{"slug": "pi-hole", "name": "Pi-hole", "category": "selfhosted", "category_name": "Self-hosted and home server", "description": "Network-wide DNS sinkhole that blocks ads and trackers for every device on a home network.", "recommenders": 15, "commenters": 33, "warners": 2, "score": 15.775, "rising": 4.38, "first": "2025-11-29", "latest": "2026-10-28", "why": "HN commenters like it as a free, network-wide DNS ad blocker for the home, especially for cutting smart TV ads, telemetry and slow menus.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 15, "neutral": 16, "compare": 1, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 3, 1, 1, 5, 1], "listed": true, "loved": ["Ad blocking", "Smart TV control"], "caveat": "DNS-only blocking", "short_quote": "blocking .apple.com & .icloud.com (and many more hosts) using a PiHole (so simple, so necessary).", "icon": true, "domain": "pi-hole.net", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://pi-hole.net", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Pi-hole"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters like it as a free, network-wide DNS ad blocker for the home", "cites": [{"id": 795011601, "item_id": 49688225, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49688225", "by": "LooseMarmoset", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "excerpt": "every time I use the Internet on a computer without some sort of ad blocking, I am astounded to learn that there are still people who use the Internet without an ad blocker. The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?"}, {"id": 793119792, "item_id": 49569987, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569987", "by": "LetsGetTechnicl", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been loving the Pihole setup I just set up.", "excerpt": "I've been loving the Pihole setup I just set up. It uses Quad9 as the upstream provider and then I do all the blocking myself. I used to use NextDNS but this is so much better and free!", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "NextDNS", "story": "Shutting down our public encrypted DNS"}, {"id": 750599408, "item_id": 46912463, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46912463", "by": "bradley13", "date": "2026-02-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use a PiHole, plus ad-blocking browsers, so we see very few ads.", "excerpt": "We use a PiHole, plus ad-blocking browsers, so we see very few ads. According to Claude, around 40% of users in the West use ad-blockers at least some of the time. You would think that advertisers would understand that they are killing the goose? They have made ads pervasive, annoying and untrustworthy. Hence, fewer and fewer people are willing to put up with them. Perhaps enshittification will eventually hit a wall.", "context": "", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}, {"id": 796471168, "item_id": 49779448, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49779448", "by": "anygivnthursday", "date": "2026-09-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For a home network network pihole or unbound also supports blocklists", "excerpt": "For a home network network pihole or unbound also supports blocklists (bundled with opnsense for example if you also want a firewall). For Android, I use Rethink with Hagezi blocklists, so they block also when I am on mobile data (it is vpn based).", "context": "", "use_case": "home network DNS blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "ChatGPT now knows what you do on other websites via ad collector"}]}, {"text": ", especially for cutting smart TV ads, telemetry and slow menus.", "cites": [{"id": 778222464, "item_id": 48638904, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48638904", "by": "h4kunamata", "date": "2026-06-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Pihole to block data collection", "excerpt": "I have a 2018 Samsung QLED SmartTV, I use Pihole to block data collection and since it has Google DNS hardcoded in it, I use OPNSense Firewall rules to enforce any DNS request to Pihole. My TV has only one AD that no longer shows for years now, LG is ADs all over the place. My home setup allows me to have a smartTV without compromises it. Since it runs TizenOS, I can use my Linux PC to install remove apps from it lik", "context": "home network setup with Samsung TV", "use_case": "blocking smart TV data collection", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nearly Half of LG Smart TV Apps Contain Residential Proxy SDKs"}, {"id": 760508592, "item_id": 47531787, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47531787", "by": "boilerupnc", "date": "2026-03-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pi-Hole sped up my Samsung home and menu screens tremendously.", "excerpt": "Pi-Hole sped up my Samsung home and menu screens tremendously. I use something like this list [0]. The growing size of the list itself is a testament to the enshittification of Smart TVs. I wonder if the SmartTV blocklist change history and size of commits could tell a historical story of how things have evolved? I'm aware that DoH makes this approach less and less viable ... but for my existing TVs it still seems to", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking smart TV telemetry", "switched_from": "", "story": "Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features"}, {"id": 787949088, "item_id": 49246818, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49246818", "by": "yumraj", "date": "2026-08-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "run pi-hole that blocks ads", "excerpt": "No it doesn\u2019t. Why? Because I don\u2019t use it as a TV AND a set top box. I use it just as a TV that is connected to an AppleTV And before when I was using the inbuilt smart TV, I had disabled various android services related to ads on my Sony TV, and run pi-hole that blocks ads.", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking ads on home network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mars Bar from 1991 found \u2013 and it's 20g bigger than today's"}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is that DNS-level blocking lets some ads through, so many pair it with a browser ad blocker", "cites": [{"id": 801864800, "item_id": 50116550, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50116550", "by": "cromka", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it only can do DNS blocking, so you still need an in browser AdBlock for more advanced stuff.", "excerpt": "That's my experience as well. Also need to intentionally disable it e.g. when using Cashback sites. And you can't easily do that with a single click. Not to mention it only can do DNS blocking, so you still need an in browser AdBlock for more advanced stuff. I use Brave and see no reason why would anyone chose differently. Maybe if they use freemium apps on their phones with a ton of ads?", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 775988304, "item_id": 48499269, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48499269", "by": "stego-tech", "date": "2026-06-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Every advert snuck past both my Pi-Hole and my iOS filters", "excerpt": "Holy sh*t Tom\u2019s Hardware has gone downhill. Every advert snuck past both my Pi-Hole and my iOS filters, and it even tried forcing a file download on site open on my iPhone. As for the HL1 port: I love it, always wanted an N95 (I had an N80ie that I loved), and these sorts of retro experiments are always a joy to read about.