What Safari content blocker should I use??

The_Prodigy1982

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For those of you that use any form of content blocker for Safari, I could use some advise on which one to use...
What I'm looking for is;

1) a good ad blocker that blocks most of those annoying ads
2) protection against hidden viruses within ads
3) good customisation options
4) a whitelist
5) my preference goes out to a Safari extension, WITHOUT the need of an additional app.

- I already found some content blockers online, here are some that caught my attention;

[ No additional macOS app needed ]

AdBlock Plus ( https://adblockplus.org )
* macOS & iOS

Disconnect ( https://disconnect.me/disconnect )
* macOS & iOS

Adamant ( Adamant )
* macOS & iOS

Ka-Block! ( Ka-Block! )
* macOS & iOS

Clearly ( https://safari-extensions.apple.com/details/?id=com.getclearly.ClearlyOSXExtension-CUUDUQ7AJM )
* macOS & iOS

NoThirdParty ( NoThirdParty )
* macOS & iOS

Wipr ( Giorgio?s Apps )
* macOS & iOS

[ Additional macOS app needed ]

1Blocker ( https://1blocker.com )
* macOS & iOS

Roadblock ( Obied Corner )
* macOS & iOS

Adguard ( https://adguard.com )
* macOS & iOS

------------------------------

--> I would appreciate it, if you guys could give me some advise on the pros and cons of the above blockers... and which one you recommend me??
 
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Ledsteplin

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They're all about the same. Read the reviews. Pick out one with good reviews that has the whitelist option. That comes in handy.
 

The_Prodigy1982

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Ok, I tested each of the earlier mentioned Content Blocker, and I have to say Adguard is the one for me!
Just bought a lifetime license...

I've been an Adblock Plus user for the last 3 years, but it's just not complete enough anymore these days.
Adguard is very customisable, which I love.
 

iamDecode

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Thanks for the extensive list, That's really useful.

With Sierra I seem to experience some problems with adblockers: my Safari starts using a lot of CPU and really slows down performance. I tried the Safari Technology Preview which seems to run a bit better, but still occasional 100% CPU spikes. my solution for now is to use a modified /etc/hosts file for ad blocking: no effect on render time, but unfortunately not long as effective.
 

robertk328

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Ok, I tested each of the earlier mentioned Content Blocker, and I have to say Adguard is the one for me!
Just bought a lifetime license...

I've been an Adblock Plus user for the last 3 years, but it's just not complete enough anymore these days.
Adguard is very customisable, which I love.

What kind of customization do you need? I whitelist a site (like iMore) and let it block the ones I don't want to whitelist.

Just curious as I'm a long time AdBlock user as well.
 
Oct 21, 2016
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I've tried 1Blocker, Focus, and Wipr in the past. They were all generally good and comparable in performance.

In the end, I decided to stick to 1Blocker. After testing all three, I found that 1Blocker, for me, seems to have the best overall blocking performance (with respect to what it blocks), and the most configurable interface, including whitelisting.
It also had fewer issues with sites (though none of them had too many issues in general).

An additional personal preference of mine, which eliminated Focus, is that I'd like to have the same blocker for both iOS and macOS. Only 1Blocker and Wipr fall into that category.

The downside to 1Blocker is the fact that it costs, and you have to pay for both the iOS, and the macOS version. It does however sync via iCloud, so your settings, whitelists, and rules are available on both.
 
Oct 21, 2016
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Forgot to ask: anyone else facing this issue?

I might have missed it, but which blocker are you using?

I haven't experienced any of these issues so far. I find 1Blocker to not take up any additional resources, and Safari rendering speeds are great. I'm on 10.12.1, with the included Safari version.
 
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IMHO, 1Blocker is the best. However, They do have a bug with Bing Search atm that blacklists every Bing domain.

Oh interesting. Could be related to general Microsoft blacklisting ... I've noticed that logging out of a Microsoft account throws a "blocked by your content blocker" error. I don't use Bing, so never noticed that.

I did contact the 1Blocker guys to let them know, and they requested more information ... another plus for them, in that they respond to customers.
 

anon(9057135)

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Oh interesting. Could be related to general Microsoft blacklisting ... I've noticed that logging out of a Microsoft account throws a "blocked by your content blocker" error. I don't use Bing, so never noticed that.

I did contact the 1Blocker guys to let them know, and they requested more information ... another plus for them, in that they respond to customers.

Yep! Contacted them about the Bing issue about a week ago and they said it'll be fixed in the next release
 

The_Prodigy1982

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After having run a few tests, I found that 1Blocker using less system resources than Adguard does (which I've been using since last week).
So I guess I will switch to 1Blocker...
 

The_Prodigy1982

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One 'small' question though;

Of course I want to block out all of the unnecessary clutter when visiting websites... but how do I know what sections to block and what sections I need to allow??

- For example;

When I visit iMore, how do I know what sections of the 'Block Comments' I should allow??
I DO want to get rid of the ads and stuff, but I DO want to able to read the comments...
How do I know what 'Block Comments' to allow, and which not??
I assume there's an easier way, other than to test each of the loose 168 'Block Comments' rules??? :raised-eyebrow:
 

iamDecode

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I might have missed it, but which blocker are you using?

I haven't experienced any of these issues so far. I find 1Blocker to not take up any additional resources, and Safari rendering speeds are great. I'm on 10.12.1, with the included Safari version.

I was using just "Adblock" (getadblock.com) in combination with Ghostery. Either of the two, or the combination, triggered the bad performance. Ill try to figure out which one has the most impact over the next couple of days.
 

rdstryr

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I was using just "Adblock" (getadblock.com) in combination with Ghostery. Either of the two, or the combination, triggered the bad performance. Ill try to figure out which one has the most impact over the next couple of days.

I use Adblock and have not experienced any performance issues. Maybe it is Ghostery that's causing the problem.
 

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