Advertisements have become a significant problem on the web. Many people have had their browsing experiences ruined by ads, including on websites they cherished. For example, YouTube ads have become excessive, with multiple ads playing in a long video. Many other websites now contain display ads that cover valuable content, disrupting the user experience.
Fortunately, there’s a solution to this problem: ad blockers. These software tools detect and thwart ads from their roots, enabling a seamless browsing experience. AdGuard is one of the best-known ad blockers, and we want to review it to help you decide whether it’s worth adopting. This review will cover AdGuard’s features, pricing, interface, customer support, and other essential aspects.
AdGuard: Plans and Pricing
AdGuard is a freemium tool. You can download the app for free, but free users are limited to basic features and protection on just one device. You need a paid plan to enjoy AdGuard with your custom settings on multiple devices.
AdGuard offers two plans, Personal and Family, and you can pay annually or for a lifetime. The Personal plan costs $30 annually, and the Family plan costs $66 annually, plus value-added tax (VAT). The lifetime plans cost $80 for Personal and $170 for Family.
The Personal plan protects up to 3 devices, and the Family plan protects up to 9 devices. AdGuard’s free version offers only ad-blocking, but the Personal and Family plans include complementary features like a VPN and parental controls. This platform’s pricing plans are reasonable compared to the competition.
AdGuard: Features
Our test began with downloading AdGuard, both the extension and the mobile app. The installation process was fast and easy, and we started taking note of the features.
AdGuard is good at blocking ads from a web browser, including YouTube ads. We were particularly impressed with how it blocked YouTube ads, which many other blockers struggle with.
This app gives you reports about the ads it blocks, allowing you to verify that it’s doing its job. For example, opening Forbes.com showed that AdGuard blocked 10 elements from appearing on the web page. We tested with other websites, and AdGuard gave detailed results about what it blocked. You can also find charts showing the progress of how many ads it has blocked over time.
You might have websites you trust and want ads on these websites to show, even while AdGuard blocks ads from other sources. Fortunately, this app allows you to add specific domains to the allowlist, exempting them from ad-blocking. Most other ad-blockers offer a similar feature, so we were relieved to discover that AdGuard wasn’t left behind.
We encountered a creative feature called the “Inverse Allowlist,” wherein AdGuard unblocks ads everywhere except for the sites in the list. This feature works if you can tolerate regular ads during your browsing experience and only block the sites serving excessive ads.
Another thing we enjoyed about using AdGuard is its website security feature. Open any website and click the “Check Website Security” button. Adguard will give you a detailed report about that website’s safety. AdGuard uses several sources to determine a URL’s safety, including if the URL is included in the Google Safe Browsing or Yandex Safe Browsing blocklist.
The website safety feature is valuable if you interact with a new URL you don’t trust. You can simply check with AdGuard to see if that URL has previously been implicated in malware and other malicious activities.
AdGuard offers Stealth Mode, which protects your browsing identity and personal information from online trackers. You can instruct AdGuard to send Do Not Track signals to all websites you visit to avoid being tracked. You can also enable AdGuard to automatically self-destruct cookies shortly after they’re installed on your browser (you’ll set a custom time limit for the cookies).
AdGuard doesn’t let you only block ads. You can also block other annoying web elements like cookie notices, mobile app banners, popups, and social widgets. This platform gives you a lot of control over your browsing experience.
AdGuard: Interface and In-Use
AdGuard has a stellar user interface you’ll likely enjoy using. We didn’t encounter UI-related hiccups during our test, which speaks much about the platform. You can easily find any feature you want and toggle the ad blocker on and off anytime.
The browser extension or app employs sufficient color contrast that looks appealing to the eye. You can switch between dark and light modes depending on your environment. We also enjoyed AdGuard’s widespread compatibility, wherein you can use it as a browser extension or download the app on your mobile phone or PC. Many competing tools are only available as browser extensions.
AdGuard: Customer Support
Customer service is a major selling point for AdGuard. It offers excellent customer support resources, beginning with the detailed FAQ section and Knowledge Base on the official website. If you are unsatisfied with the Knowledge Base, you can email AdGuard’s support team and expect a response within 24 to 48 hours.
AdGuard also runs a discussion forum where users interact with each other and often exchange solutions to their problems.
AdGuard: The Competition
There’s no shortage of competition in the ad-blocking software segment. Two AdGuard competitors we’d like to highlight are uBlock Origin and AdLock. uBlock Origin is an effective free alternative, but unlike AdGuard, it is only available as an extension.
AdLock is a paid tool with desktop and mobile apps just like AdGuard. It offers similar features, although it is slightly more costly.
AdGuard: Final Verdict
AdGuard is an excellent ad blocker we recommend to anyone who wants to improve their browsing experience. It has a free version, but the paid plan offers more advanced features. With the paid plan, you can access ad-blocking, VPN, and browsing security, killing multiple birds with one stone.