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Developer Gets Half-Life Running at 30 FPS on a Nokia N95"}, {"id": 793825297, "item_id": 49614081, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49614081", "by": "thesuitonym", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "somehow got around my pihole and ublock origin", "excerpt": "I used to feel that way, but I've come back around to finding it easier to read the news in the actual paper. For once, I'm not going to get distracted by a text or email notification. But more importantly, there's no cookie notification to dismiss, there's no autoplay video ad that somehow got around my pihole and ublock origin, there's no subscription nag flyout, and I don't have to log in every time despite clicki", "context": "", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Making Teenagers Read Newspapers. A Nationwide Experiment in French High Schools"}, {"id": 750599408, "item_id": 46912463, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46912463", "by": "bradley13", "date": "2026-02-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use a PiHole, plus ad-blocking browsers, so we see very few ads.", "excerpt": "We use a PiHole, plus ad-blocking browsers, so we see very few ads. According to Claude, around 40% of users in the West use ad-blockers at least some of the time. You would think that advertisers would understand that they are killing the goose? They have made ads pervasive, annoying and untrustworthy. Hence, fewer and fewer people are willing to put up with them. Perhaps enshittification will eventually hit a wall.", "context": "", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}]}, {"text": ", and some worry DNS over HTTPS will make it less effective.", "cites": [{"id": 763294769, "item_id": 47705923, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47705923", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Or to put it more plainly pi-hole will stop working.", "excerpt": "Because of the way youtube serves shorts the exact same way it serves any other video it sounds like a man-in-the-middle proxy server would be needed. which to enforce would still require per device config(loading corp style keys). A per device config that would probably be trickier than a shorts killer browser extension. This is why DoH makes me nervous. Once the embedded ad engines(cough smart tv's) figure it out, ", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS-level ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "LittleSnitch for Linux"}, {"id": 760508592, "item_id": 47531787, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47531787", "by": "boilerupnc", "date": "2026-03-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pi-Hole sped up my Samsung home and menu screens tremendously.", "excerpt": "Pi-Hole sped up my Samsung home and menu screens tremendously. I use something like this list [0]. The growing size of the list itself is a testament to the enshittification of Smart TVs. I wonder if the SmartTV blocklist change history and size of commits could tell a historical story of how things have evolved? I'm aware that DoH makes this approach less and less viable ... but for my existing TVs it still seems to", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking smart TV telemetry", "switched_from": "", "story": "Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Ad blocking", "summary": "Commenters use it to block ads across their whole home network.", "quotes": [{"id": 795011601, "item_id": 49688225, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49688225", "by": "LooseMarmoset", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "excerpt": "every time I use the Internet on a computer without some sort of ad blocking, I am astounded to learn that there are still people who use the Internet without an ad blocker. The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?"}, {"id": 750599408, "item_id": 46912463, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46912463", "by": "bradley13", "date": "2026-02-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use a PiHole, plus ad-blocking browsers, so we see very few ads.", "excerpt": "We use a PiHole, plus ad-blocking browsers, so we see very few ads. According to Claude, around 40% of users in the West use ad-blockers at least some of the time. You would think that advertisers would understand that they are killing the goose? They have made ads pervasive, annoying and untrustworthy. Hence, fewer and fewer people are willing to put up with them. Perhaps enshittification will eventually hit a wall.", "context": "", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}, {"id": 787949088, "item_id": 49246818, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49246818", "by": "yumraj", "date": "2026-08-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "run pi-hole that blocks ads", "excerpt": "No it doesn\u2019t. Why? Because I don\u2019t use it as a TV AND a set top box. I use it just as a TV that is connected to an AppleTV And before when I was using the inbuilt smart TV, I had disabled various android services related to ads on my Sony TV, and run pi-hole that blocks ads.", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking ads on home network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mars Bar from 1991 found \u2013 and it's 20g bigger than today's"}]}, {"label": "Smart TV control", "summary": "It blocks smart TV ads and data collection, and one user says it sped up TV menus.", "quotes": [{"id": 778222464, "item_id": 48638904, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48638904", "by": "h4kunamata", "date": "2026-06-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Pihole to block data collection", "excerpt": "I have a 2018 Samsung QLED SmartTV, I use Pihole to block data collection and since it has Google DNS hardcoded in it, I use OPNSense Firewall rules to enforce any DNS request to Pihole. My TV has only one AD that no longer shows for years now, LG is ADs all over the place. My home setup allows me to have a smartTV without compromises it. Since it runs TizenOS, I can use my Linux PC to install remove apps from it lik", "context": "home network setup with Samsung TV", "use_case": "blocking smart TV data collection", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nearly Half of LG Smart TV Apps Contain Residential Proxy SDKs"}, {"id": 760508592, "item_id": 47531787, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47531787", "by": "boilerupnc", "date": "2026-03-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pi-Hole sped up my Samsung home and menu screens tremendously.", "excerpt": "Pi-Hole sped up my Samsung home and menu screens tremendously. I use something like this list [0]. The growing size of the list itself is a testament to the enshittification of Smart TVs. I wonder if the SmartTV blocklist change history and size of commits