head to head · open source
AdGuardHome vs blocky
AdGuardHome has 37,005 GitHub stars, 2,524 forks, 1,253 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. blocky has 6,965 stars, 305 forks, 51 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. AdGuardHome leads on adoption by 431% (37,005 vs 6,965 stars). AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; blocky is written in Go under Apache-2.0. AdGuardHome has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, blocky 4%. AdGuardHome was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (adblock, dns, dns-over-https, golang), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| AdGuardHome | blocky | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 7.0K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 305 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick AdGuardHome if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick blocky if
- You want the blocky feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and blocky fits your workflow better
About AdGuardHome
AdGuard Home is a free and open source, network wide DNS server that blocks ads and trackers for every device on a network, aimed at self hosters, homelab operators, and network administrators who want filtering without installing client side software on each device.
read the full AdGuardHome overview →
About blocky
Blocky is a fast, lightweight DNS proxy and ad blocker written in Go that runs on a local network, blocking ad, malware and other unwanted domains for every device that sends its DNS queries to it.
read the full blocky overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AdGuardHome or blocky more popular?
AdGuardHome has 37,005 GitHub stars and blocky has 6,965. AdGuardHome has the larger community by that measure.
Are AdGuardHome and blocky free?
Both are open source. AdGuardHome is licensed under GPL-3.0 and blocky under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AdGuardHome and blocky?
AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript and blocky in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, AdGuardHome or blocky?
Choose AdGuardHome if you want the larger community (37,005 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose blocky if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.