AdGuard DNS - Discount 33% Off

AdGuard DNS is a DNS-based filtering service that blocks advertisements, trackers, phishing, malware, and other unwanted domains before your device connects to them. Unlike the AdGuard desktop and mobile applications, it does not require a dedicated ad-blocking application. You can configure it directly on a device, router, or other network equipment.

This makes AdGuard DNS particularly useful when you want basic ad and tracker blocking across an entire network without installing software on every device.

DNS normally acts as the Internet's address book: when an application requests a domain such as example.com, a DNS resolver provides the corresponding IP address.

AdGuard DNS adds filtering to this process. When a requested domain belongs to an advertising, tracking, or malicious domain, AdGuard DNS can return a blocked response instead of the destination address.

Because DNS operates underneath applications, the same filtering can apply to browsers, mobile applications, smart TVs, game consoles, and other devices that use the configured DNS server.

Key Features of AdGuard DNS

Network-Wide Ad Blocking

The biggest advantage is that you can configure AdGuard DNS on your router.

Once configured, devices using that router can automatically use AdGuard DNS without installing an application individually. AdGuard provides setup instructions for routers, computers, mobile devices, consoles, and smart TVs.

This makes it an attractive solution for households with many different devices.

Tracker Blocking

AdGuard DNS blocks domains associated with advertising and tracking.

This can reduce third-party tracking requests from both websites and applications, although DNS filtering cannot remove every type of advertisement.

Malware and Phishing Protection

AdGuard DNS also maintains databases for malicious and phishing domains.

Its security features include protection against malicious and phishing websites, newly registered domains, typosquatting, and IDN homograph attacks.

This gives the service some security functionality in addition to advertisement filtering.

Three Public Modes

AdGuard provides three main public DNS configurations:

The Family server additionally enables Safe Search and Safe Mode where supported.

Encrypted DNS

AdGuard DNS supports several encrypted DNS protocols:

• DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH)

• DNS-over-TLS (DoT)

• DNS-over-QUIC (DoQ)

• DNSCrypt

AdGuard was also the first public resolver to support DNS-over-QUIC.

For example, the default DoH endpoint is:

https://dns.adguard-dns.com/dns-query

And the default DoT hostname is:

tls://dns.adguard-dns.com

Custom Filtering

Private AdGuard DNS goes considerably further than the public resolver.

You can create custom rules to allow or block specific domains, add blocklists, and configure filtering behavior.

This is particularly useful if you want to whitelist a website that doesn't work correctly with the default filters.

Per-Device Management

Private AdGuard DNS allows connected devices to have different configurations.

For example, you could have:

• One configuration with normal ad blocking.

• Another with stricter security filtering.

• Another with adult-content restrictions.

• Different custom rules for different devices.

AdGuard describes these configurations as separate "servers" or profiles that can be customized.

Query Statistics

Private AdGuard DNS provides detailed DNS statistics, including requested domains, blocked requests, devices, dates, and other information.

This is useful for diagnosing connectivity problems and understanding which applications are making DNS requests.

Public vs Private AdGuard DNS

This distinction is important.

Public AdGuard DNS

The free public service is essentially:

Configure DNS → AdGuard applies its standard filtering → done.

For example:

Default IPv4

94.140.14.14
94.140.15.15

These servers block advertisements and trackers.

You don't need an account.

Private AdGuard DNS

Private DNS provides a dashboard and substantially more control.

You get:

• Custom blocklists

• Custom allow/block rules

• Detailed query statistics

• Per-device configuration

• Security settings

• Parental controls

• Access controls

• Custom filtering policies

For someone managing multiple devices or a home network, Private AdGuard DNS is considerably more powerful.

DNS Filtering Limitations

DNS-based blocking is powerful, but it isn't equivalent to a full content blocker.

AdGuard DNS can block a domain such as:

ads.example.com

but it generally cannot remove an advertisement that is served from the same domain as the actual content.

For example:

example.com/article
example.com/advertisement

If both content and advertising come from example.com, DNS cannot distinguish between the two without blocking the entire domain.

This is why a full AdGuard application or browser content blocker can provide more precise filtering.

AdGuard DNS vs AdGuard Ad Blocker

The two approaches complement each other rather than being direct replacements.

Performance

DNS filtering is generally lightweight because it only needs to process DNS requests rather than inspect every piece of network traffic.

Encrypted DNS adds some overhead, but it also prevents intermediaries from easily observing your DNS queries.

Actual performance depends on network conditions and the selected resolver. AdGuard operates a large DNS infrastructure and reports hundreds of billions of DNS queries handled daily.

Privacy

AdGuard positions its DNS service as privacy-oriented and states that it does not sell or share DNS data with third parties.

There is an important distinction between Public and Private DNS, though.

Private DNS provides statistics by storing DNS request logs according to your configured retention settings. AdGuard says logging can be disabled from account settings.

Therefore, users who don't need statistics may prefer the simplicity of the public resolver.

Pros

• Free public DNS service.

• Blocks ads and trackers.

• Malware and phishing protection.

• Family protection option.

• No application installation required.

• Works across many types of devices.

• Can be configured directly on a router.

• DNS-over-HTTPS.

• DNS-over-TLS.

• DNS-over-QUIC.

• DNSCrypt.

• Private DNS supports custom rules.

• Per-device configurations.

• Detailed statistics with Private DNS.

• Strong security filtering options.
  
  
  

Cons

• DNS blocking cannot remove every advertisement.

• Cannot perform cosmetic page filtering.

• Same-domain advertisements can bypass DNS blocking.

• Some applications use encrypted or hardcoded DNS mechanisms.

• Private DNS requires an account and has more complexity.

• Changing DNS doesn't hide your public IP address.

• DNS filtering is not a VPN.
  
  
  

Who Should Use AdGuard DNS?

AdGuard DNS is particularly useful if you want simple, device-independent ad and tracker blocking.

For a home network, configuring the router to use AdGuard DNS is one of the easiest ways to provide basic filtering to computers, phones, smart TVs, game consoles, and other devices simultaneously.

It's also useful on devices where installing an ad-blocking application isn't practical.

For advanced filtering, Private AdGuard DNS is considerably more interesting because you can create custom rules and see which devices are making particular DNS requests.

Final Verdict

AdGuard DNS is one of the easiest ways to add basic ad, tracker, and malicious-domain blocking to a network.

Its biggest advantage is its simplicity. You can configure two DNS addresses on a router and immediately extend basic filtering to every device using that network.

The encrypted DNS options are another strong feature, while Private AdGuard DNS turns the service into a much more capable network-management and filtering platform.

It isn't a replacement for a full content blocker. DNS operates at the domain level, so it cannot perform the cosmetic filtering and detailed request manipulation possible with AdGuard's full applications.

For network-wide DNS filtering with minimal setup, however, AdGuard DNS is an excellent solution.