Last reviewed: October 8, 2026 · 10 min read

Pi-hole basics: block ads and trackers on every device at home

Pi-hole is free, open-source software that blocks ad and tracking domains for your whole network: phones, smart TVs, tablets, even devices where you can’t install an ad blocker. It’s a great weekend project, and this guide covers the parts most tutorials skip, like what to do when it goes down.

What Pi-hole does (and doesn’t)

Every time a device loads a web page or an app, it looks up names like example.com using DNS, the internet’s phone book. Pi-hole becomes your home’s DNS server. When a device asks for a known ad or tracking domain, Pi-hole answers “nothing here”, and the ad never loads.

It’s good at: banner and pop-up ads served from separate ad domains, tracking and telemetry domains in apps and smart TVs, and showing you exactly what your devices are contacting.

It can’t block:

ads served from the same domain as the content. Video ads on major streaming and video sites are the classic example.
sponsored posts inside social media feeds;
devices or browsers that use their own encrypted DNS (DNS-over-HTTPS) and bypass your network’s DNS. More on this below.

Think of it as a strong first layer, not a complete replacement for an in-browser blocker.

What you need

An always-on device. A Raspberry Pi is the classic choice; even a Zero 2 W handles a household. Any small Linux computer works, and so does a container on a NAS or home server.
A reliable power supply and storage. For a Pi, use the official power supply and a good-quality microSD card (16 GB or more), or a USB SSD.
A wired connection if possible. Ethernet is more reliable than Wi-Fi for something the whole house depends on.
Access to your router’s settings, to give the Pi-hole a fixed address and change the DNS your router hands out. Some ISP-supplied routers don’t allow changing DNS. If yours doesn’t, see option B below.

Install it

Prepare the Pi. Use Raspberry Pi Imager to write Raspberry Pi OS Lite to the card. In the Imager’s settings, set a username and password, enable SSH and set your Wi-Fi if you won’t use Ethernet.
Give it a fixed address. Boot the Pi, find it in your router’s device list, and create a DHCP reservation so it always gets the same IP address (for example 192.168.1.53). Write that address down; you’ll need it.
Connect and update. From a computer, run ssh yourname@192.168.1.53, then:
```
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y
```
Run the official installer. The Pi-hole project’s one-step install is:
```
curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash
```
If you prefer to read a script before running it (a good habit), download it first, read it, then run it with sudo bash basic-install.sh. The official docs at docs.pi-hole.net cover both methods and Docker.
Answer the prompts. Choose an upstream DNS provider, the service Pi-hole asks for everything it doesn’t block. Privacy-focused public resolvers such as Quad9 or Cloudflare are common choices. Keep the default blocklist to start.
Set the admin password:
```
sudo pihole setpassword
```
Open the dashboard at http://192.168.1.53/admin, using your Pi’s address.

Point your network at it

Pi-hole only works for devices that use it for DNS. Pick one approach:

Option A: change the DNS your router hands out (recommended)

In your router’s DHCP or LAN settings, set the DNS server to your Pi-hole’s address. Then restart devices, or wait for them to renew, so they pick up the change.

Don’t add a public DNS server as “secondary DNS.” Devices don’t use DNS servers strictly in order. Many will happily use the secondary and skip your Pi-hole. If you want redundancy, run a second Pi-hole and list both.

Option B: let Pi-hole be the DHCP server

If your router won’t let you change DNS, turn off the router’s DHCP server and turn on Pi-hole’s (Settings → DHCP). Only one DHCP server should run on a network. Do the switch-over when nobody is mid-video-call.

Option C: set it per device

Set DNS manually on individual devices. This is handy for testing before you switch the whole house.

Check it’s working

The dashboard should show queries climbing as devices browse.
From a computer, look up a known ad domain against your Pi-hole:
```
nslookup doubleclick.net 192.168.1.53
```
A blocked domain returns 0.0.0.0 (or :: for IPv6).
Open a news site you know is ad-heavy and compare.

Living with Pi-hole

Something broke? Occasionally a shopping link, a smart-TV app or a sign-in page needs a blocked domain. Open Query Log, find the blocked domain from the moment it broke, and allow it. From the command line, use pihole allow example.com.
Pause blocking from the dashboard for 5 minutes when you need to test whether Pi-hole is the cause, or run pihole disable 5m.
Keep it updated: pihole -up updates Pi-hole. Blocklists refresh weekly on their own, or run pihole -g. Update the operating system too (sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade).
Encrypted DNS in browsers: if a browser’s “secure DNS” setting points to an outside provider, that browser skips Pi-hole. Set it to use your system/network DNS. By default, Pi-hole also tells Firefox to disable its automatic DNS-over-HTTPS.
Don’t go overboard with blocklists. Huge lists mostly add breakage. Start with the default and add a list only when you have a reason.

Plan for when it’s down

Once your whole network uses Pi-hole, a dead Pi means “the internet is broken” for everyone at home, even though your connection is fine. Decide now what you’ll do:

Write down how to undo it: “Router settings → LAN → DNS: set back to automatic.” Keep the note where another family member can find it.
Back up your settings using the dashboard’s backup/export feature (Settings → Teleporter) after you change anything.
Consider a second Pi-hole on another device and give both addresses to your router. Small tools exist to keep the two in sync.
Use a decent power supply and storage. Cheap power supplies and worn-out SD cards cause most Pi failures.

What to buy

A Raspberry Pi with the official power supply and a case. A Pi 4 or Pi 5 also leaves room for other projects. Example: Raspberry Pi starter kit with power supply
A high-endurance microSD card or small USB SSD. Example: high-endurance 32 GB microSD card
A short Ethernet cable to connect it to your router. Example: 3 ft Cat6 patch cable

Already have a NAS or an old laptop that stays on? Pi-hole runs happily in Docker or on most Linux systems, so you may not need to buy anything.