Total Adblock is sure to show up in the search results if you’re looking for the best ad-blocking apps of 2024. This ad blocker is part of Total Security’s suite of security and privacy apps. Yes, the same company behind TotalAV, the award-winning antivirus software.
Total Adblock is a popular choice because it’s a one-click setup-and-forget kind of extension. Ease of use gets a lot of priority here, but it’s really good at blocking ads, trackers, and other annoyances. The ease of use, however, comes at a cost. You cannot access, edit, add, enable, or disable specific filters, or user rules. But whatever filters it uses, they clearly get the job done as reflected on the ad blocker’s exceptional test scores on Adblock Tester.
But how effective is it in real-world use? Is it safe? Is it free? Can it block all ads and trackers? We’re here to answer all these questions based on our extensive testing and user reviews.
| ⭐ Rating | 3.9 out of 5 |
| 💵 Price | 19.99/year |
| 🏷️ Free version | Yes |
| ▶️ Blocks YouTube Ads? | Yes |
| ⛔ Blocks Trackers? | Yes |
| 💻 Compatibility | Chrome, Safari, Opera, Edge, Android, iOS |
Pros and Cons
Here’s a list of pros and cons that should summarise the article by highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of Total Adblock.
Pros
- Excellent ad blocker with almost perfect test scores
- Can avoid detection
- Blocks scripts, analytics, and trackers
- Allows whitelisting
- 7-day free trial
- Premium plan comes with TotalAV
Cons
- The free version does not allow unlimited ad blocking and excludes the top 15,000 websites
- No system-wide app for Windows and macOS
- Users reported problems with cancelling subscriptions
Key Features of Total Adblock
Total Adblock comes with all the bells and whistles that you’d expect of a modern ad blocker. It blocks all the most common forms of advertisement like banner ads, annoying pop-ups and video ads.
It also gets rid of third-party trackers that follow you around the web, and that advertisers use to give you customized ads.
If you have some sites that you’d like to allow advertisement on, and you deem safe, then there is an “Allow List” that easily enables you to whitelist certain domains.
Total Adblock also has a big database of malicious sites that’s constantly updated and can alert and keep you away from those. Though this is not primarily what an ad blocker specializes in, so for a more robust protection here, the premium tier comes bundled with the TotalAV antivirus.
All in all Total Adblock does a good job with its selection of features and it should be sufficient for most users. We’d love to see it do a better job of dealing with soft paywalls, but this is also not a core part of an ad blocker, so that can also be forgiven.
Get an overview of the core features in the table below.
Ad Blocker Features
| Features | Status |
|---|---|
| Blocks Banner Ads? | Yes |
| Blocks Video Ads? | Yes |
| Blocks Pop-ups? | Yes |
| Blocks Social Media Widgets? | Yes |
| Blocks Sponsored Posts? | Yes |
| Blocks Floating/Overlay Ads? | Yes |
| Blocks Trackers? | Yes |
| Blocks Malicious Sites? | Yes |
| Blocks Annoyances? | Yes |
| Hides Cookie Prompts? | Yes |
| Has an Allow List? | Yes |
| Bypasses Soft Paywall? | No |
Performance Test
Before we can recommend an ad blocker, we run it through our comprehensive testing process, which includes third-party independent testing tools and our in-house evaluation.
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
We install the ad block extension on Chrome. We usually pick Chrome because almost every ad blocker has a Chrome extension. Testing it on Chrome also covers other Chromium-based browsers like Opera, Yandex, Edge, Vivaldi, Brave, and many more.
Step 2
After installing the ad blocker, we go through the welcome page, extension widget, and settings to check out all the available free and paid features. This also lets us test the installation, ease of use, customizability, and available customer support options.
Step 3
For real-world day-to-day use, we test the ad blocker on some popular websites like YouTube, Forbes, The New York Times, Reddit, Twitch, X, and Crocs to make sure that the ad blocker is running effectively against different kinds of ads, trackers, and annoyances.
Step 4
To test how effective the tool is at blocking ads, trackers, scripts, cookies, notifications, and malicious sites, we run it through four independent third-party tests.
- Adblock Tester employs a range of advertising and analytical services, to evaluate the effectiveness of ad blockers.
- d3ward ad block testing tool tests the ad blocker against various ad providers, filters, scripts, analytics, trackers, and OEMs.
- Can You Block It runs three tests that include different kinds of ads. If the ad blocker is functioning as it’s supposed to, none of the ads should be visible.
