Poll AdGuard Public DNS vs Control D: Ads & Tracking

VPN and DNS
38 Replies 3,068 Views

AdGuard Public DNS or Control D Ads & Trackers?

  • Total voters
    22
Templarware said:
These seem to be the best free options. AdGuard has less false positives and it looks to me that they care more about their free users.
I'm curious about what you think.
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My View

AdGuard is a reputable option, and many users find its filtering effective with relatively few false positives. However, false-positive rates depend heavily on the filter lists, browser, operating system, and the websites being tested, so broad conclusions should be treated cautiously.

It is also worth distinguishing AdGuard’s products:

  • AdGuard browser extensions primarily block advertisements, trackers, and certain known malicious domains.
  • AdGuard DNS provides network-level filtering, but it does not replace endpoint antivirus protection.
  • The paid desktop application offers additional system-wide filtering features that are not included in every free product.

I would avoid claiming that the company “cares more” about free users unless that is supported by specific evidence. A fairer assessment is that AdGuard generally provides useful free features and maintains visible documentation and support resources.

For a free setup, use one reputable browser content blocker or DNS filtering service, keep the browser and operating system updated, and retain the built-in antivirus protection. Test any suspected false positive through the vendor’s official reporting channel or with VirusTotal, while remembering that VirusTotal results can also contain false positives.

Overall, AdGuard is a reasonable free choice for ad and tracker blocking, but it should not be treated as a complete malware-protection solution.
 
I have just made an experiment.
I tried to visit media piracy website using Brave with default shield settings, one time with Adguard public dns doh and another time with ControlD public dns (ad blocking).

With Adguard, I get ads blocked, but embeded scripts leading to ad popup windows are not blocked.
1785156067704.png


With ControlD, they are blocked.
Also using ControlD hagezi pro or adding hagezi pro to Brave shields successfully blocked the popup windows.
 
Depends what you need from DNS.

AdGuard Public DNS offers basic ad blocking experience prioritizing website functionality.
Control D Ads & Tracking, on the other hand, offers aggressive ad blocking prioritizing blocking ads over website functionality.

I find Control D Hagezi Pro Plus as a sweet spot. It blocks way more ads and trackers than AdGuard Public DNS without breaking websites.
Sampei.Nihira said:
I tried ControlD, but I get too many false positives.
Click to expand...
controld.com

Free DNS Servers - Block Ads, Malware, & More | Control D

Free DNS servers from Control D help safeguard your devices from malware, unsecured public wifi, ads, and more. Sign up today and stay safe online.
controld.com controld.com

Scroll down to Community Blocklists part and select blocklist you like. These resolvers only use selected blocklist resulting in reduced number of false positives.
 
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Jan Willy said:
The popup isn't blocked (not possible on DNS level,), it's the whole site.
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Not the popup, the hidden script which leads to the popup window when clicking on any empty space of the piracy website.
The popup windows which slip past Adguard, two thirds are blocked from loading page (but the popup has happened) and one third shows the content.
ControlD does not allow the window to popup at the first place.
 
Marko :) said:
Depends what you need from DNS.

AdGuard Public DNS offers basic ad blocking experience prioritizing website functionality.
Control D Ads & Tracking, on the other hand, offers aggressive ad blocking prioritizing blocking ads over website functionality.

I find Control D Hagezi Pro Plus as a sweet spot. It blocks way more ads and trackers than AdGuard Public DNS without breaking websites.
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That's interesting. Back when I researched it, I got the idea that Hagezi Pro Plus would block more stuff and be more aggressive than Ads & Tracking.
 
Templarware said:
That's interesting. Back when I researched it, I got the idea that Hagezi Pro Plus would block more stuff and be more aggressive than Ads & Tracking.
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When I tried Control D first, I specifically chose Ads & Tracking DNS because it was exactly what I needed.

I don't remember how many exactly, but in the span of 10 minutes surfing the web, I found A LOT of websites broken. Then I gave up and switched to AdGuard Public DNS. I used it for a few months until one day it suddenly went down in Frankfurt and didn't route me anywhere else (anycast issues).

That prompted me to give Control D second chance, but this time with Hagezi Pro Plus resolver. And it's what I'm using to this day. Blocking way more than AdGuard Public DNS with no websites broken.

There was a brief period I tested Cloudflare Zero Trust; I was eventually back to Control D because Zero Trust needed some maintenance.
 
I'm using AdGuard in Portugal and I'n being routed to Frankfurt instead of London

I used Ads & Tracking for months and I think the only thing I found broken was AVG / Avast, which they refuse to fix. My thread was clearly ignored in the front page of their support foums for weeks, while other similar ones were given attention.
 
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Templarware said:
I'm using AdGuard in Portugal and I'n being routed to Frankfurt instead of Madrid.
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Before, I used to be connected to Frankfurt. Ping was normal, routing was normal and I simply didn't have any issues with it. Until that one day. Ever since it happened, I'm being routed to Amsterdam with higher ping and worse routing. So instead ping of <30 ms, now I have >30ms.
Templarware said:
I used Ads & Tracking for months and I think the only thing I found broken was AVG / Avast, which they refuse to fix. My thread was clearly ignored in the front page of their support foums for weeks, while other similar ones were given attention.
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Yeah, that's what I was saying. It's really aggressive and prioritizes ad blocking over website functionality. And they don't make any exceptions.

I'm telling you, try Hagezi Pro Plus resolver. No false positives whatsoever.
 
Marko :) said:
Before, I used to be connected to Frankfurt. Ping was normal, routing was normal and I simply didn't have any issues with it. Until that one day. Ever since it happened, I'm being routed to Amsterdam with higher ping and worse routing. So instead ping of <30 ms, now I have >30ms.

Yeah, that's what I was saying. It's really aggressive and prioritizes ad blocking over website functionality. And they don't make any exceptions.

I'm telling you, try Hagezi Pro Plus resolver. No false positives whatsoever.
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Sorry I meant London, AdGuard doesn't have any Spain server at the moment. London is much closer to me, yet it routes to Frankfurt.

They do make exceptions, they were replying to other people reporting other false positives. But I guess Avast is somewhat competition :cautious:
I'm giving Hagezi Pro Plus a try.
 
Marko :) said:
What kind of competition is Avast DNS exactly? They don't offer any kind of filtering nor plain IP addresses. Only simple DoH you can find anywhere.
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Obviously there isn't any direct competition, but both are security solutions and both block malicious domains and trackers. The VPN includes its own DNS, the filtering is done by the antivirus and the browser extension.
You tell me why Control D is blocking some Avast and AVG domains, even after it being reported. I was just throwing it into the air.
 
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