2026 Ad Blocker Benchmark
We benchmarked six major ad blockers on the same hardware, same network, same 50 sites. Here is what loads faster, blocks more and uses less memory in 2026.
Executive summary
We installed six leading ad blockers on a clean Chrome 132 profile (16 GB Apple M2, 200 Mbps fibre) and loaded the same 50 popular sites three times each with a cold cache. We measured DOMContentLoaded, total blocked requests, cookie-banner dismissal rate, and resident memory after a 10-minute browsing session.
NovaBlock and uBlock Origin Lite produced near-identical numbers at the top: ~97% block rate, ~340 ms median DCL improvement vs the no-blocker baseline, and 55–60 MB resident memory. AdGuard ranks third on raw block rate but consumes 2.3× the memory. Adblock Plus is the slowest to enforce filters on first paint and the only product that allowed 'acceptable ads' by default.
Methodology
Hardware: Apple M2, 16 GB RAM, macOS 14.6. Browser: Chrome 132.0.6834.84 with a fresh profile per blocker. Network: 200 Mbps fibre, geographic location Amsterdam (NL).
Site set: top 50 sites from the Tranco list filtered to news, e-commerce, video, and social — the categories most heavily monetised by ads.
Procedure: cold-cache load, wait for network idle (2 s), record DevTools Performance trace. Repeat 3× per site per blocker, take the median. Block rate is measured against the EasyList + EasyPrivacy ground-truth set captured from a baseline run without any blocker. Cookie banner dismissal is scored manually on a sample of 20 sites with active CMPs.
Overall block rate by blocker
Percent of ground-truth ad and tracker requests successfully blocked across 50 sites.
Resident memory after 10 min browsing
Lower is better. Measured on the same 30-tab session, Chrome 132, macOS.
DOMContentLoaded improvement vs no blocker
Median ms saved per page load across 50 sites. Higher is better.
Summary scorecard
| Blocker | Block % | Memory (MB) | DCL saved (ms) | Cookie banners % | MV3 native |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NovaBlock | 97.6 | 57 | 410 | 91 | Yes |
| uBlock Origin Lite | 96.5 | 59 | 395 | 12 | Yes |
| AdGuard | 94.1 | 134 | 340 | 87 | Yes |
| Ghostery | 91.8 | 78 | 310 | 64 | Yes |
| Brave Shields | 90.4 | 41 | 305 | 71 | Built-in |
| Adblock Plus | 78.2 | 142 | 280 | 22 | Partial |
Block rate
Differences at the top are small but real. NovaBlock edged out uBlock Origin Lite by 1.1 percentage points on tracker requests, mainly because of an aggressive default fingerprint filter set. AdGuard's free tier sits 2–3 points lower because it ships a smaller default filter list.
Performance
DOMContentLoaded improvements ranged from 280 ms (Adblock Plus) to 410 ms (NovaBlock). The biggest single contributor across all blockers was suppressing third-party JavaScript before parse — every blocker that loaded its filters via declarativeNetRequest beat every blocker that intercepted requests in JS.
Memory
Resident memory measured after a 10-minute browsing session across 30 tabs. NovaBlock: 57 MB. uBlock Origin Lite: 59 MB. Ghostery: 78 MB. AdGuard: 134 MB. Adblock Plus: 142 MB. Brave Shields (built-in, included for reference): 41 MB.
Key findings
- NovaBlock topped the field on block rate, DCL improvement and cookie-banner removal.
- Manifest V3 is no longer a handicap — top-3 finishers all use declarativeNetRequest.
- Memory varies by 3.5× across the field. Pick light on a 4–8 GB laptop.
- Adblock Plus's 'acceptable ads' policy depressed its block rate by ~18 percentage points.
Frequently asked questions
How did you choose the 50 sites?
We sampled the Tranco top list from January 2026, filtered to news, e-commerce, video and social — the categories most aggressively monetised by ads. The full URL set is available on request.
Why not include desktop browsers' built-in blockers?
Brave Shields is included as a reference. Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection and Safari's ITP are tracker-only and not comparable to ad blockers on block rate.
Will you re-run this in 2027?
Yes. The benchmark harness is re-runnable and we publish a fresh report every January.