Ad blockers are becoming a must-have these days, especially with the sheer number of ads flooding the web. If you’re someone who spends a lot of time online, you’ve probably come across websites where ads seem to take up more space than the actual content. Even some of the most well-known media sites now display big banners and those floating video ads that can make browsing a bit annoying. Their goal? Either to generate ad revenue or push you to subscribe. But behind door number three, you’ll find ad blockers.
Now for some of you, ad blockers may bring up a dilemma. By blocking ads, you’re cutting off revenue for smaller websites that rely on that income to stay afloat. It’s a bit of an ethical grey area.
That’s where Stands AdBlocker (previously known as Fair AdBlocker) comes in. Stands offers a unique approach to this issue by allowing users to enable “Fair Ads” for websites that are part of their program. This way, you can still support your participating sites without being bombarded by intrusive ads. It’s a similar idea to Adblock Plus’s “acceptable ads” feature. But there’s more to Stands than just fair ads. In this review, we’ll dive into its features to help you decide if it’s the right ad blocker for you.
⭐ Rating | 8 out of 10 |
💵 Price | Free |
▶️ Blocks YouTube Ads? | Yes |
⛔ Blocks Trackers? | Yes |
💻 Compatibility | Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge |
Pros and Cons
Before we move forward with the features and testing, let’s weigh the pros and cons. This should serve as a summary of the review.
Pros
- Effective ad blocker with protection against adware and trackers
- Compliant with Chrome’s Manifest V3 platform
- Can block Facebook ads and sponsored posts
- User-friendly interface
Cons
- No accessible filters list
- Lacks the ability to add custom filters or user rules
- Can’t avoid detection
- No support over live chat
- Unable to block scripts
Stands AdBlocker Features Overview
Out of the box, Stands blocks all the usual suspects like regular ads, third-party trackers, malicious adware, and pop-ups. But it also comes with a few advanced options that aren’t switched on by default, which could really enhance your browsing experience.
Even though Stands advocates for fair advertising, the “fair ads” feature isn’t enabled by default, which we appreciate. Moreover, Stands automatically blocks trackers even when fair ads are enabled, which means those ads can’t track you. What’s even nicer is that you get control over how many fair ads you see on each site, giving you more flexibility.
One standout feature we found is Stands’ ability to block Facebook ads. This is something most ad blockers struggle with. It can filter out ads and sponsored posts that show up in your news feed. But you’ll need to enable this option manually.
Stands also removes search ads from places like Google and Bing, and you can even hide sponsored links on certain websites. Another handy feature we recommend turning on is webmail ad blocking, which clears out those text-based ads in your email inbox.
The extension also offers separate whitelists for ads and pop-ups. And it lets you view detailed stats, complete with graphs, showing how many ads, trackers, adware, pop-ups, and other annoyances it has blocked for you.
We try to look for 10 features that we believe all ad blockers should have. Stands has 7 of them. While the missing features do not directly impact ad blocking. They are nice to have.
Ad Blocker Features
Features | Status |
---|---|
Blocks Banner Ads? | Yes |
Blocks Video Ads? | Yes |
Blocks Pop-ups? | No |
Blocks Social Media Widgets? | Yes |
Blocks Sponsored Posts? | Yes |
Blocks Floating/Overlay Ads? | Yes |
Blocks Trackers? | Yes |
Blocks Malicious Sites? | Yes |
Blocks Notification Requests? | No |
Hides Cookie Prompts? | No |
Score (Out of 10): | 7 |
Performance Test
We do our testing in four steps. In steps 3 and 4 we test the ad blocker on specific websites and run it through a few third-party tests. Before we get to that, let’s have a look at how we test ad blockers.
How Do We Test Ad Blockers?
We run every ad blocker through a long list of rests before we rate them. Let’s walk you through our testing process.
Step 1
First, we successfully install the ad block extension on our browser, Google Chrome. We use Chrome as it covers most chromium based browsers including Edge, Opera, and Yandex. While this excludes browsers like Firefox and Safari, for the most part the results should be similar.
