I ditched my Pi-hole but still block ads with NextDNS • Hacker News Board

Re: I ditched my Pi-hole but still block ads with NextDNS

#71

Post by BrandoElFollito » Sat, Feb 22, 2025, 9:18 AM UTC

I have an excellent experience with PiHole but why I like it is not for the ad block (this too of course)

It is the only product I know (short of running dnsmasq standalone) to run a DHCP linked with a DNS and what registers in the DHCP is also registered in the DNS.

Re: I ditched my Pi-hole but still block ads with NextDNS

#72

Post by ahepp » Sat, Feb 22, 2025, 4:42 PM UTC

ddejohn wrote: post #70

gh02t wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easiest first step is to see if your current router has support for OpenWRT. I find OpenWRT kinda hard to use, but a lot of people swear by it and it's very capable even. More powerful options are projects like PfSense or Opnsense, but those require more expensive hardware and for most uses you probably also need a separate switch. I personally use PfSense and find it relatively easy to use while being extremely powe…

Thanks a bunch. I have actually used unifi routers in the past and didn't always have a great experience with them, but it's been a while and I feel like I might be ready to try again. Will also look into gl.inet, thanks!

Some of Ubiquiti's old EdgeRouter line supports OpenWRT. I'm running it on a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X. I doubt any of their newer Unifi stuff does though.

Re: I ditched my Pi-hole but still block ads with NextDNS

#73

Post by gh02t » Mon, Feb 24, 2025, 6:27 PM UTC

ddejohn wrote: post #70

gh02t wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easiest first step is to see if your current router has support for OpenWRT. I find OpenWRT kinda hard to use, but a lot of people swear by it and it's very capable even. More powerful options are projects like PfSense or Opnsense, but those require more expensive hardware and for most uses you probably also need a separate switch. I personally use PfSense and find it relatively easy to use while being extremely powe…

Thanks a bunch. I have actually used unifi routers in the past and didn't always have a great experience with them, but it's been a while and I feel like I might be ready to try again. Will also look into gl.inet, thanks!

Unifi has improved a lot in very recent times in terms of both features and ease of use. I wasn't that keen on their router/firewalls previously, but I quite like them now and the prices on some of their gateway hardware are unbeatable. The Unifi Express is $150 and includes a built in access point and runs their software stack so you don't need to host it elsewhere like you used to. Only real downside is it doesn't have a built-in switch, but a cheap dumb switch should be plenty for normal uses and you always have the option to buy a Unifi (or other brand) managed switch if you want to do more advanced stuff.