could tell a historical story of how things have evolved? I'm aware that DoH makes this approach less and less viable ... but for my existing TVs it still seems to", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking smart TV telemetry", "switched_from": "", "story": "Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features"}, {"id": 740030258, "item_id": 46251891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46251891", "by": "aceazzameen", "date": "2025-12-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We have a nice Sony Android TV along with a pihole.", "excerpt": "We're running a solution that isn't perfect and isn't for everyone. We have a nice Sony Android TV along with a pihole. But on the TV itself I installed f-droid and netguard. Netguard's UI sucks on a TV, but it's workable. I use it to block Internet access to everything including Google. Only a few streaming apps have internet access. There was some trial and error with a handful of dependencies too. If I need to upd", "context": "", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options"}]}, {"label": "Free", "summary": "Users praise it as free, with one finding it better than paying for NextDNS.", "quotes": [{"id": 793119792, "item_id": 49569987, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569987", "by": "LetsGetTechnicl", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been loving the Pihole setup I just set up.", "excerpt": "I've been loving the Pihole setup I just set up. It uses Quad9 as the upstream provider and then I do all the blocking myself. I used to use NextDNS but this is so much better and free!", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "NextDNS", "story": "Shutting down our public encrypted DNS"}, {"id": 787493199, "item_id": 49218324, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49218324", "by": "ragequittah", "date": "2026-08-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Most of the stuff I use is free and excellent.", "excerpt": "Most of the stuff I use is free and excellent. Linux, Firefox, libreoffice, xcp-ng, bottles, steam, playnite, opnsense, docker, dockhand, immich, freshrss, obsidian, tailscale, calibre, caddy, docker, pi-hole, signal, audiobookshelf I could probably keep going for a long while. I'm very glad most good software creators I've come across do not have your mindset.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Improving GPT-5.6 Sol in ChatGPT\u2014and expanding access for free users"}, {"id": 780345171, "item_id": 48771573, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48771573", "by": "slaye", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Huge shout-out to HomeAssistant, PiHole, paperless-ngx, Dawarich, and countless others", "excerpt": "An incredible piece of software, on par with Google Photos. I've been using it behind Tailscale for months with no problems ever since I first got into homelabbing. Actually, moving from Google Photos to Immich after I hit my 100GB storage limit was the whole reason I got into self-hosting, and what a fun ride that has been! I can't believe self-hosted products of this caliber are free. Huge shout-out to HomeAssistan", "context": "homelabber", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Immich v3.0.0 Released"}]}, {"label": "Simple setup", "summary": "Users call it simple to set up and like its familiar GUI.", "quotes": [{"id": 738469808, "item_id": 46154363, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46154363", "by": "harry8", "date": "2025-12-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "pi-hole has a gui that I was already used to and it all works great.", "excerpt": "I don't know about unbound's blocklists and stats or indeed much about unbound at all. This: https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/dns/unbound/ was stupidly simple, pi-hole has a gui that I was already used to and it all works great. So I think about and study other things that need fixing/improving in my life instead. To flip it, why would I use unbound without pi-hole? What's the win I haven't seen (or even looked at or ", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server"}, {"id": 760523104, "item_id": 47532694, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47532694", "by": "ProllyInfamous", "date": "2026-03-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "blocking .apple.com & .icloud.com (and many more hosts) using a PiHole (so simple, so necessary).", "excerpt": "I have used and owned Apple products since 1992. Absolutely agreed about the gatekeeping \u2014 just as example, you cannot even update your MacOS without being online unless you create a full USB Installer. For your particular situation, presuming your hardware supports it, you can use MrMacintosh guides [0] to downgrade your OS from Tahoe \u2014 I recommend the latest Sequoia installer \u2014 all officially downloaded via Apple l", "context": "Apple user since 1992", "use_case": "blocking Apple hosts", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple Just Lost Me"}]}, {"label": "Works with Unbound", "summary": "It slots easily into DNS chains with Unbound or upstream resolvers like Quad9.", "quotes": [{"id": 738469808, "item_id": 46154363, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46154363", "by": "harry8", "date": "2025-12-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "pi-hole has a gui that I was already used to and it all works great.", "excerpt": "I don't know about unbound's blocklists and stats or indeed much about unbound at all. This: https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/dns/unbound/ was stupidly simple, pi-hole has a gui that I was already used to and it all works great. So I think about and study other things that need fixing/improving in my life instead. To flip it, why would I use unbound without pi-hole? What's the win I haven't seen (or even looked at or ", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server"}, {"id": 799951762, "item_id": 49996985, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49996985", "by": "TheBozzCL", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Finally, Unbound forwards requests to my Pi-hole, where the magic happens.", "excerpt": "I self-host my own DNS over TLS for domain-level adblocking. Maybe not the wisest decision, but it's working well so far and it doesn't require a lot of maintenance now that I've refined the setup. I use a DNS registrar and certificate that support wildcards. That way, I don't have to leak my DoT subdomain and I gain some obfuscation. Android's Private DNS option doesn't support alternate ports, so I'm forced to use ", "context": "self-hosts DNS over TLS", "use_case": "domain-level ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "System-level ad-blocking in Android"}, {"id": 748042001, "item_id": 46752625, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46752625", "by": "madduci", "date": "2026-01-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use PiHole in my own network", "excerpt": "I own a FTTH connection to Telekom since 2018, as the only provider in my street, allowed to install an internet connection (only glass fiber). Since then, I have always used my own device and I