Having your webpage full of irrelevant content ads can be irritating and lessen the overall user experience. Ads can be annoying, invasive, and relentless. No matter whether it’s a banner ad or a popup, I think we can all agree that an internet search without ads would be much more enjoyable.
Adverts are more than just an inconvenience; however. They can also pose a threat of malware being downloaded onto your system. This can leave you vulnerable to hackers to get access to your data, sometimes without you even knowing.
Luckily, there is a way to reduce the threat of advertisements in the way of Adblock and Adblock Plus. Contrary to popular belief, these products are not related in any way to one another. Today we’re going to be looking into both to see which is the best adblocker on the market.
Features
Adblock Plus was the first adblocker to be released onto the extensions market. Originally it was only available on Firefox but was quickly adjusted to being available on all browsers due to its popularity. Adblock was one of many adblockers inspired by Adblock Plus and was originally only available on Chrome. However, you can now use it on all browsers.
Both of these adblockers look similar and have many of the same features. They offer whitelists, blacklists, tracking control, counters, warnings, as well as many more features.
They are both sources from EasyList which is an ad filter maintained by the team behind Adblock Plus. This means that both Adblock and Adblock Plus will deem the same adverts either acceptable or blocked. One will not block more ads than the other.
Adblock; however, does allow you to block any adverts that are missed by the software with a simple right-click. This works on most adverts that are missed unless the advertiser is paying Adblocker to ignore their ads.
Performance
Adblock vs Adblock Plus
Both Adblock and Adblock Plus are impressive at blocking the majority of ads on any webpage. The performance can be clouded by the fact that they both allow acceptable ads to remain on a page, causing the user to think that it’s not working as effectively as it should be.
They both allow advertisers to pay them to whitelist their ads as well, meaning that you’ll still see them. Some websites also block adblockers from working to continue earning from their advertising spaces, meaning that Adblock and Adblock Plus won’t work on some websites at all.
Adblock runs slower on both Chrome and Firefox than Adblock Plus or using the browser without an adblocker. The more tabs you have open, the slower your browser will run as the more pressure the adblocker is under.
Adblock Plus works quicker on Firefox and with multiple tabs open, so you won’t see such a difference in the performance with this adblocker. Adblock Plus definitely wins in terms of performance and you should opt for this one if you constantly have lots of tabs open.
Usability
There is no use in having an adblocker that is impossible to use. Adblocking technology should be simple and easy to use for the user without them having to deal with the backside of the technology.
Adblock and Adblock Plus ensure that the usability is good for their users. They are quick to install, quick to start using, and quick to turn off if you want to. If you don’t want to use any of the advanced features you don’t need to and can easily use the default options with no issues.
In the reviews for both of these adblockers, Adblock Plus is more user-friendly than Adblock. This is because Adblock Plus can show you how many ads are blocked on the current webpage you’re on while Adblock doesn’t. Having said this, Adblock is not difficult to use in any way.
Adblock Plus won the usability test, but it was a tough competition. If you chose to opt for Adblock, you wouldn’t find it impossibly difficult to use.
Overall, Adblock and Adblock Plus are similar in a lot of ways. They both use the same ad filter which has been developed by the team behind Adblock Plus, so there isn’t one option that will work better at blocking adverts. If Adblock blocks or allows an advert, Adblock Plus will do the same.
However, Adblock does allow you to block adverts that slip through the technology as long as the advertiser isn’t paying them to keep their adverts on the whitelist. So, this is a benefit for Adblock that Adblock Plus does not offer.
Adblock Plus excels in both performance and usability; however. Adblock was found to slow down browsers, especially when you have multiple tabs open. The more tabs you have open, the slower the browser will run.
Adblock Plus does not seem to have this issue as you can use it with many different tabs open without the performance being slowed down. If you are someone who tends to have lots of tabs open often, you’ll benefit much more from using Adblock Plus.
Again, there’s not much difference between Adblock and Adblock Plus when it comes to usability. They are both very easy to use and require little to no setup to start using. However, if you want to see which ads are blocked on each page that you’re visiting, Adblock Plus is the only option that allows you to do this.
From our research, both Adblock and Adblock Plus are good options for adblockers. However, Adblock Plus just slightly takes the lead as the best option in our eyes.
If you want to learn more about what an Adblocker does and how they work, you can read all about it in our useful guide.
