AdGuard is one of the most feature-rich and user-friendly ad blockers available. Many of its features are surprisingly free. Especially when you consider that a lot of the ad blockers ask users to upgrade just to get the ability to block pop-ups and cookie consent prompts.
AdGuard is a DNS-based ad blocker that uses HTTPS filtering to block ads. If that sentence sounds like a lot, our full-length AdGuard review should help. This means that it blocks ads before they can reach your device. That is impressive, and this allows AdGuard to support a wide range of devices. However, not all of its features are available for free. While AdGuard offers comprehensive coverage in its free plan, the premium plans are worth considering for complete protection.
AdGuard vs AdGuard Premium Comparison Overview
| Feature | AdGuard | AdGuard Premium |
| Ad Blocking Capabilities | ||
| Basic ad blocking (banners, pop-ups) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Anti-tracking filter support | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Cosmetic filtering (limited) | ⚠️ Partial | ✅ Full |
| YouTube ad blocking | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| In-app ad blocking (Android & iOS) | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Custom filter rules | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Privacy & Security | ||
| Stealth Mode | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Malware & Phishing protection | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| DNS filtering | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Custom DNS support | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| HTTPS filtering | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Parental Controls & Safe Browsing | ||
| Basic adult content blocking | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Safe Search enforcement | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Site blacklisting/whitelisting | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Scheduled rules | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Platform Support | ||
| Browser-level ad blocking | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| System-wide ad blocking | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Full Android protection | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Safari content blocking (iOS) | ⚠️ Limited filters | ✅ Expanded filters + DNS |
| Customisation & Control | ||
| Filter toggles per website/app | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| User rules & custom scripts | ✅ Yes, but limited | ✅ Yes |
| Detailed app filtering (Android) | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Activity log/request inspection | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Support & Updates | ||
| Email support | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Regular filter list updates | ⚠️ Manual | ✅ Auto |
| Multi-device licensing (3–9 devices) | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
Comparing Features
Ad Blocking Capabilities
At first glance, both AdGuard Free and Premium block ads, and they do it well. You install it, enable a few filters, and boom. No banners, pop-ups, or trackers. For many users, that’s enough, and the free version will do. But if you look closer, you’ll see the real difference is in how far each version can go.
The free version gives you good browser-level protection. It blocks visual clutter like banners, floating ads, and some trackers. Especially in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. And it blocks YouTube ads in your browser. But that’s where it stops. It can’t touch in-app ads on Android, and can’t block ads inside other programs on your computer.
That’s where AdGuard Premium comes in.
With Premium, you’re not just blocking ads in the browser, you’re blocking them everywhere. Ads in your desktop apps? Gone. Ads inside games on Android? Nuked. Even those sneaky video ads that slip through on YouTube? Handled. Plus Premium unlocks full cosmetic filtering, which means cleaner pages, fewer empty ad containers, and a better overall experience.
In short, Free gets the job done. Premium finishes the job.
Privacy and Security
When it comes to privacy, AdGuard Free puts up a good fight. There are anti-tracking filters and malicious and phishing site filters. But that’s it. No fingerprinting protection or anything else.
AdGuard Premium brings out the big guns.
With Premium, you get Stealth Mode: AdGuard’s privacy hub. It’s not just blocking ads anymore; it’s cutting off tracking at the source. Which means anti-fingerprinting, blocking third-party cookies, stripping tracking parameters from URLs, and hiding your search queries. All the stuff that keeps data brokers up at night.
It also features Browsing Security, which scans websites in real-time to block known phishing pages, malware, and scam domains. And if you’re using DNS filtering (which you can’t with the free version) you get an extra layer of control by deciding which servers you trust to handle your web traffic.
Parental Controls and Safe Browsing
AdGuard Free doesn’t offer much here. If you want to block adult content, restrict certain websites, or keep your kid from accidentally stumbling upon something dodgy, the free version cannot do anything here.
AdGuard Premium, though, gives you actual control. You get Parental Controls that block adult content across all browsers and apps, system-wide. It’s not just about filtering URLs either. You can enforce Safe Search on Google, Bing, and YouTube, so results will stay clean even if your kid searches for something iffy. You can also manually blacklist or whitelist sites, so you decide what’s allowed, not some generic filter list.
And then there’s Browsing Security, which works in the background to block access to malicious or scam websites. It protects against phishing, malware domains, and fake download pages.
Platform Support
AdGuard Free is fine if you just want browser-level blocking. On Windows and macOS, it will clean up websites in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. But that’s it. It can’t touch ads inside other apps, can’t block system-wide trackers, and doesn’t do anything for mobile unless you’re using it as a Safari content blocker on iOS. On Android, the free app only works within Samsung Browser and Yandex Browser. And even then, the filters are limited.
