
• you prefer one integrated DNS proxy/filtering service over a composition of Pi-hole plus helper components.

Keep your existing installation when:

• it is reliable;
• client visibility is correct;
• your filtering policy works;
• backups exist;
• the desired encryption or recursive-DNS architecture is already solved.

For a DNS service that every device depends on, migration risk often matters more than a small feature difference.

Migration checklist

If you do switch platforms, treat it as network infrastructure rather than an ordinary application reinstall.

1. Export your current configuration and lists. Keep the old service intact until the new one is proven.
2. Deploy the new resolver on a different IP address. Do not reuse the production IP on day one.
3. Recreate only the rules you actually need. Years of accumulated allow/block entries often include obsolete exceptions.
4. Test several client classes. Check phones, PCs, smart TVs, IoT devices and IPv6 clients.
5. Verify DHCP and router advertisements. Confirm clients receive only the intended DNS addresses.
6. Test local hostnames and reverse lookups. These are common migration regressions.
7. Verify encrypted-DNS behavior. Confirm whether browsers or mobile devices bypass the local resolver.
8. Change DHCP-provided DNS only after validation. Then renew leases or reconnect representative clients.
9. Keep the old resolver available for rollback. Do not immediately delete its persistent state.

Final recommendation

Pi-hole is still the safer default for a conventional Linux-first homelab DNS appliance. AdGuard Home is the more integrated choice when encrypted DNS transport and per-client DNS controls are first-class requirements.

The biggest 2026 correction is that Pi-hole v6 should no longer be dismissed as lacking HTTPS for its administration interface. It now provides native HTTPS there. The meaningful remaining difference is deeper in the DNS path: AdGuard Home natively handles several encrypted upstream and client-facing DNS transports, while Pi-hole expects additional software for those encrypted-DNS roles.

Choose based on architecture, not brand loyalty. A well-maintained resolver with correct client routing, reliable backups and a tested recovery path is more valuable than switching platforms for a feature you do not actually use.

Sources

• Pi-hole documentation: overview
• Pi-hole documentation: prerequisites and supported platforms
• Pi-hole documentation: TLS/SSL
• Pi-hole documentation: DNS-over-HTTPS with dnscrypt-proxy
• Pi-hole documentation: post-install and DHCP
• AdGuard Home repository
• AdGuard Home configuration documentation
• AdGuard Home DHCP documentation