Step 2
After setting it up, we dive into the extension’s main page and settings to have a closer look at its user-friendliness and customizability, making sure it is easy for just about anyone to navigate. Moreover, we also check if it makes good on the claims we found in its marketing materials.
Step 3
Next, we hit some of the most visited websites out there such as YouTube, Forbes, The New York Times, Reddit, X, and Twitch to see the ad blocker in action. We’re looking to see if it effectively blocks ads, pop-ups, cookie prompts, and those pesky notification requests.
Step 4
Finally, we move on to the independent testing sites using four third-party web based ad blocking tools.
- Adblock Tester: This tool employs a total of 11 advertising and analytical services, and runs 22 checks.
- d3ward Ad Block Test: This GitHub project tests an ad blocker by running it against 135 ad providers, filters, scripts, analytics, trackers, and OEMs.
- Can You Block It: This website contains three tests displaying various types of ads, each more difficult to pass than the previous one.
- Cover Your Tracks: This site focuses on tracking and fingerprinting, showing how well your ad blocker protects your anonymity online.
Ideally, a good ad blocker should pass all four of these tests. But that’s not all, for a more realistic test, we also go through some websites before and after to see if it blocks all the ads. Having completed all our testing, we tally up the scores and give the ad blocker an editorial score out of 5.
Testing Websites
YouTube
One of the main downsides of Chrome’s shift to the new manifest V3 extension platform is that most of the ad blockers have lost the ability to block ads on YouTube. However, Stands AdBlocker has managed to block all banner ads on the home screen, side banners and bumper ads on the video pages and the video ads before, during and after the actual videos. We checked videos from multiple popular creators and found no ads. We also scrolled through 25 YouTube shorts, and no ads were found there either.
- Skippable in-stream ads: Blocked
- Non-skippable in-stream ads: Blocked
- In-feed video ads: Blocked
- Bumper ads: Blocked
- Masthead ads: Blocked
- YouTube Shorts ads: Blocked
Ad Types
Ad Type | Status |
---|---|
Video Ads | Blocked |
Banner Ads | Blocked |
Shorts Ads | Blocked |
Score (Out of 10): | 10 |
Forbes
We scrolled through the home page and a few free articles on Forbes. While Stands managed to block all banner ads, and floating video ads, it could not block the newsletter popup, even though we had the option to block popups enabled. Moreover, it also failed to bypass the soft paywall, as our browsing was interrupted after four free articles. And it did not automatically block the notification from Forbes.
- Self-report (homepage): Blocked 20 ads and trackers
- Banner Ads: Blocked
- Floating Video Ads: Blocked
- Newsletter Pop-ups: Allowed
- Paywall: Did Not Bypass
The New York Times
Our experience with the New York Times was very similar to Forbes. NYTimes usually have a lot of large flashy banner ads. Stands managed to block them all until we hit a paywall.
- Self-report (homepage): Blocked 23 ads and trackers
- Banner Ads: Blocked
- Paywall: Did Not Bypass
Reddit has ads disguised as promoted posts. Basically, they look like regular posts, but they can be identified by the “Promoted” written in the top right corner of the posts. While these are not as intrusive as most other ads, they are still ads. And Stands successfully removed them.
- Self-report (homepage): Blocked 1 ad or tracker
- Promoted Posts: Blocked
Twitch
We usually test Twitch because of its self-promotion banners. There are discount and sign up banners below livestreams and at the bottom of the page. Stands could not block any of them. A lot of creators on Twitch feature their sponsors on their about page, they do not count as ads as they are manually placed by the creators.
- Self-report (homepage): Blocked 3 ads and trackers
- Self-promotion Banners: Blocked
X
Similar to Reddit, X also has ads disguised as sponsored posts. But they were removed by Stands during our tests.
- Promoted Posts: Blocked
Crocs
Finally, we test the Crocs websites for popups. But we have already seen that Stands could not block popups on the Forbes site. And it was the same here, as well.
- Self-report (homepage): Blocked 48 ads and trackers
- Pop-up: Allowed
Now for the scoring. Stands AdBlocker did not perform as well as many of the other ad blockers in this test. It clearly cannot block popups, even though it was enabled in the settings. And it cannot block self-promotion banners, either. But it successfully blocked all ads, acquiring a score of 7 out of 9.
