Pi-hole v6 vs AdGuard Home

The v6 part matters. Pi-hole v6, released 18 February 2025, removed lighttpd and PHP, built the web server and a REST API into pihole-FTL, and added native HTTPS. Many comparisons, including AdGuard's own README table, still describe Pi-hole as it was before that.

#Quick verdict

#What's the same

Both are DNS sinkholes. Your devices ask the server to look up a domain, and if it's on a blocklist, the answer is a dead end. That means the same strengths and limits apply to both:

• Strength: every device on the network is covered, including smart TVs and IoT gear where you can't install an ad blocker.
• Limit: anything served from the same domain as the content can't be blocked. AdGuard's README names YouTube and Twitch ads and sponsored Facebook, X and Instagram posts. Neither tool beats the other here, because the limit comes from DNS itself.

Both have per-client settings, a DHCP server, a query log and a web UI.

#Where Pi-hole v6 closed the gap

AdGuard's README compares the two in a table that marks Pi-hole down on several points. Two of them are out of date since v6:

• HTTPS for the admin interface. The README says Pi-hole needs lighttpd configured by hand. v6 has "native HTTPS support, with options to provide your own certificates or use auto-generated ones."
• Moving parts. v6's web server and REST API live inside pihole-FTL, with one TOML config file (/etc/pihole/pihole.toml). In Docker, you configure it with FTLCONF_ environment variables.

v6 also added subscribed allowlists and a redesigned UI with Basic and Expert modes, and moved the Docker image to Alpine.

#Where AdGuard Home still leads

Encrypted DNS. AdGuard Home supports DNS-over-HTTPS, DNS-over-TLS and DNS-over-QUIC out of the box, plus client- and server-side DNSCrypt. That gives it two uses: encrypting your lookups to an upstream resolver, and serving encrypted DNS to your own phones and laptops.

Pi-hole has neither built in. Its official DoH route used cloudflared, and that guide now warns that Cloudflare deprecated proxy-dns in November 2025. It says cloudflared versions updated after 2 February 2026 "will no longer function as per this guide," and it doesn't recommend new installs. If encrypted upstream DNS is a requirement, this is the deciding factor.

Platforms. AdGuard Home ships native builds for Linux, Windows, macOS, FreeBSD and OpenBSD, on architectures from ARMv5 to RISC-V, plus Docker and Snap. Pi-hole supports seven Linux distributions (Alpine, Armbian, Debian, CentOS Stream, Fedora, Raspberry Pi OS, Ubuntu), or Docker.

Built-in family features. Forced safe search, adult-domain blocking and access settings that limit who can query the server are built into AdGuard Home. On Pi-hole, you get some of this with extra blocklists.

Running without root. AdGuard documents running as a normal user by granting network capabilities. Its table says Pi-hole can't. Pi-hole's prerequisites page doesn't address this for v6, so treat that row as AdGuard's claim.

#Where Pi-hole leads

Recursive DNS with Unbound. Pi-hole maintains an official guide for running Unbound alongside it, so your server resolves names itself instead of sending every lookup to one upstream provider. You can do this with AdGuard Home too, but Pi-hole's docs lead you straight to it.

Documented requirements. Pi-hole states 512MB RAM and 2GB of free disk, and lists pre-built FTL binaries for x86_64, ARMv6, ARMv7, ARMv8 and riscv64. AdGuard's docs don't publish a minimum. That doesn't mean AdGuard Home needs more. It means you can plan hardware for Pi-hole from the docs.

Ecosystem. Pi-hole's name is practically the generic term, and most blocklist collections and homelab guides assume it. That's hard to measure, so take it as a judgement, not a statistic.

#"pihole vs adguard home performance"

Neither project publishes a benchmark comparing the two, and this page won't quote third-party numbers as fact. Both are designed for home networks. On a Raspberry Pi, the practical bottleneck for DNS filtering is rarely the software. If you need numbers, measure query latency on your own hardware with each installed.

#And Technitium?

"pihole vs adguard home vs technitium" is a common search. Technitium DNS Server (GPL-3.0, v15.5.1 on 26 September 2026) is a full authoritative and recursive DNS server that also blocks ads. It runs on Windows, Linux, macOS and Raspberry Pi, and can serve DoT, DoH and DoQ. It also offers clustering, DNSSEC validation and SSO through OIDC. It's more DNS server than you need just to block ads, but a strong choice if you also want local zones. It's covered in Pi-hole alternatives.

#Setup and upkeep compared

Installing. Pi-hole's quick route is its one-line installer (curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash). Its README offers two alternatives if you'd rather read the script first, plus the official Docker image. AdGuard Home is a tarball you unpack and register with sudo ./AdGuardHome -s install, or its Docker image or Snap.

First run. AdGuard Home starts a setup wizard on port 3000, then serves its UI on port 80 by default and DNS on 53. Pi-hole v6 serves its web interface from pihole-FTL on ports 80 and 443. If something else already holds those ports, it falls back to 8080 and 8443.

Configuration. Pi-hole v6 keeps everything in /etc/pihole/pihole.toml. You can change it in the web UI, through the API, with pihole-FTL --config, or with FTLCONF_ environment variables, which is the approach Pi-hole prefers for Docker. AdGuard Home is configured mainly through its web UI. Its FAQ covers some settings that can only be changed by editing the configuration file.

Updates. Both have Docker images, and in both cases you update by pulling a new image. AdGuard's docs say its built-in auto-update is disabled for Docker, Snap and Home Assistant installs.

Scripting. Pi-hole v6's REST API uses session logins, not a static token, with application passwords for scripts. AdGuard Home publishes an OpenAPI specification for its HTTP API in the repository.

#Which to choose

• AdGuard Home: you want encrypted DNS without add-ons, run Windows, macOS or a BSD, or want parental controls built in. See the AdGuard Home profile.
• Pi-hole v6: you're on Linux or Docker, want Pi-hole plus Unbound, or follow guides that assume Pi-hole. See the Pi-hole profile.
• Either: switching is cheap. Both are just the DNS server your router hands out, so you can run one, try the other and change your router setting back.

For other small services to run on the same board, see Raspberry Pi self-hosted apps.