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uBlock Origin: The Best Free Ad Blocker

★★★★★ 9.8/10 Free Free & Open-Source Tools Updated 2026-06-02
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Reviewed by The Empire Reviews Editorial Team — Product testing & research.
We are a small in-house team that buys, uses and stress-tests every product before it is ranked. We have no sponsored placements: brands cannot pay for a higher position. When a cheaper or unaffiliated product is genuinely better, we say so and rank it first. How we test →
Updated June 2026

uBlock Origin: The Best Free Ad Blocker

uBlock Origin is a free, open-source, wide-spectrum content blocker for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. Honest review and setup notes.

What it is

uBlock Origin is a free and open-source browser extension that blocks ads, trackers and malware domains using community-maintained filter lists. It is CPU- and memory-efficient and does not sell user data.

Unlike many 'free' ad blockers, uBlock Origin has no acceptable-ads program and no paid whitelist -- it is funded by donations and run by volunteers under a GPLv3 licence.

What you get for free

100% free and open-source, forever. No paid tier, no account, no upsell.

Who it is for

Anyone who uses a web browser. It is the single highest-impact privacy install most people can make.

Our take

Our #1 pick with no caveats. We do not earn a cent recommending it and we recommend it first anyway -- that is the whole point of this list.

Check current priceWe do not currently hold an affiliate link for this product. It is reviewed and ranked purely on merit.
Reviewed by The Empire Reviews Editorial Team — Product testing & research.
We are a small in-house team that buys, uses and stress-tests every product before it is ranked. We have no sponsored placements: brands cannot pay for a higher position. When a cheaper or unaffiliated product is genuinely better, we say so and rank it first. How we test →