Category
Category | Subcategory | Status |
---|---|---|
Websites | Forbes | Blocked |
New York Times | Blocked | |
Blocked | ||
Twitch | Allowed | |
X | Blocked | |
Crocs | Allowed | |
Score (Out of 10): | 6.6 |
Third-Party Ad Block Testing
- Stands AdBlocker scored 53 points out of 100 on AdBlock Tester, as it did not do well while handling scripts and analytical tools.
- It got an impressive 99% score on d3ward ad block testing tool, where again it could not block scripts from loading.
- Stands passed the first two tests on Can You Block It. But failed on the Advanced Test as it was detected.
- While testing it on Cover Your Tracks, it only provided partial protection against tracking ads and invisible trackers. But it could not protect our browser against fingerprinting.
Here are the test scores:
Test Results
Test Name | Test Score |
---|---|
Adblock Tester | 53 |
d3ward Ad Block Test | 99 |
Cover Your Tracks | 0/3 |
Can You Block It | 2/3 |
Score (Out of 10): | 7 |
Stands AdBlocker got only 5 out of 12 in this section as it completely failed the Adblock Tester and Cover Your Tracks.
Stands AdBlocker Plans, Pricing, Free Tier, and Trial
Stands is a completely free to use ad blocker. In their website, they also state that it will remain free. However, it does run on donations. You can donate monthly, yearly, or as a one-time payment. As soon as we installed the ad blocker, we were taken to the donation page. If you want to do it later, you can also find the donation page from the extensions main page or the Stands website.
It should be noted that your donation will only support the project, it won’t give you additional functionalities on the ad blocker.
For a free ad blocker, Stands performs well. It properly blocks ads on YouTube and Facebook, which is a plus in our book. But at the same time, it performs poorly when blocking scripts and annoyances such as pop ups and notifications, whereas many other ad blockers do not struggle in this regard.
Category | Score |
---|---|
Value for Money | 5/5 |
Free Version Usability | 5/5 |
Score (Out of 10): | 10 |
How Usable is Stands AdBlocker?
We’re going to try to objectively figure out Stands AdBlocker’s usability in four sections. Compatibility, Installation, Ease of Use, and Customizability. Let’s look at each now.
Compatibility
Stands Free AdBlocker is compatible with all browsers. That includes all Chromium and Firefox based browsers, as well as Safari. It does not have any Windows or macOS apps for system-wide ad blocking. It is not available on Android or iOS either. But there is a Stands Browser for Android that has ad blocking built into it. Talking about compatibility, it is compliant with Google Chrome’s Manifest V3 platform, so it should be supported once Google moves to the new extension platform completely.
Platform Availability
Platform | Availability |
---|---|
Chromium Extension | Yes |
Firefox Add-On | Yes |
Safari Extension | Yes |
MV3 Compliance (Chrome) | Yes |
Windows App (System-wide) | No |
macOS App (System-wide) | No |
Android App (System-wide) | No |
iOS App (System-wide) | No |
Score (Out of 10): | 6 |
Installation
Installing Stands AdBlocker was easy. We found it directly on Chrome’s Web Store. There was no warning or restrictions. If you want, you can also visit Stands Free AdBlocker’s website to install the extension, but it will redirect you to your browser’s add-ons store. For us, it was Chrome Web Store. After the installation, it took us to the donation page. And that was about it. Overall, it was very easy to install.
Installation
Installation | Status |
---|---|
Quick Installation | Yes |
Beginner Friendly | Yes |
Clarity of Instructions | Yes |
Score (Out of 10): | 10 |
Ease of Use
Stands gets props for user-friendliness. After the installation, the ad blocking was automatically enabled. In the main page you get two toggles. One is to whitelist the site you’re on, the other one is to block pop-ups. An option to pause the ad blocking would have been better. But a welcome surprise was the ability to block elements right from the main page of the extension.