- Cover Your Tracks tests your browser to see how well you are protected from tracking and fingerprinting.
Based on all our testing, we round up all the scores in one place and give it an editorial rating which you’ll find at the beginning of the review.
Testing Websites
The following is a list of websites, and the types of ads and annoyances blocked by Total Adblock:
YouTube
On YouTube, we first browsed the home screen for ads. Then we browsed multiple videos from different YouTube creators such as MKBHD, Linus Tech Tips, MrBeast, Cocomelon, and 5-Minute Craft. We found no ads until we started scrolling through YouTube shorts. We watched about 25 Shorts and found two ads that were not tied to any channels and directly advertised for products.
- 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: Not Blocked
Forbes
While visiting Forbes, we usually see a giant banner almost at the top of the home page without an ad blocker. While reading specific articles, we often find similar-looking large banners on top and in the middle of the articles, as well as video ads on the right, middle, and floating. We saw none of those with Total Adblock. We also did not find any notification requests, or newsletter pop-ups which we usually get when browsing without an ad blocker. However, after going through a few articles, we saw a soft paywall that Adblock Plus could not remove.
- Self-report (homepage): Blocked 14 ads and trackers
- Banner Ads: Blocked
- Floating Video Ads: Blocked
- Newsletter Pop-ups: Blocked
- Paywall: Did Not Remove
The New York Times
NYTimes usually have banner ads, but they are often animated, likely GIFs. While browsing through the home page with Total Adblock on, we found no such ads. And the same goes for browsing through articles. However, similar to Forbes, Adblock Plus could not remove the soft paywall we got after reading through a few articles.
- Self-report (homepage): Blocked 14 ads and trackers
- Banner Ads: Blocked
- Paywall: Did Not Remove
Reddit usually gets these ads on their home page which often makes them look like other posts. These posts are identifiable and it is mentioned that they are “promoted”. We did not find any promoted posts while browsing through Reddit.
- Self-report (homepage): Blocked 3 ads and trackers
- Promoted Posts: Blocked
Twitch
Twitch mostly has self-promotion banners such as “discount of subs” and “sign up”. Total Adblock could remove all of them. But it should be noted that many creators on Twitch add their sponsors on their About page, and in their videos. While they may look like ads, they cannot be removed.
- Self-report (homepage): Blocked 4 ads and trackers
- Self-promotion Banners: Blocked
X
While browsing X we did not find any kind of ads or promoted posts on the home page with Total Adblock enabled.
- Promoted Posts: Blocked
Crocs
We usually test Crocs because it has some discount pop-ups. But while browsing with Total Adblock on, we did not find any pop-ups.
- Self-report (homepage): Blocked 40 ads and trackers
- Pop-up: Blocked
During our website testing, Total Adblock blocks almost all ads, trackers, and annoyances on all the websites. However, we still saw ads while scrolling through YouTube Shorts. It scored 8 out of 9 in this test.
| Category | Subcategory | Status | |
| YouTube | Video Ads | Blocked | |
| Banner Ads | Blocked | ||
| Shorts Ads | Allowed | ||
| Websites | Forbes | Blocked | |
| New York Times | Blocked | ||
| Blocked | |||
| Twitch | Blocked | ||
| X | Blocked | ||
| Crocs | Blocked | ||
| Score: | 8/9 | ||
Third-Party Testing
- Total Adblock’s AdBlock Tester score is 100/100. This website checks against contextual advertising, analytics tools, banner advertising, and error monitoring. AdBlock Tester performed 22 checks from 11 services, and Total Adblock passed all of them.
- We used a GitHub project, d3ward ad block test tool. This one tested Total Adblock against different scripts, filters, analytics, social trackers, and ads from different providers. Total Adblock managed to secure a 94% score, by blocking 127 out of 135 ads and trackers.
- Cover Your Tracks revealed that Total Adblock can block tracking ads, and invisible trackers. However, it could not protect our browser from fingerprinting.
- We ran Total Adblock through the 3 tests from Can You Block It. And it has passed all 3 of the tests, blocking every ad the site threw at it.
In our third-party testing, using independent tools, Total Adblock scored 11 out of 12. Here is a breakdown of the scores:
Test Scores
| Test Name | Test Score | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Adblock Tester | 100 | 3/3 |
| d3ward Ad Block Test | 94 | 3/3 |
| Cover Your Tracks | 2/3 | 2/3 |
| Can You Block It | 3/3 | 3/3 |
| Total | 11 |
Total Adblock Pro, Pricing, Free Tier & Trial
Total Adblock’s premium plan is called Total Adblock Pro. It adds the following functionalities:
- Unlimited Ad Blocking: Total Adblock Pro lets you block an unlimited number of ads on all websites.