maintain a GitHub Snippet in how to connect OpenWRT modem (and by extension, any other modem that supports pppoe), rather than their Huawei SpeedPort crap or the more expensive Fritz Box). Link to Gist : https://gist.github.c", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS filtering", "switched_from": "", "story": "Deutsche Telekom is violating Net Neutrality"}]}, {"label": "Layered defense", "summary": "Users run it as one layer alongside browser blockers and other privacy tools.", "quotes": [{"id": 775564817, "item_id": 48472801, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48472801", "by": "anonymousiam", "date": "2026-06-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I also have a few piholes (two locations)", "excerpt": "In addition to uBlock Origin, I also have a few piholes (two locations), and I use NoScript as well. It's nice to have multiple layers of defense.", "context": "", "use_case": "network-level ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Chrome is killing all uBlock Origin bypasses, Edge, Opera to follow"}, {"id": 750599408, "item_id": 46912463, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46912463", "by": "bradley13", "date": "2026-02-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use a PiHole, plus ad-blocking browsers, so we see very few ads.", "excerpt": "We use a PiHole, plus ad-blocking browsers, so we see very few ads. According to Claude, around 40% of users in the West use ad-blockers at least some of the time. You would think that advertisers would understand that they are killing the goose? They have made ads pervasive, annoying and untrustworthy. Hence, fewer and fewer people are willing to put up with them. Perhaps enshittification will eventually hit a wall.", "context": "", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}, {"id": 796515472, "item_id": 49782217, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49782217", "by": "NothingAboutAny", "date": "2026-09-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use all the usual off the shelf \"dont track me\" stuff like a pihole", "excerpt": "I was talking about changing banks with my spouse, the following two weeks I get podcast ads and Samsung TV ads about the bank I mentioned. I use all the usual off the shelf \"dont track me\" stuff like a pihole and a \"resit fingerprinting\" Firefox fork and a VPN and everything else. I'm not amazed it still somehow got me, just sad.", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "ChatGPT now knows what you do on other websites via ad collector"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "DNS-only blocking", "summary": "It only blocks at the DNS level, so some ads get through without a browser ad blocker.", "quotes": [{"id": 801864800, "item_id": 50116550, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50116550", "by": "cromka", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it only can do DNS blocking, so you still need an in browser AdBlock for more advanced stuff.", "excerpt": "That's my experience as well. Also need to intentionally disable it e.g. when using Cashback sites. And you can't easily do that with a single click. Not to mention it only can do DNS blocking, so you still need an in browser AdBlock for more advanced stuff. I use Brave and see no reason why would anyone chose differently. Maybe if they use freemium apps on their phones with a ton of ads?", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 775988304, "item_id": 48499269, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48499269", "by": "stego-tech", "date": "2026-06-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Every advert snuck past both my Pi-Hole and my iOS filters", "excerpt": "Holy sh*t Tom\u2019s Hardware has gone downhill. Every advert snuck past both my Pi-Hole and my iOS filters, and it even tried forcing a file download on site open on my iPhone. As for the HL1 port: I love it, always wanted an N95 (I had an N80ie that I loved), and these sorts of retro experiments are always a joy to read about.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Developer Gets Half-Life Running at 30 FPS on a Nokia N95"}, {"id": 793825297, "item_id": 49614081, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49614081", "by": "thesuitonym", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "somehow got around my pihole and ublock origin", "excerpt": "I used to feel that way, but I've come back around to finding it easier to read the news in the actual paper. For once, I'm not going to get distracted by a text or email notification. But more importantly, there's no cookie notification to dismiss, there's no autoplay video ad that somehow got around my pihole and ublock origin, there's no subscription nag flyout, and I don't have to log in every time despite clicki", "context": "", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Making Teenagers Read Newspapers. A Nationwide Experiment in French High Schools"}]}, {"label": "DoH threat", "summary": "Devices that use DNS over HTTPS can bypass it, which may make it stop working.", "quotes": [{"id": 763294769, "item_id": 47705923, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47705923", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Or to put it more plainly pi-hole will stop working.", "excerpt": "Because of the way youtube serves shorts the exact same way it serves any other video it sounds like a man-in-the-middle proxy server would be needed. which to enforce would still require per device config(loading corp style keys). A per device config that would probably be trickier than a shorts killer browser extension. This is why DoH makes me nervous. Once the embedded ad engines(cough smart tv's) figure it out, ", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS-level ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "LittleSnitch for Linux"}, {"id": 760508592, "item_id": 47531787, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47531787", "by": "boilerupnc", "date": "2026-03-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pi-Hole sped up my Samsung home and menu screens tremendously.", "excerpt": "Pi-Hole sped up my Samsung home and menu screens tremendously. I use something like this list [0]. The growing size of the list itself is a testament to the enshittification of Smart TVs. I wonder if the SmartTV blocklist change history and size of commits could tell a historical story of how things have evolved? I'm aware that DoH makes this approach less and less viable ... but for my existing TVs it still seems to", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking smart TV telemetry", "switched_from": "", "story": "Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features"}]}, {"label": "Hard to toggle", "summary": "You can't easily disable it with one click, for example for cashback sites.", "quotes": [{"id": 801864800, "item_id": 50116550, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50116550", "by": "cromka", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it only can do DNS blocking, so you still need an in browser AdBlock for more advanced stuff.", "excerpt": "That's my experience as well. Also need to intentionally disable it e.g. when using Cashback