AdGuard Home is a network-wide software for blocking ads & tracking. After you set it up, it'll cover ALL your home devices, and you don't need any client-side software for that.
It operates as a DNS server that re-routes tracking domains to a "black hole," thus preventing your devices from connecting to those servers. It's based on software we use for our public [AdGuard DNS](https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html) servers -- both share a lot of common code.
Please read the [Getting Started](https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome/wiki/Getting-Started) article on our Wiki to learn how to install AdGuard Home, and how to configure your devices to use it.
### How is this different from public AdGuard DNS servers?
Running your own AdGuard Home server allows you to do much more than using a public DNS server. It's a completely different level. See for yourself:
* Choose what exactly will the server block or not block.
* Monitor your network activity.
* Add your own custom filtering rules.
* **Most importantly, this is your own server, and you are the only one who's in control.**
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### How does AdGuard Home compare to Pi-Hole
At this point, AdGuard Home has a lot in common with Pi-Hole. Both block ads and trackers using "DNS sinkholing" method, and both allow customizing what's blocked.
> We're not going to stop here. DNS sinkholing is not a bad starting point, but this is just the beginning.
AdGuard Home provides a lot of features out-of-the-box with no need to install and configure additional software. We want it to be simple to the point when even casual users can set it up with minimal effort.
> Disclaimer: some of the listed features can be added to Pi-Hole by installing additional software or by manually using SSH terminal and reconfiguring one of the utilities Pi-Hole consists of. However, in our opinion, this cannot be legitimately counted as a Pi-Hole's feature.
| Access settings (choose who can use AGH DNS) | ✅ | ❌ |
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### How does AdGuard Home compare to traditional ad blockers
It depends.
"DNS sinkholing" is capable of blocking a big percentage of ads, but it lacks flexibility and power of traditional ad blockers. You can get a good impression about the difference between these methods by reading [this article](https://adguard.com/en/blog/adguard-vs-adaway-dns66/). It compares AdGuard for Android (a traditional ad blocker) to hosts-level ad blockers (which are almost identical to DNS-based blockers in their capabilities). However, this level of protection is enough for some users.
If you run into any problem or have a suggestion, head to [this page](https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome/issues) and click on the `New issue` button.
If you want to help with AdGuard Home translations, please learn more about translating AdGuard products here: https://kb.adguard.com/en/general/adguard-translations
Here is a direct link to AdGuard Home project: http://translate.adguard.com/collaboration/project?id=153384
You might have seen that [CoreDNS](https://coredns.io) was mentioned here before — we've stopped using it in AdGuardHome. While we still use it on our servers for [AdGuard DNS](https://adguard.com/adguard-dns/overview.html) service, it seemed like an overkill for Home as it impeded with Home features that we plan to implement.
For a full list of all node.js packages in use, please take a look at [client/package.json](https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome/blob/master/client/package.json) file.