- YouTube Ad Blocking: YouTube ad blocking is only exclusive to the premium plan.
- PC Tune-Up: With this tool, you can enhance the performance of your computer and free up disk space
- TotalAV: The premium plan also bundles TotalAV, the award-winning antivirus software from Total Security.
Total Adblock Pro starts at $1.59 a month when paid an annual fee of $19 for the first year. However, the plan renews at $99 making the monthly subscription $8.25. Total Adblock also offers a 60-day money-back guarantee, whereas most other ad blockers offer only 30 days.
Total Adblock also offers a 7-day free trial, which is activated as soon as you install the extension. We could not enable the free trial on mobile devices. But another good thing is that the free trial does not require your credit card information.
Now let’s talk about the ad blocker you get once the free trial ends and choose not to upgrade. The free version of Total Adblock is extremely limiting, as it does not block ads from the top 15,000 websites. Which basically means no YouTube, no popular social media sites, and no top news sites. The free version of Total Adblock is practically unusable.
Category Scores
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Value for Money | 2/3 |
| Free Version Usability | 1/3 |
We gave Total Adblock a 2 out of 3 on value for money because while it is a good ad blocker and one of the cheapest if you consider the first-year discount, in the long run, $99 a year is too much for an ad blocker, especially if you don’t really need an antivirus. Also, ads on YouTube Shorts is a dealbreaker, given that it is one of their defining features on Pro.
Free version usability gets a 1 because it has a free version. But is it usable? We’ll let you be the judge of that.
How Usable is Total Adblock?
Total Adblock is effective and good at what it does. But how usable is it really? We test an ad blocker’s usability based on four factors: compatibility, installation, ease of use, and customizability.
Compatibility
Total Adblock is only available on Chromium-based browsers. Which means no support for Firefox and Safari. Even on Chrome, it lacks Manifest V3 support, which is Chrome’s latest extension platform. There is also no system-wide ad-blocking on Windows and macOS. But it is available on mobile for both Android and iOS users. While iOS users can install it directly from the App Store, Android users need to download the APK from their website.
Ad Blocker Features
| Features | Status |
|---|---|
| Blocks Banner Ads? | Yes |
| Blocks Video Ads? | Yes |
| Blocks Pop-ups? | Yes |
| Blocks Social Media Widgets? | Yes |
| Blocks Sponsored Posts? | Yes |
| Blocks Floating/Overlay Ads? | Yes |
| Blocks Trackers? | Yes |
| Blocks Malicious Sites? | Yes |
| Blocks Annoyances? | Yes |
| Hides Cookie Prompts? | Yes |
| Has an Allow List? | Yes |
| Bypasses Soft Paywall? | No |
Installation
To install Total Adblock, you can either go to the Total Adblock website, or you can find it directly on your browser’s add-ons store. Once you have the extension installed, it redirects you to the set-up page, from there it’s just a couple of clicks away. After the set-up, it automatically starts the ad blocker and the 7-day free trial. No credit card is required. Overall, the installation process is clean and simple.
Installation Features
| Installation | Status |
|---|---|
| Quick Installation | Yes |
| Beginner Friendly | Yes |
| Clarity of Instructions | Yes |
Ease of Use
Once you install Total Adblock, it should already be enabled and ready to go. You don’t need to do anything. Just refresh the current tabs and the ads should be blocked. Now if you want to pause the ad blocking, upgrade to the premium plan, or access the settings, you can do all that from the extension in the top right corner of your browser.
Total Adblock settings include two toggle switches for global ad blocking and muting notifications. Then, there’s an allow list, customise blocking, and language. You may want to enable muting notifications, as it is toggled off by default.
Similarly, in the customise blocking settings, you will find ad blocking, privacy, and annoyances enabled, but social network tracking, cookie prompts, and additional security features are disabled. To get the best results, it is recommended that you enable those features.
The allow list lets you whitelist sites to show ads and notifications. If you add a site to the allow list, Total Adblock will ignore the ads or notifications on that site the next time you visit it.
We found Total Adblock to be very easy to use. But that ease of use may have come at the expense of customizability.