sites. And you can't easily do that with a single click. Not to mention it only can do DNS blocking, so you still need an in browser AdBlock for more advanced stuff. I use Brave and see no reason why would anyone chose differently. Maybe if they use freemium apps on their phones with a ton of ads?", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}]}, {"label": "Pi reliability", "summary": "One user's Raspberry Pi 3b setup broke every few months, likely due to SD cards.", "quotes": [{"id": 742707265, "item_id": 46419204, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46419204", "by": "rpgbr", "date": "2025-12-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "a frustrating experience with Pi-Hole in a Raspberry Pi 3b (system broke by itself every other month", "excerpt": "I use NextDNS since 2021, after a frustrating experience with Pi-Hole in a Raspberry Pi 3b (system broke by itself every other month, I think because faulty SD cards). NextDNS is so good, and their free tier so generous, that sometimes I feel bad for not having to pay for it. Can\u2019t recommend enough.", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS filtering", "switched_from": "", "story": "NextDNS is my new favourite DNS service \u00b7 Stan's blog"}]}, {"label": "Mobile setup", "summary": "Using it from Android over Tailscale can require extra DNS configuration.", "quotes": [{"id": 791718641, "item_id": 49482415, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49482415", "by": "hydrogen7800", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "configure it to use my pihole DNS", "excerpt": "I'm also interested. I use tailscale and there is supposed to be a way to configure it to use my pihole DNS, but there is something in Android that prevents that. I think I have to set a custom DNS on the phone.", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "\u201cIt works better in the app\u201d"}]}], "who": [{"by": "Hikikomori", "context": "home server user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50111512", "date": "2026-10-15"}, {"by": "TheBozzCL", "context": "self-hosts DNS over TLS", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49996985", "date": "2026-10-07"}, {"by": "slaye", "context": "homelabber", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48771573", "date": "2026-07-02"}, {"by": "h4kunamata", "context": "home network setup with Samsung TV", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48638904", "date": "2026-06-22"}, {"by": "ProllyInfamous", "context": "Apple user since 1992", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47532694", "date": "2026-03-26"}], "tags": ["for home networks", "for smart TV owners", "for homelabbers", "runs on Raspberry Pi", "runs in Docker"], "use_cases": ["dns ad blocking", "network ad blocking", "dns blocking", "ad blocking", "dns filtering", "dns filtering and traffic display"], "compared": [{"slug": "nextdns", "name": "NextDNS", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "unbound", "name": "Unbound", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ublock-origin", "name": "uBlock Origin", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "tailscale", "name": "Tailscale", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "docker", "name": "Docker", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "opnsense", "name": "OPNsense", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "openwrt", "name": "OpenWrt", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "jellyfin", "name": "Jellyfin", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109715", "title": "What I self-host", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49776729", "title": "ChatGPT now knows what you do on other websites via ad collector", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49746527", "title": "Ask HN: What self-hosted apps do you use daily?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50265594", "title": "Raspberry Pi Zero 3W and Pi 4 Model A spotted in device trees", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50071310", "title": "New Apple TV 4K", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49983647", "title": "System-level ad-blocking in Android", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 3}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 3}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 3, "warn": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804382305, "item_id": 50273894, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50273894", "by": "ProllyInfamous", "date": "2026-10-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "mine are both now installed on Pi 3b+ PiHoles, to display realtime DNS traffic 24/7", "excerpt": "Was at Microcenter, yesterday. Marietta's did not have any Pi400s for sale (I love mine, with its built in keyboard; it is my main Kali hackbox) but did have lots of Pi5 (4gb was ~$100 IIRC; 1gb was ~$40). I've picked up two 7\" touchscreens, which seemlessly integrate into any Pi project (mine are both now installed on Pi 3b+ PiHoles, to display realtime DNS traffic 24/7); if you buy the returned/open-box, each scree", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS filtering and traffic display", "switched_from": "", "story": "Raspberry Pi Zero 3W and Pi 4 Model A spotted in device trees"}, {"id": 801864800, "item_id": 50116550, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50116550", "by": "cromka", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it only can do DNS blocking, so you still need an in browser AdBlock for more advanced stuff.", "excerpt": "That's my experience as well. Also need to intentionally disable it e.g. when using Cashback sites. And you can't easily do that with a single click. Not to mention it only can do DNS blocking, so you still need an in browser AdBlock for more advanced stuff. I use Brave and see no reason why would anyone chose differently. Maybe if they use freemium apps on their phones with a ton of ads?", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 801784194, "item_id": 50111512, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50111512", "by": "Hikikomori", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "running arr stack, jellyfin, home assistant, pi hole", "excerpt": "About to retire the NUC I used for 10 years running arr stack, jellyfin, home assistant, pi hole and a few more containers. Bought a new bee link mini pc, new Intel CPU, 500gb SSD and 16gb ram for less than $500.", "context": "home server user", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 801263393, "item_id": 50078962, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50078962", "by": "IndySun", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "pi-hole previously, I must take another look.", "excerpt": ">...pro-tip... Thank you for the detailed suggestion. I use LittleSnitch. pi-hole previously, I must take another look. Did you catch LG spying posts?", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "New Apple TV 4K"}, {"id": 799951762, "item_id": 49996985, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49996985", "by": "TheBozzCL", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Finally, Unbound forwards requests to my