Self-hosted Pi-hole alternatives

The three self-hosted alternatives to Pi-hole worth your time are AdGuard Home, Technitium DNS Server and Blocky. AdGuard Home is the closest swap, with encrypted DNS built in. Technitium is a full DNS server that also blocks ads. Blocky is a light Go proxy you configure in YAML and watch through Grafana. All three are free, open source and run in Docker or on a Raspberry Pi.

Before you switch, it's worth knowing why you're leaving. Pi-hole v6 (February 2025) fixed a lot of old complaints: no more lighttpd or PHP, native HTTPS, a REST API, and one config file. If your reason is one of those, try v6 first. The gaps that remain are real, though:

• No built-in encrypted upstream DNS. And the official cloudflared DoH guide now carries a deprecation warning. Cloudflare deprecated proxy-dns in November 2025.
• Linux or Docker only. Pi-hole supports seven Linux distributions and has no native Windows or macOS build.
• No built-in parental controls or forced safe search.

Every option below is still a DNS blocker, so none of them can block YouTube or Twitch ads, or sponsored social posts. AdGuard's own README says "any advertising that shares a domain with content cannot be blocked by a DNS-level blocker." That applies to all of them.

#At a glance

#AdGuard Home

Best for: anyone who wants a straight Pi-hole replacement with encrypted DNS and family controls in one binary.

AdGuard Home is the closest thing to Pi-hole with the add-ons already bolted on. It supports DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS, DNS-over-QUIC and DNSCrypt, both as a client (encrypting your lookups upstream) and as a server (for your own devices). It also includes per-client settings, parental control, forced safe search, access settings and a DHCP server.

It answers the "pihole alternative for windows" search too. There are native builds for Windows, macOS, FreeBSD and OpenBSD, as well as Linux. The Linux builds cover ARMv5 to 64-bit ARM, plus MIPS, PowerPC and RISC-V. There's an official Docker image and Snap package. For the "pihole alternative router" crowd, the docs list a third-party OpenWrt LuCI app, and the MIPS builds exist for router hardware.

Watch for: the official docs don't state a minimum RAM or CPU. Auto-update is disabled in Docker and Snap installs, so you update the image yourself. The README's comparison table is partly out of date about Pi-hole since v6.

More detail: AdGuard Home profile · Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home

#Technitium DNS Server

Best for: homelabbers who want ad blocking and a proper DNS server with local zones, DNSSEC and clustering.

This is the answer to "pihole vs technitium." Technitium describes itself as "an open source authoritative as well as recursive DNS server." Pi-hole forwards queries, and Technitium can resolve them itself, with no Unbound sidecar. You also get:

• Blocklists from one or more URLs, with regex blocklists and per-client or per-subnet lists through its Advanced Blocking app
• DNS-over-TLS, DNS-over-HTTPS (HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2 and HTTP/3) and DNS-over-QUIC, as a server and to upstream resolvers
• DNSSEC validation, and a built-in DHCP server that can serve multiple networks
• Clustering, so you can manage two or more instances from one web console
• SSO through OpenID Connect, and LDAP authentication
• An HTTP API that can do everything the web console does

It runs on Windows, Linux, macOS and Raspberry Pi, with a Windows installer, a portable build for any platform with .NET 10, and an official Docker image.

Watch for: it's a bigger tool than an ad blocker, with more settings to learn. Linux install instructions point to a blog post rather than a packaged installer. The README's performance claim (over 100,000 requests a second on an Intel i7-8700) is the vendor's own load test on desktop hardware. It tells you nothing about a Pi.

#Blocky

Best for: people who run everything as config files in Git and already have Prometheus and Grafana.

Blocky is "a DNS proxy and ad-blocker for the local network written in Go." It's the minimalist of the group:

• Configuration is YAML, one file or several, and the README calls that "simple to backup"
• Stateless, with no database and no temporary files
• Allow and deny lists per client group ("Kids, Smart home devices"), with periodic list reloads, regex, and deep CNAME inspection
• Conditional forwarding, custom DNS entries and per-group upstream resolvers
• DoH, DoT, DoQ and DoH3 support, plus a DoH endpoint for clients
• Prometheus metrics and prepared Grafana dashboards, with query logging to CSV or MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL or Timescale
• A single binary and a multi-arch Docker image for x86-64, ARM and MIPS. The README says it "runs fine on Raspberry PI and OpenWrt routers"
• No telemetry: "Blocky does NOT collect any user data"

Watch for: the README lists no built-in web dashboard. Observability comes through Prometheus and Grafana, and changes through YAML and the REST API or CLI. If you want to click around a UI, choose one of the other two. It also has no DHCP server, so your router keeps that job.

#What about hosted DNS filters?

Services like NextDNS or AdGuard's public DNS block ads without any hardware. They also mean a third party resolves every lookup. This page covers self-hosted options only. AdGuard itself frames the difference as "it's your own server, and you are the only one who's in control."

#Switching from Pi-hole without breaking the network

DNS is the one service where a mistake takes the whole house offline, so change it in steps:

1. Install the replacement on a different IP. AdGuard Home's setup wizard listens on port 3000, and Technitium and Blocky both have Docker images. Running two DNS servers on the same machine means fighting over port 53. Pi-hole's docs warn that another DNS server on the box has to be turned off first.
2. Give it a static address. Pi-hole's docs ask for a static IP or a DHCP reservation, and the same logic applies to any replacement. Your router will hand this address out to every device.
3. Test one device first. Point a single laptop's DNS at the new server. AdGuard's docs suggest checking a known ad domain. host doubleclick.net <server-ip> should come back NXDOMAIN.
4. Recreate your lists. Blocklists are just URLs, so copy the ones you use from Pi-hole's settings into the new tool. Allowlist entries and local DNS records need moving by hand.
5. Switch the router, keep Pi-hole running for a week. If something breaks, point the router back. Only then retire the old install.

If Pi-hole was also your DHCP server, move DHCP last, and make sure only one DHCP server is ever running on the network.

#How to choose

• Want the easiest switch? AdGuard Home.
• Want recursive DNS and local zones without running Unbound? Technitium.
• Want config in Git and graphs in Grafana? Blocky.
• Happy with Pi-hole but want encrypted DNS? Keep Pi-hole and add a resolver, or move to AdGuard Home. Just don't start a new cloudflared DoH setup from Pi-hole's old guide.

Any of these runs alongside other small services. See Raspberry Pi self-hosted apps, or read the Pi-hole profile if you'd rather stay put.