Adblock Plus
AdBlock Plus is a browser extension for Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and several other popular browsers that prevents intrusive ads like pop-ups and malicious code from appearing on websites you visit.
- Blocks ads and malware
- Free and safe for most browsers
- Stops companies from tracking you online
- Block advertisements in their entirety
- Completely free and open source
- Available for most major browsers including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera
- A version for Android can be downloaded and installed
- Never collects personal data about your browsing habits
- Some non-intrusive text ads are still shown
- Can mess up some web forms; may need to be disabled
AdBlock Plus is the premiere ad blocking solution for most modern browsers. With extensions available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera it is easy to install and will block pop-ups and intrusive ads. It's worth noting some ads that are considered non-intrusive are whitelisted in the extension by default. This whitelist helps content creators continue to support their work with ads online, while still discouraging intrusive advertising by blocking it. AdBlock Plus isn't the first extension to experiment with a whitelist, but it is the first that allows the community to have a voice in whether or not advertising is considered annoying and should be blocked by default in the extension. The only real downside to using an ad blocker like AdBlock Plus is that the extension may block necessary javascript when you're filling out a web form. Sometimes you can have trouble submitting the data because the ad block extension is preventing the code from executing. Just disabling the extension, refreshing, and filling out the form works, but it is a pain to have to do each time. The Android app also functions as a browser, so if you want to block ads on mobile, you'll need to be comfortable using the AdBlock Browser app. That's not terrible in itself, but currently, there's no way for Chrome extensions to run on mobile devices. Firefox users can install the AdBlock Plus extension for Firefox fine. Because AdBlock Plus is open source, you can contribute to the project if you're a coder. You can also tinker around inside the extension and see that it isn't tracking you and selling your browsing data to companies online like some other privacy extensions do. Overall, AdBlock Plus is the best experience for blocking ads on both mobile and web devices.