Pi-hole, where the magic happens.", "excerpt": "I self-host my own DNS over TLS for domain-level adblocking. Maybe not the wisest decision, but it's working well so far and it doesn't require a lot of maintenance now that I've refined the setup. I use a DNS registrar and certificate that support wildcards. That way, I don't have to leak my DoT subdomain and I gain some obfuscation. Android's Private DNS option doesn't support alternate ports, so I'm forced to use ", "context": "self-hosts DNS over TLS", "use_case": "domain-level ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "System-level ad-blocking in Android"}, {"id": 796515472, "item_id": 49782217, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49782217", "by": "NothingAboutAny", "date": "2026-09-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use all the usual off the shelf \"dont track me\" stuff like a pihole", "excerpt": "I was talking about changing banks with my spouse, the following two weeks I get podcast ads and Samsung TV ads about the bank I mentioned. I use all the usual off the shelf \"dont track me\" stuff like a pihole and a \"resit fingerprinting\" Firefox fork and a VPN and everything else. I'm not amazed it still somehow got me, just sad.", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "ChatGPT now knows what you do on other websites via ad collector"}, {"id": 796471168, "item_id": 49779448, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49779448", "by": "anygivnthursday", "date": "2026-09-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For a home network network pihole or unbound also supports blocklists", "excerpt": "For a home network network pihole or unbound also supports blocklists (bundled with opnsense for example if you also want a firewall). For Android, I use Rethink with Hagezi blocklists, so they block also when I am on mobile data (it is vpn based).", "context": "", "use_case": "home network DNS blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "ChatGPT now knows what you do on other websites via ad collector"}, {"id": 796182928, "item_id": 49761433, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49761433", "by": "eMpHaSe", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "+1 for Pi-Hole", "excerpt": "+1 for Pi-Hole FTP Server Webserver SyncTrayZor (between different devices) Wireguard VPN", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted DNS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What self-hosted apps do you use daily?"}, {"id": 795964336, "item_id": 49747771, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49747771", "by": "austin-cheney", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "PiHole - dns", "excerpt": "* PiHole - dns * Jellyfin - videos and such * mealie - recipes * aphorio - my own app for container management, web servers, sockets, and more. It can do 5,000,000 messages person on a single socket roundtrip * gamevault - like Jellyfin for games * there is an audio app I wrote that I use daily * ghost - blogging on my public web server There are some others I run additionally but those listed above are the main ones", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What self-hosted apps do you use daily?"}, {"id": 795011601, "item_id": 49688225, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49688225", "by": "LooseMarmoset", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "excerpt": "every time I use the Internet on a computer without some sort of ad blocking, I am astounded to learn that there are still people who use the Internet without an ad blocker. The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?"}, {"id": 793825297, "item_id": 49614081, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49614081", "by": "thesuitonym", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "somehow got around my pihole and ublock origin", "excerpt": "I used to feel that way, but I've come back around to finding it easier to read the news in the actual paper. For once, I'm not going to get distracted by a text or email notification. But more importantly, there's no cookie notification to dismiss, there's no autoplay video ad that somehow got around my pihole and ublock origin, there's no subscription nag flyout, and I don't have to log in every time despite clicki", "context": "", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Making Teenagers Read Newspapers. A Nationwide Experiment in French High Schools"}, {"id": 793420224, "item_id": 49588764, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49588764", "by": "mrweasel", "date": "2026-09-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "PiHole was my solution as well", "excerpt": "PiHole was my solution as well, and then Reddit decided to help. The \"new\" Reddit interface is still horrible and unusable, so old.reddit.com was always my go to. I don't have or want a Reddit account, I just wanted to follow a few sub-reddits. Now old.reddit.com is blocked for users without an account and they appear to be rolling out something similar to the site in general. You can see a few posts, and the a pop-u", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking social media sites", "switched_from": "", "story": "Doomscrolling ourselves to death"}, {"id": 793119792, "item_id": 49569987, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569987", "by": "LetsGetTechnicl", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been loving the Pihole setup I just set up.", "excerpt": "I've been loving the Pihole setup I just set up. It uses Quad9 as the upstream provider and then I do all the blocking myself. I used to use NextDNS but this is so much better and free!", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "NextDNS", "story": "Shutting down our public encrypted DNS"}, {"id": 791718641, "item_id": 49482415, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49482415", "by": "hydrogen7800", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "configure it to use my pihole DNS", "excerpt": "I'm also interested. I use tailscale and there is supposed to be a way to configure it to use my pihole DNS, but there is something in Android that prevents that. I think I have to set a custom DNS on the phone.", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "\u201cIt works better in the app\u201d"}, {"id": 788887106, "item_id": 49305444, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49305444", "by": "AstralSerenity", "date": "2026-08-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'm also doubtful my Pihole wouldn't just black it anyways.", "excerpt": "The modified version I use disables all telemetry. I'm also doubtful my Pihole wouldn't just black it anyways. And ultimately, I use Firefox on Android with Ublock and strict tracking protection, so it doesn't seem I would be susceptible to this particular cookie interception Meta relies. That said, I see your point. I wouldn't use Instagram if I couldn't do these things. If Google cracks down on user choice to a deg", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Facebook is paying controversial creators to produce rage-bait content"}, {"id": 787949088, "item_id": 49246818, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49246818", "by": "yumraj", "date": "2026-08-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "run