Setting Up AdGuard Home on a Raspberry Pi for Network-Wide Ad Blocking and Encrypted DNS

Our existing Pi-hole coverage handles the most common network-wide ad-blocking path, but Pi-hole isn't the only option, and for a meaningful subset of users AdGuard Home is the better fit — it bundles encrypted upstream DNS (DNS-over-HTTPS and DNS-over-TLS) and a built-in DHCP server into the same lightweight Go binary, without needing the separate `unbound` setup covered in our recursive DNS resolver guide to get encrypted queries. This guide covers installing and configuring AdGuard Home on a Raspberry Pi, and where it genuinely differs from Pi-hole rather than just being a reskin of the same idea.

AdGuard Home vs Pi-hole: The Real Differences

FeatureAdGuard HomePi-hole Encrypted upstream DNSBuilt in (DoH/DoT/DoQ) — no extra softwareRequires a separate resolver like unbound, or a third-party DoH proxy Install footprintSingle Go binary, no separate web server dependencyRequires lighttpd/PHP for the web UI (or FTL's built-in server on newer versions) Filtering approachBlocklists plus built-in parental controls and per-client filtering rulesBlocklists plus a very mature community gravity-list ecosystem DHCP serverBuilt in, optionalBuilt in, optional Ecosystem maturityNewer, smaller community, actively developedOlder, much larger community, more third-party dashboards and integrations

Neither is strictly better — Pi-hole's larger community means more pre-built blocklists and troubleshooting content exists for it, while AdGuard Home's single-binary design and native encrypted DNS make it noticeably simpler to get a fully private DNS path running without stacking multiple services.

Installation

AdGuard Home runs well on any Pi from a Zero 2 W upward — it's lighter on resources than Pi-hole's PHP-based web interface. Install via the official script:

curl -s -S -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome/master/scripts/install.sh | sh -s -- -v

This installs AdGuard Home as a systemd service and opens the setup wizard on port 3000 for initial configuration. Always review install scripts from a project's official repository before piping to a shell on a device that will handle your entire network's DNS traffic — treat this the same way you'd treat any other self-hosted service install on a Pi you're relying on daily.

Initial Setup Wizard

• Admin web interface port: defaults to 3000 during setup, then moves to port 80/3000 depending on your choice — pick a port that doesn't collide with anything else running on the Pi.
• DNS listening port: standard port 53 — if you're migrating from Pi-hole on the same Pi, stop and disable the Pi-hole FTL service first or you'll get a bind conflict.
• Upstream DNS servers: this is where AdGuard Home's advantage shows — you can set upstream resolvers directly to `https://dns.quad9.net/dns-query` or similar DoH endpoints without any additional software, encrypting your queries from the Pi outward.
• Static IP: set the Pi to a static IP or DHCP reservation before pointing your router's DNS at it — the same requirement as any Pi-hole setup, since client devices need a DNS server that doesn't move.

Blocklists and Filtering

AdGuard Home ships with a curated default blocklist and lets you add additional lists (the same well-known lists Pi-hole users rely on, like Steven Black's hosts file or OISD, are compatible here too) under Filters → DNS blocklists. Per-client rules are where AdGuard Home's interface is a genuine improvement for households with mixed needs — you can apply a stricter filtering profile to a kids' tablet's MAC address while leaving a work laptop on a more permissive profile, without needing separate Pi-hole groups and client assignment, which is comparatively more fiddly to set up.

Rolling Out Network-Wide

Point your router's DNS server setting at the Pi's static IP (both primary and secondary, or just primary with a public fallback secondary) the same way you would for Pi-hole — see the DHCP and router configuration approach in our existing Pi-hole content for the general network rollout steps, since that part of the process is identical regardless of which DNS filter you're running. If you enable AdGuard Home's own DHCP server instead of your router's, disable the router's DHCP server first to avoid two DHCP servers fighting over lease assignment on the same network — a genuinely disruptive mistake if it happens on a network with more than a couple of devices.

Redundancy and Failure Mode

Whichever DNS filter you run, a single Raspberry Pi handling DNS for your whole house means DNS goes down when that Pi reboots, loses power, or has its SD card fail. Options worth setting up alongside either tool:

• Set a public DNS server as a secondary in your router in case the Pi is unreachable, even though it bypasses filtering when it kicks in.
• Run a second instance on a spare Pi Zero 2 W as a true secondary resolver, syncing blocklists periodically.
• Boot from an SSD instead of SD card if this Pi is doing double duty as anything else, per our NVMe boot guide — SD card corruption from constant DNS query logging is a common failure mode for DNS-filtering Pis specifically, since they write far more frequently than a typical low-write Pi project.

AdGuard Home isn't a strict upgrade over Pi-hole — Pi-hole's ecosystem and documentation depth still make it the easier first choice for most people. But if encrypted upstream DNS and per-client filtering rules matter to your setup, AdGuard Home gets you there with meaningfully less configuration than bolting DoH onto a Pi-hole install.