AdGuard Home vs Pi-hole

Two self-hosted DNS apps, compared on the facts we track: GitHub popularity and activity, license, language, Docker images and a rough hosting estimate.

Side by side

AdGuard HomePi-hole
DescriptionUser-friendly ads & trackers blocking DNS server.Blackhole for Internet advertisements with a GUI for management and monitoring.
GitHub stars38,15561,667
Forks–3.4k
Open issues (incl. PRs)–37
Commits (12 months)240262
Last activity2026-11-032026-10-17
Latest releasev0.107.80 (2026-11-03)v6.5 (2026-10-17)
Maintenance healthActiveActive
LicenseGPL-3.0EUPL-1.2
Language / platformDockerShell, PHP, Docker
Docker Hub image––
Docker pulls––
Est. server size~1 GB, 1 vCPU~1 GB, 1 vCPU
Est. hosting from$5/mo$5/mo
CategoriesDNSDNS
LinksWebsite · SourceWebsite · Source

What the numbers say

Summary: AdGuard Home leads on recent activity; Pi-hole leads on GitHub popularity. The right choice depends on the features you need — read both project descriptions and docs.

This summary is generated from GitHub, Docker Hub and awesome-selfhosted data as of 2026-11-05. It does not rate features or quality.

Frequently asked questions

Is AdGuard Home or Pi-hole more popular?

Pi-hole has more GitHub stars (61,667 vs 38,155 for AdGuard Home, as of 2026-11-05). Stars measure interest, not quality.

Which is more actively maintained, AdGuard Home or Pi-hole?

Commits in the last 12 months: AdGuard Home 240, Pi-hole 262. The last recorded activity was 2026-11-03 for AdGuard Home and 2026-10-17 for Pi-hole. Our health labels: AdGuard Home is “Active”, Pi-hole is “Active”.

What licenses do AdGuard Home and Pi-hole use?

AdGuard Home: GPL-3.0. Pi-hole: EUPL-1.2.

Can I run AdGuard Home and Pi-hole with Docker?

We did not detect a Docker Hub image for either app. The upstream listing mentions Docker as a deployment option for AdGuard Home and Pi-hole. Check each project's documentation for install options.

Read more

AdGuard Home

User-friendly ads & trackers blocking DNS server.

Active ★ 38.2k GPL-3.0 🐳 Docker~$5/mo

Pi-hole

Blackhole for Internet advertisements with a GUI for management and monitoring.

Active ★ 61.7k EUPL-1.2 🐳 Docker~$5/mo

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