pi-hole that blocks ads", "excerpt": "No it doesn\u2019t. Why? Because I don\u2019t use it as a TV AND a set top box. I use it just as a TV that is connected to an AppleTV And before when I was using the inbuilt smart TV, I had disabled various android services related to ads on my Sony TV, and run pi-hole that blocks ads.", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking ads on home network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mars Bar from 1991 found \u2013 and it's 20g bigger than today's"}, {"id": 787493199, "item_id": 49218324, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49218324", "by": "ragequittah", "date": "2026-08-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Most of the stuff I use is free and excellent.", "excerpt": "Most of the stuff I use is free and excellent. Linux, Firefox, libreoffice, xcp-ng, bottles, steam, playnite, opnsense, docker, dockhand, immich, freshrss, obsidian, tailscale, calibre, caddy, docker, pi-hole, signal, audiobookshelf I could probably keep going for a long while. I'm very glad most good software creators I've come across do not have your mindset.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Improving GPT-5.6 Sol in ChatGPT\u2014and expanding access for free users"}, {"id": 780345171, "item_id": 48771573, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48771573", "by": "slaye", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Huge shout-out to HomeAssistant, PiHole, paperless-ngx, Dawarich, and countless others", "excerpt": "An incredible piece of software, on par with Google Photos. I've been using it behind Tailscale for months with no problems ever since I first got into homelabbing. Actually, moving from Google Photos to Immich after I hit my 100GB storage limit was the whole reason I got into self-hosting, and what a fun ride that has been! I can't believe self-hosted products of this caliber are free. Huge shout-out to HomeAssistan", "context": "homelabber", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Immich v3.0.0 Released"}, {"id": 778222464, "item_id": 48638904, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48638904", "by": "h4kunamata", "date": "2026-06-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Pihole to block data collection", "excerpt": "I have a 2018 Samsung QLED SmartTV, I use Pihole to block data collection and since it has Google DNS hardcoded in it, I use OPNSense Firewall rules to enforce any DNS request to Pihole. My TV has only one AD that no longer shows for years now, LG is ADs all over the place. My home setup allows me to have a smartTV without compromises it. Since it runs TizenOS, I can use my Linux PC to install remove apps from it lik", "context": "home network setup with Samsung TV", "use_case": "blocking smart TV data collection", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nearly Half of LG Smart TV Apps Contain Residential Proxy SDKs"}, {"id": 777088258, "item_id": 48568016, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48568016", "by": "d7w", "date": "2026-06-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So alternative is PiHole.", "excerpt": "You can try Wipr2/Filtr: https://kaylees.site/wipr2-whats-new.html Based on the description it solves exactly your issue, but requires iOS 26/macOS 26. Personally I use Adguard + their DNS. This combination is very good, but WebView blocking will be working with the DNS part, not content blocker. So alternative is PiHole.", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "NetNewsWire Status"}, {"id": 775988304, "item_id": 48499269, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48499269", "by": "stego-tech", "date": "2026-06-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Every advert snuck past both my Pi-Hole and my iOS filters", "excerpt": "Holy sh*t Tom\u2019s Hardware has gone downhill. Every advert snuck past both my Pi-Hole and my iOS filters, and it even tried forcing a file download on site open on my iPhone. As for the HL1 port: I love it, always wanted an N95 (I had an N80ie that I loved), and these sorts of retro experiments are always a joy to read about.", "context": "", "use_case": "ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Developer Gets Half-Life Running at 30 FPS on a Nokia N95"}, {"id": 775564817, "item_id": 48472801, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48472801", "by": "anonymousiam", "date": "2026-06-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I also have a few piholes (two locations)", "excerpt": "In addition to uBlock Origin, I also have a few piholes (two locations), and I use NoScript as well. It's nice to have multiple layers of defense.", "context": "", "use_case": "network-level ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Chrome is killing all uBlock Origin bypasses, Edge, Opera to follow"}, {"id": 773340992, "item_id": 48333812, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48333812", "by": "junto", "date": "2026-05-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Even though I use pi-hole to block ads", "excerpt": "Talking of dark patterns I\u2019ve noticed that many site \u201caccidentally\u201d have the bottom aligned cookie consent banner \u201cbreak\u201d on mobile Safari, such that the buttons are arranged such that \u201cAccept All\u201d is the only button you can press because the \u201cDeny All\u201d or \u201cCustomize\u201d go out of viewport when you go to click on them. This might be related to how mobile Safari changes the bottom bar as you move to click the button. I o", "context": "", "use_case": "network-wide ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "What Is a Dickover?"}, {"id": 763294769, "item_id": 47705923, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47705923", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Or to put it more plainly pi-hole will stop working.", "excerpt": "Because of the way youtube serves shorts the exact same way it serves any other video it sounds like a man-in-the-middle proxy server would be needed. which to enforce would still require per device config(loading corp style keys). A per device config that would probably be trickier than a shorts killer browser extension. This is why DoH makes me nervous. Once the embedded ad engines(cough smart tv's) figure it out, ", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS-level ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "LittleSnitch for Linux"}, {"id": 760523104, "item_id": 47532694, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47532694", "by": "ProllyInfamous", "date": "2026-03-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "blocking .apple.com & .icloud.com (and many more hosts) using a PiHole (so simple, so necessary).", "excerpt": "I have used and owned Apple products since 1992. Absolutely agreed about the gatekeeping \u2014 just as example, you cannot even update your MacOS without being online unless you create a full USB Installer. For your particular situation, presuming your hardware supports it, you can use MrMacintosh guides [0] to downgrade your OS from Tahoe \u2014 I recommend the latest Sequoia installer \u2014 