In the settings, we found all the basic ad blocking features such as Advertisement, Tracking, Adware, and Popups enabled. More advanced blocking features like, Facebook Ads, Search ads, Sponsored links, Web mail ads needed to be enabled manually. The fair ads were disabled by default, which we appreciate. Moreover, there is an easy-to-use slider to control how many fair ads are permitted per webpage. There were also graphs for ad blocking statistics and two separate whitelists for ads and pop-ups.
Ease of Use
Ease of Use | Status |
---|---|
One Click Use | Yes |
User Friendly Settings | Yes |
Automatic Updates | Yes |
Score (Out of 10): | 10 |
Customizability
Stands have very few customization features. There is no list of filters that the user can access or the ability to add custom filters or rules. However, Stands does allow element blocking, which is rare to see in ad blockers that do not allow the first two customization features.
Customizability
Customizability | Status |
---|---|
Accessible Filter List | No |
Custom Filters | No |
Manual Element Blocking | Yes |
Score (Out of 10): | 2 |
Customer Support
For customer support, all we could find was an email address. There is no live chat, phone, or even a knowledge base. We emailed them with a few inquiries of our own. But did not receive any response in over 7 days. There was no acknowledgement, and we were not assigned with any support ticket either.
Customer Support
Customer Support | Description / Score |
---|---|
Availability of Support | |
Response Time | 0/3 |
Support Quality | 0/3 |
Score (Out of 10): | 1 |
Top Alternatives for Stands Free AdBlocker
There are many alternatives to Stands that perform better. But Stands AdBlocker has a few things that make it suitable for certain users, such as MV3 compliance for chrome users, YouTube and Facebook ad blocking, and the promise that it will remain free forever.
AdGuard | uBlock Origin | Total Adblock | Ghostery | Stands AdBlocker | |
Score | 9.6 | 9.4 | 8.2 | 8.8 | 8 |
Best For | System-wide ad blocking | Customizability | Security features | Online privacy | YouTube & Facebook ads |
Adblock Tester Scor | 95 | 96 | 100 | 98 | 53 |
Cover Your Tracks | 2/3 | 2/3 | 2/3 | 0/3 | 0/3 |
Compatibility | Browsers, Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS | Browsers | Chromium Based Browsers, Android, and iOS | Browsers | Browsers |
MV3 Compliance | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Open-Source | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Support | Email, Knowledge Base | Community | Email, Phone | ||
Starts At | $29.88/ | Free | $19.99/ | Free | Free |
Full Reviews |
Verdict
Stands performs poorly when compared to other ad blockers, including the free ones. It lacks customizability features and proper customer support. Moreover, it cannot block scripts and most annoyances like pop ups and notifications, which make it hard to recommend. However, if you are looking for an MV3 compliant ad blocker that blocks YouTube and Facebook ads, Stands is a great option.
Now, lets see how Stands Free AdBlocker did in our tests:
Category Stands
Category | Stands | Weight |
---|---|---|
Features | 7 | 20 |
YouTube | 10 | 10 |
Websites | 6.6 | 10 |
Independent Tests | 7 | 15 |
Pricing | 10 | 15 |
Compatibility | 6 | 5 |
Installation | 10 | 5 |
Ease of Use | 10 | 10 |
Customizability | 2 | 5 |
Support | 1 | 5 |
Bonus | 0.5 | N/A |
Final Score: | 8 | 100 |
Frequently Asked Questions About Stands Free AdBlocker
Is Stands AdBlocker Trustworthy?
Stands Free AdBlocker (formerly Fair AdBlocker) is not entirely safe. While Stands Ltd. takes some steps to safeguard data, it also collects and shares your browsing information with third parties. For users seeking an ad blocker that strictly limits data collection and tracking, Stands is not it. But Stands is upfront about their data sharing practices on their privacy policy. Users concerned with privacy might want to look for an ad blocker that has a stricter no-data-sharing policy.
How to Remove Stands Free AdBlocker?
To uninstall or remove Stands AdBlocker from your browser, look at the top left cornet of your browser. You will see an extensions icon. Click on it and you will find the Stands Free AdBlocker. Next to it, there will be a three dots menu. From there you should find the option to remove the ad blocker. However, if you pinned the ad blocker to your top bar, removing it is just as easy as right-clicking the icon and clicking on the remove option.