Yes and you should. Run adblock-tester.com first to verify the basics work. Then run PIHOLEKILLER to find the harder gaps. The combination tells you a complete picture in under 10 minutes.

> comparison · ad-blocker tests

PIHOLEKILLER vs adblock-tester.com

adblock-tester.com has been a reliable first-stop ad-blocker check since 2016 — simple, category-based, fast. PIHOLEKILLER is the harder follow-up: 103 probes across 6 categories with 3 difficulty tiers, including the things adblock-tester doesn't measure at all (DoH bypass, fingerprinter SDKs, popunders, malware-adjacent endpoints). Both tools are free, both run in the browser. This page explains when to use each.

PUBLISHED 2026-04-22 · ADBLOCK-TESTER IS GREAT FOR BASICS · PIHOLEKILLER CATCHES THE DEPTH

Summary table

dimension	PIHOLEKILLER	adblock-tester.com
total probes	103 across 6 categories	~30 across ad/popup/tracker categories
difficulty tiering	yes — standard / advanced / extreme	no — flat category pass/fail
DoH bypass tests	yes (Level 2 + 3)	no
fingerprinter-specific probes	yes — canvas, audio, font enumeration, FP SDKs	tracker category only (broad)
popunder-ad tests	yes (dedicated category)	no (popup category ≠ popunder)
malware-adjacent probes	yes	no
scoring model	composite grade across pillars × difficulty tiers	category pass/fail + total score
community leaderboard	yes — public at /leaderboard	no
session history	no (one-shot client-side, nothing stored)	no (one-shot)
best for	stress-testing a full stack; finding advanced gaps	first-time ad-blocker verification; baseline check

> short answer adblock-tester.com confirms your ad blocker is installed and functional. PIHOLEKILLER confirms it still works when the adversary is trying harder than "show a banner ad." Passing adblock-tester at 100% is a baseline; PIHOLEKILLER's harder tiers reveal the ceiling of what your layered stack actually achieves.

Why the tests feel different

adblock-tester.com's categories (Ads / Popups / Trackers / Analytics, depending on the version) map cleanly to what a mainstream user sees in daily browsing. The test fires a probe per common ad-tech endpoint and reports pass/fail. Most ad blockers ship with blocklists that catch these endpoints, so most configured setups score 100% or very close. The test is designed to verify correctness, not to find failure modes.

PIHOLEKILLER was built around the observation that "100% on every public ad blocker test" does not match real-world performance. DNS-level blockers like Pi-Hole routinely pass every public test and then fail in three specific ways: (1) modern browsers using DoH bypass the DNS layer, (2) first-party fingerprinter SDKs are not on advertising blocklists, (3) popunder networks use fresh throwaway domains that blocklists do not cover in time. PIHOLEKILLER's Level 2 and Level 3 specifically probe these failure modes. Scoring well there requires a layered stack, not just a single-layer filter.

When to use adblock-tester.com

First check after installing a blocker. 30 seconds to confirm the basics work.
Troubleshooting when ads return. Run it to confirm the blocker is still active before digging deeper.
Before writing a review. Quick verification of the baseline behavior of a new blocker or VPN-bundled filter.
Sharing a reproducible test with a non-technical user. Category pass-fail is easy to explain over text.

When to use PIHOLEKILLER

Measuring a layered stack. Pi-Hole + uBlock Origin + router DoH blocking + HTTPS content filtering: PIHOLEKILLER's tiered scoring shows which layer is doing what work.
Evaluating a claim. A product markets itself as blocking "everything." PIHOLEKILLER's extreme tier exposes the gap between marketing and reality.
Benchmarking against the community. /leaderboard publishes submitted scores with setup descriptions, so you can see what 90+ scores actually require.
Testing DoH specifically. Most blockers score 100% on adblock-tester.com even with DoH enabled, because the basic endpoints are still cached from old resolution results or don't use DoH. PIHOLEKILLER directly fires DoH queries through Cloudflare, Google, NextDNS to probe the bypass path.

Start basic, then stress-test

Run adblock-tester.com first. Fix any reds. When it's clean, run PIHOLEKILLER to see the realistic score of your stack against a harder adversary model. The scores will differ — that's the point. The delta between them is the measurement of how much advanced tracking your stack still lets through.

FAQ

Is PIHOLEKILLER harder than adblock-tester.com?

Yes. adblock-tester.com is a category-based pass-fail test focused on mainstream ads, popups, and trackers across about 30 probes. PIHOLEKILLER fires 103 probes across 6 categories and 3 difficulty tiers, adding DoH bypass, fingerprinters, popunders, and malware-adjacent probes that adblock-tester does not measure. Scoring 100% on adblock-tester is normal for any functional blocker; scoring above 85% on PIHOLEKILLER requires a layered stack.

Does adblock-tester.com measure fingerprinting?

adblock-tester.com has a tracker category but does not specifically probe fingerprinter SDKs, canvas-fingerprint scripts, audio-fingerprint attempts, or font-enumeration scripts. PIHOLEKILLER's Level 2 and Level 3 include dedicated fingerprinter probes across multiple SDK categories, which is where most DNS-layer blockers fail.

Which tester does the Pi-Hole community use?

Both are referenced on r/pihole and Pi-Hole community forums. adblock-tester.com is often the first link a newcomer gets pointed to because the test is fast. PIHOLEKILLER tends to be recommended as the follow-up when a user wants to push their setup beyond default.

Can I use both?

Yes, and you should. Run adblock-tester.com first to verify the basics, then PIHOLEKILLER to find the harder gaps. Under 10 minutes for a complete picture.

Try both

> RUN PIHOLEKILLER > OPEN ADBLOCK-TESTER →