all officially downloaded via Apple l", "context": "Apple user since 1992", "use_case": "blocking Apple hosts", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple Just Lost Me"}, {"id": 760508592, "item_id": 47531787, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47531787", "by": "boilerupnc", "date": "2026-03-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Pi-Hole sped up my Samsung home and menu screens tremendously.", "excerpt": "Pi-Hole sped up my Samsung home and menu screens tremendously. I use something like this list [0]. The growing size of the list itself is a testament to the enshittification of Smart TVs. I wonder if the SmartTV blocklist change history and size of commits could tell a historical story of how things have evolved? I'm aware that DoH makes this approach less and less viable ... but for my existing TVs it still seems to", "context": "", "use_case": "blocking smart TV telemetry", "switched_from": "", "story": "Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features"}, {"id": 760304625, "item_id": 47519039, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47519039", "by": "Adachi91", "date": "2026-03-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "internally serve my intranet and other services like pihole (which sits behind BIND)", "excerpt": "I've been running BIND for quite a long time now, and I've been very happy with it, very few issues other than my own folly, since I'm not on a static IP in the past 15 years my IP has changed 4 times (1 time due to a router change, 3 times due to Comcast outages), I didn't catch the last IP swap for over a month. Which brings me to a rather big gripe about other resolvers not respecting TTL, 70% of https://www.whats", "context": "", "use_case": "internal DNS filtering", "switched_from": "", "story": "You Can Run a DNS Server"}, {"id": 751476020, "item_id": 46967251, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46967251", "by": "TacticalCoder", "date": "2026-02-10", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I use unbound, not PiHole, so I'm not that familiar with PiHole", "excerpt": "Like many here I also run a few things at home and I've got a variety of machine: a good old Pi as an unbound DNS server that is on 24/7, A N100 modern NUC, running headless, to stream movies/music (wife or kid or I turn it on when needed), a good old rock stable solid HP Z440 workstation which I use as a server (ECC RAM and 14 cores, yummy) for Proxmox/VMs/Docker/ZFS, etc. The workstation which I use as a server is ", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Switch to Linux and the Beginning of My Self-Hosting Journey"}, {"id": 750599408, "item_id": 46912463, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46912463", "by": "bradley13", "date": "2026-02-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use a PiHole, plus ad-blocking browsers, so we see very few ads.", "excerpt": "We use a PiHole, plus ad-blocking browsers, so we see very few ads. According to Claude, around 40% of users in the West use ad-blockers at least some of the time. You would think that advertisers would understand that they are killing the goose? They have made ads pervasive, annoying and untrustworthy. Hence, fewer and fewer people are willing to put up with them. Perhaps enshittification will eventually hit a wall.", "context": "", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}, {"id": 748042001, "item_id": 46752625, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46752625", "by": "madduci", "date": "2026-01-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use PiHole in my own network", "excerpt": "I own a FTTH connection to Telekom since 2018, as the only provider in my street, allowed to install an internet connection (only glass fiber). Since then, I have always used my own device and I maintain a GitHub Snippet in how to connect OpenWRT modem (and by extension, any other modem that supports pppoe), rather than their Huawei SpeedPort crap or the more expensive Fritz Box). Link to Gist : https://gist.github.c", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS filtering", "switched_from": "", "story": "Deutsche Telekom is violating Net Neutrality"}, {"id": 742707265, "item_id": 46419204, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46419204", "by": "rpgbr", "date": "2025-12-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "a frustrating experience with Pi-Hole in a Raspberry Pi 3b (system broke by itself every other month", "excerpt": "I use NextDNS since 2021, after a frustrating experience with Pi-Hole in a Raspberry Pi 3b (system broke by itself every other month, I think because faulty SD cards). NextDNS is so good, and their free tier so generous, that sometimes I feel bad for not having to pay for it. Can\u2019t recommend enough.", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS filtering", "switched_from": "", "story": "NextDNS is my new favourite DNS service \u00b7 Stan's blog"}, {"id": 740030258, "item_id": 46251891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46251891", "by": "aceazzameen", "date": "2025-12-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We have a nice Sony Android TV along with a pihole.", "excerpt": "We're running a solution that isn't perfect and isn't for everyone. We have a nice Sony Android TV along with a pihole. But on the TV itself I installed f-droid and netguard. Netguard's UI sucks on a TV, but it's workable. I use it to block Internet access to everything including Google. Only a few streaming apps have internet access. There was some trial and error with a handful of dependencies too. If I need to upd", "context": "", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options"}, {"id": 738469808, "item_id": 46154363, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46154363", "by": "harry8", "date": "2025-12-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "pi-hole has a gui that I was already used to and it all works great.", "excerpt": "I don't know about unbound's blocklists and stats or indeed much about unbound at all. This: https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/dns/unbound/ was stupidly simple, pi-hole has a gui that I was already used to and it all works great. So I think about and study other things that need fixing/improving in my life instead. To flip it, why would I use unbound without pi-hole? What's the win I haven't seen (or even looked at or ", "context": "", "use_case": "DNS ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kea DHCP: Modern, open source DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 server"}, {"id": 737431683, "item_id": 46089480, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46089480", "by": "ndsipa_pomu", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "with Docker for running NgINX and PiHole", "excerpt": "Also not the OP, but I use a NanoPi M5 for my home router. I've got OpenWRT (technically FriendlyWRT, but it's the same) running on it with Docker for running NgINX and PiHole. https://www.friendlyelec.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=69&product_id=309", "context": "", "use_case": "network ad blocking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network"}]}