Notes 
You can run Pi-hole in a container, or deploy it directly to a supported operating system via installer.
More self-hosted expert solutions: pfBlockerNG Plugin for pfSense and Artica.
Reviewed by Marco Wollank
Pi-hole
pi-hole.net 4.6 (8)
Rate Pi-hole: No account needed
Threat level
Hardened
A hardened pick. Worth the effort once you have chosen to shrink your footprint on purpose. Enough for most people. Threat levels
Our take
The do-it-yourself answer that beats every hosted DNS blocker on one axis: your queries never leave your network, because you run the server. The price is that you maintain it, on a Raspberry Pi, a container, or a spare box, and a misconfigured Pi-hole can break things until you fix it. Pick it when you want total control and no third party seeing your DNS, and you don’t mind being your own admin. Anyone who’d rather not run infrastructure should use a hosted service like NextDNS.
GitHub at a glance
pi-hole/pi-hole ad-blockerblockerclouddashboarddhcpdhcp-serverdns-serverdnsmasqpi-holeraspberry-pishell
Stars
61,652
+133 this week
Forks
3,368
709 watching
Last commit
today
healthy
Latest release
v6.5
17d ago, 100+ total
Star history
Issues
99% closed
25
open
3,137
closed
+7 / -9
opened / closed, last 4 weeks
Opened vs closed, last 12 weeks
Commits, last 26 weeks
79 commits, active 21 of 26 weeks
228 contributors since Jun 2014
Languages
- Shell 92.7%
- Dockerfile 5.6%
- Roff 1.7%
Updated daily from the GitHub API. Star tracking since Jun 10, 2026.
Website at a glance
pi-hole.net
B score 75
Solid website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested 2d ago
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
Pi-hole alternatives
NextDNS The major advantage of NextDNS over AdGuard DNS is to be able to configure the service to your needs via parental controls, website restrictions or block whole categories of…
AdGuard DNS Easy to setup within minutes. Comes with setup guides for all systems. You only need to enter two IP adresses.