Ease of Use
| Ease of Use | Status |
|---|---|
| One Click Use | Yes |
| User Friendly Settings | Yes |
| Automatic Updates | Yes |
Customizability
Total Adblock has very little to offer in terms of customizability. There is no user-accessible list of filters, the ability to add custom filters using URLs, or custom rules using HTML or CSS. There is no option to manually hide to block web elements, either. Moreover, the settings page of this extension is very minimal.
Customizability
| Customizability | Status |
|---|---|
| Accessible Filter List | No |
| Custom Filters | No |
| Manual Element Blocking | No |
Customer Support
From the extension’s settings page, you can access the support section for billing help and technical support. Both of these redirect to a help center that has detailed guidelines about account, and billing issues. Many Reddit users have reported that they have had difficulties cancelling their subscriptions, following the instructions from the help center. There is no live chat support available. However, there is support over email and phone only for billing-related issues.
Customer Support
| Description | Score |
|---|---|
| Availability of Support | Help Center, Phone, and Email (for Billing Only) |
| Response Time | N/A |
| Support Quality | 2/5 |
Top Alternatives for Total Adblock
Every ad blocker has a few unique features that set them apart. Similarly, they have some shortcomings. Here are three top alternatives of Total Adblock, what they have to offer, and how they compare to Total Adblock.
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 | 100 | 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 |
Final Verdict
Total Adblock is a great option if you’re looking for an ad blocker with robust security features. It is extremely easy to use. However, the ease of use comes at the cost of customizability. There are no options to add custom filters, scripts, or user lists.
The free version of this extension lacks essential ad blocking features, making it a terrible free version. If you are looking for a free alternative, you may be better off with AdGuard or uBlock Origin. Both of which come with a lot of customizability.
But if you’re willing to shell out $20 for a year, you will also get TotalAV, the award-winning antivirus software, bundled with an extremely easy-to-use, install-and-forget ad blocker.
Now let’s round up all the scores from the different categories.
Category Scores
| Category | Score | Out of |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 11 | 12 |
| YouTube | 2 | 3 |
| Websites | 6 | 6 |
| Independent Tests | 11 | 12 |
| Pricing | 3 | 6 |
| Compatibility | 3 | 6 |
| Installation | 3 | 3 |
| Ease of Use | 3 | 3 |
| Customizability | 0 | 3 |
| Support | 1 | 6 |
| Bonus | 4 | 6 |
| Total (w/o bonus): | 43 | 60 |
| Overall Rating: | 3.9 | 5 |
N.B. Total Adblock got bonus points for having TotalAV bundled with its premium plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Total Adblock Trustworthy?
Yes, Total Adblock is trustworthy and absolutely safe to use. In the case of a lot of ad blockers, you don’t always know who is behind them, but Total Adblock is by Total Securities, the same people behind TotalAV, TotalVPN and more. The point is, that this company is very trustworthy because of their award-winning antivirus. And they take your privacy seriously. So you have some assurance there.
Is Total Adblock Free?
Total Adblock offers a 7-day free trial. After that, you must upgrade. While you can still keep using the free tier, it won’t have unlimited ad blocking. Moreover, the tier excludes the top 15,000 websites, making it useless for most of the sites you may visit. However, you can subscribe to Total Adblock for as low as $1.59 as it offers unlimited ad and tracker blocking. And it bundles TotalAV with it.
Does Total Adblock Remove YouTube Ads?
Yes, Total Adblock removes all YouTube ads including banners, skippable, and non-skippable ads. Moreover, Total Adblock can also avoid detection from Google and YouTube. However, you may want to keep the Total Adblock extension up to date and YouTube often changes the script that detects ad blockers.
Is Total Adblock Available on Android?
Total Adblock is on Android, but it is not available on Google Play Store. On the store, the only version available is for Samsung Browser. If you want to use Total Adblock on your Android smartphone, you will have to download the APK file from their website. You may need to allow installs from unknown sources on your phone. Always make sure that you’re downloading the APK from the official website, just to be safe.
How Do I Cancel My Total Adblock Subscription?
To cancel your Total Security account, you need to cancel all active subscriptions. First, log into your account on the Total AdBlock website. Then click on ‘Account’ in your dashboard. From there, select ‘My Services’ from the menu. Now, click ‘Manage’ on your subscription and then ‘Cancel’. You will need to verify your identity with a code sent to your email. If you run into any problems, you can contact Total Adblock customer support via email or phone.