Advertising has become a significant problem on the internet. Many people have their browsing experience ruined by ads, even on websites they care about. For example, YouTube ads have become excessive, with multiple ads playing in one long video. Many other websites now contain display ads that cover up valuable content, disrupting the user experience.
Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem: ad blockers. These software tools detect and block ads at the root, allowing for a seamless browsing experience. AdGuard is one of the most popular ad blockers and we want to test it to help you decide if it’s worth using. This review will cover AdGuard’s features, pricing, user interface, customer support, and other important aspects.
AdGuard: Plans and Prices
AdGuard is a freemium tool. You can download the app for free, however, free users are limited to basic features and protection on only one device. You will need a paid plan to use AdGuard with your customized settings on multiple devices.
AdGuard offers two plans: Personal and Family. You can pay annually or for life. The Personal plan costs $30 per year and the Family plan costs $66 per year 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 up to 9 devices. The free version of AdGuard offers only an ad blocker, 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 by downloading AdGuard, both the extension and the mobile app. The installation process was quick and easy, and we started looking at the features.
AdGuard does a good job of blocking ads in a web browser, including YouTube ads. We were particularly impressed with how well it blocks YouTube ads, something many other blockers struggle with.
This app creates reports on the blocked ads so you can check if the app is doing its job. For example, when opening Forbes.com, it showed that AdGuard blocked 10 items from being displayed on the web page. We ran tests with other websites and AdGuard provided detailed results on what was blocked. You can also find graphs showing the progress of the number of ads blocked over time.
You may have websites you trust and want to allow ads to appear on those sites even though AdGuard blocks ads from other sources. Fortunately, this app allows you to add certain domains to the whitelist, thus exempting them from ad blocking. Most other ad blockers offer a similar feature, so we were relieved to see that AdGuard doesn’t lag behind.
We came across a creative feature called “Inverse Allowlist” that makes AdGuard unblock ads everywhere except the sites included in the list. This feature works if you can tolerate normal ads while browsing and only blocks the sites that contain excessive ads.
Another advantage of AdGuard is the website safety feature. Open any website and click the “Check website safety” button. Adguard will give you a detailed report on the safety of that website. AdGuard uses several sources to determine the safety of a URL, including whether the URL is included in the Google Safe Browsing or Yandex Safe Browsing blocklist.
The website safety feature is useful when you interact with a new URL that you don’t trust. You can simply use AdGuard to check if that URL has been previously involved in malware and other malicious activities.
AdGuard offers a stealth mode that 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 set AdGuard to automatically self-destruct cookies shortly after they are installed on your browser (you set a custom time limit for the cookies).
AdGuard not only allows you to block ads, it also allows you to block other annoying web elements such as cookie notifications, mobile app banners, pop-ups, and social widgets. This platform gives you a lot of control over your browsing experience.
AdGuard: Interface and Usage
AdGuard has an excellent user interface that you will probably enjoy. During our testing, we did not notice any issues with the user interface, which speaks volumes for the platform. You can easily find all the features you want and turn the ad blocker on and off whenever you want.
The browser extension or app uses enough color contrast that looks pleasing to the eye. You can switch between dark and light mode depending on your environment. We also enjoyed AdGuard’s wide compatibility, whereby you can use it as a browser extension or download the app to 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, starting with the detailed FAQ section and Knowledge Base on the official website. If you are unsatisfied with the Knowledge Base, you can send an email to AdGuard’s support team and expect a response within 24-48 hours.
AdGuard also maintains a discussion forum where users interact with each other and often share solutions to their problems.
AdGuard: The competition
There is no shortage of competition in the ad blocking software space. Two AdGuard competitors we would 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 but is a bit more expensive.
AdGuard: Final Verdict
AdGuard is an excellent ad blocker that we recommend to anyone looking to improve their browsing experience. There is a free version, but the paid plan offers more advanced features. With the paid plan, you can access ad blocking, VPN, and browser security, killing several birds with one stone.
