Our Favorite Ad Blockers and Browser Extensions to Protect Privacy (2024)

Ad blockers are browser extensions that block intrusive pop-ups, invasive trackers, and malicious ads. You have a lot of options for different ad blockers, but I’ve always found that uBlock Origin doesn’t hog system resources (an assumption others have confirmed), nor does it block so much that it ruins a site’s layout and functionality. I also like how easy it is to disable uBlock Origin on a case-by-case basis, either to allow ads on sites that aren’t annoying or to temporarily enable features uBlock tends to break, like comments sections.

Alternatives: I’ve found that AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, and Ghostery all have steep learning curves or poor performance, but some people prefer them to uBlock Origin. If you want to go hard on ad blockers and kill every ad from every device on your home network, you can build a tiny computer dedicated to just that using Pi-hole software.

In conjunction with uBlock Origin, consider also running Privacy Badger, an extension designed to block tracking tools, the scripts that tend to record your visits and build profiles based on the websites you view. If you want to learn more about these types of trackers, type an address of a site into The Markup’s Blacklight tool, which lists the trackers it finds on a website and details what that tracking company does.

Alternatives: If you want to learn more about the trackers on the sites you visit, Disconnect can provide more detailed information, but it can be a bit overwhelming. Firefox has a built-in feature (powered by Disconnect) to block trackers, but some may get through, so we still recommend an extra add-on.

When a website loads resources—such as the sort of JavaScript libraries that add basic animations to a web page, or a date-picker pop-up when you book a hotel room—it often pulls those resources from a third-party host such as Google. Decentraleyes packs a number of the most popular of these libraries so your browser can use them right from your computer instead of fetching them from a third party. It prevents sites from breaking due to settings in an ad or tracking blocker, and works as a useful complement to either.

Alternatives: LocalCDN does the same thing as Decentraleyes, but has less reviews than Decentraleyes.

A password manager is the first step to protecting your online accounts. Password managers are usually accessed through a browser extension that generates, stores, and fills your passwords as you browse the internet. This makes it easier, faster, and more secure to log in to websites. We like 1Password and Bitwarden. Most browsers can also save and fill passwords without a dedicated password manager, but they tend to lock you into that specific browser, or don’t provide tools for password sharing. A dedicated password manager is better at warning you about weak or compromised passwords.

As the name suggests, Firefox Multi-Account Containers is a Firefox-only extension, but I’ve found it useful while working from home on my personal computer full time. Essentially, Multi-Account Containers lets you create separate storage containers for different types of browsing—such as work, personal, social media, and shopping—so your web-browsing behavior doesn’t get tracked across sites as easily. In my case, my Google Account for work is siloed off from everything else I do. This prevents me from being accidentally logged in to work email or bombarded by ads for bear canisters because I’m researching the VPN provider TunnelBear. I used to do this by running different browsers—one for work and one for personal stuff—but now I can do it all in Firefox.

Alternatives: Temporary Containers works similarly to Multi-Account Containers but offers more ways to customize how the containers function. Facebook Container is essentially a streamlined version that isolates only Facebook, typically the worst offender for tracking your browsing. If you don’t want to futz around with a bunch of different settings, Facebook Container is a great option for cutting off only your Facebook use.

Regardless of which browser you use, you should enable its HTTPS-preferred mode. This ensures the browser will always attempt to go to the secure version of a web page. You might have to opt into this feature in your browser:

There are also a few options that aren’t for everyone:

There are many layers of privacy protection, and how deep you want to go with it depends on what’s important to you. If you’re interested in more advanced privacy protections because you want to keep your data out of the hands of government or law enforcement, I recommend reading the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s guide to using the Tor Browser or checking out the Tails operating system. Plenty of other extensions exist if you want to take things further, including NoScript, Cookie AutoDelete, uMatrix, and CanvasBlocker. They tend to make general web browsing a pain, though, so I recommend them only for advanced users.