AdGuard Premium on Windows and macOS becomes a full system-level ad blocker. That means it filters ads not just in your browser but inside desktop apps, games, and email clients. Basically, anything that tries to show you an ad. It also runs silently in the background, updating filters and blocking trackers before they even load.
On Android, it’s even more powerful. If you sideload the .apk version (because Google doesn’t allow full ad blockers in the Play Store), AdGuard Premium blocks in-app ads, tracks data usage per app, and lets you customise which apps get filtered. It’s a proper firewall-meets-ad-block combo.
On iOS, both Free and Premium are limited by Apple’s rules. But Premium still gives you more filter sets, DNS control, and better content blocking in Safari.
Pricing
If you want complete, system-wide ad blocking across your devices, AdGuard Premium should be worth it for you.
- Personal Plan: $2.49/month or $29.88/year or $79.99 for a lifetime license (covers up to 3 devices)
- Family Plan: $5.49/month or $65.88/year or $169.99 lifetime (covers up to 9 devices)
Use code CHECKADBLOCK30 for an extra 30% off any plan
Just a heads up, if you already have a Premium subscription, you don’t need to buy AdGuard Pro on iOS. Just use the regular AdGuard app. Logging in with your Premium account unlocks the same DNS and filter features Pro offers.
AdGuard’s Ad Blocking Products
To avoid confusion, we need to talk about the ad-blocking products AdGuard has. Some of these products only work with AdGuard Premium, and some are free with no upgrade option.
AdGuard Browser Extension (Free)
AdGuard’s browser extensions are entirely free, and even if you upgrade to AdGuard Premium, it won’t affect the browser extension. You will need to use the dedicated AdGuard apps to get the full premium functionalities.
The extensions work with Safari, Chromium, and Firefox-based browsers. So you can find it on the Apple App Store, Google Chrome Web Store, and Firefox Add-ons Store.
AdGuard App for Windows & macOS (Paid)
The AdGuard desktop app gives you a three-day free trial, but the app is paid. You will need an AdGuard Premium license to use it. The app gives you system-wide ad blocking, among other features like stealth mode and parental controls.
To get the full functionality of the app, download it from AdGuard’s official website.
AdGuard Content Blocker for Samsung and Yandex Browser on Android (Free)
If you use Yandex or Samsung Browser on your Android phone, the AdGuard Content Blocker should be able to handle the in-browser ads. It’s free and you can download it from Google Play Store.
AdGuard for Android (Paid)
AdGuard for Android blocks all ads on your Android phone, including the in-app ads. It creates a dummy VPN profile to intercept all incoming traffic and block ads and trackers. It has a lot of the features that are available on the desktop version of AdGuard. And just like the desktop apps, AdGuard for Android requires a premium license. However, instead of 3 days, you get a 7-day trial.
Due to Play Store restrictions, it is not available on the Play Store. You will have to download the .apk file from AdGuard’s official website.
AdGuard for iOS (Free/Paid)
The free AdGuard app on the iOS App Store offers ad blocking on Safari. It has limited filters, and it is pretty basic.
However, if you already have an AdGuard Premium subscription, you can log in with your account and get additional filters and DNS-based ad blocking, which even works outside of your browser, if configured properly.
AdGuard Pro for iOS (Paid)
On the App Store, you may notice a second AdGuard app titled AdGuard Pro. For a one-time purchase, you can get the same features as AdGuard Premium with the regular AdGuard app. The two iOS apps are identical. This one offers an alternative one-time payment method that only works on iOS and iPadOS devices. You can learn more about the differences in AdGuard vs AdGuard Pro.
Other AdGuard Products
There are more AdGuard products with different features and pricing, such as AdGuard DNS, AdGuard Home, AdGuard VPN, and more. This article will not cover those.
Final Verdict
Is AdGuard Premium Worth It?
AdGuard is already one of the best ad blockers out there, even before you pay a single cent. The free version does a great job cleaning up browser clutter, blocks YouTube ads, and works on a decent number of platforms. For casual users who just want a cleaner, quieter web in their browser, AdGuard Free is one of the best free options.
But if you want real control: system-wide blocking, app-level filtering, anti-tracking, parental controls, and privacy tools that go beyond surface level, then AdGuard Premium is in a whole different league.
Where the free version stops at your browser tab, Premium covers everything: apps, games, DNS traffic, shady scripts, scam links, even your kid’s search results. It turns AdGuard into a fully customisable firewall, privacy hub, and ad blocker in one.
So, should you upgrade?
If you only use Chrome or Safari and don’t mind the occasional in-app ad or tracker, stick with Free.
But if you’re serious about privacy, hate seeing ads in apps, want to control what your kids can access, or just want a smoother, faster experience across all your devices, Premium is worth it.