Setting up Pi-hole for home network ad blocking
Pi-hole is one of those rare “set it once, enjoy it every day” home network upgrades. Instead of installing ad blockers on every browser and every phone, you put one small device on your network and tell everything to ask it for DNS.
In this guide you’ll set up Pi-hole, point your network at it, and avoid the handful of common foot-guns like DNS settings that silently bypass it.
What Pi-hole does (and doesn’t)
Pi-hole is a DNS sinkhole. When a device tries to look up a domain name that’s on a blocklist (often ad or tracker domains), Pi-hole refuses or “sinks” that request so the connection never starts. That means less tracking, fewer popups, and usually faster-feeling pages.
It also means Pi-hole has limits:
- It blocks by domain name, not by “ad elements” inside a webpage.
- It can’t reliably block ads that are served from the same domain as the content.
- If a device uses encrypted DNS (DNS over HTTPS / “Private DNS”), it can skip Pi-hole entirely.
If you like the idea of network-wide blocking for apps and smart TVs, Pi-hole is great. If you want pixel-perfect cosmetic blocking inside a specific browser, you’ll still want a browser extension too.
What you’ll need before you start
You don’t need a Raspberry Pi specifically. You just need something that can stay on, plugged into your router, and keep a stable IP address.
Typical options:
- A Raspberry Pi
- A small always-on computer (old mini PC, thin client)
- A VM or container on a home server/NAS
Two practical requirements matter more than the hardware:
- A stable IP for Pi-hole (either a manual static IP on the device, or a DHCP reservation in your router)
- A way to make your network use Pi-hole for DNS (usually a router setting)
If you can’t change DNS settings on your router, Pi-hole can often act as your DHCP server instead.
Step-by-step: install and enable network-wide blocking
Pick where Pi-hole will run. If you’re brand new to this, the simplest path is a small box on Ethernet that stays on. Wi‑Fi works, but wired is usually more stable.
Install Pi-hole and sign in to the admin UI. Start with the official docs and follow the install path that matches your OS:
- Project site: https://pi-hole.net/
- Documentation: https://docs.pi-hole.net/
After install, confirm you can reach the admin interface (commonly at
http://pi.hole/admin). The post-install page is where a lot of the practical setup advice lives: https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/post-install/Give Pi-hole a stable IP address. This is what keeps your setup from breaking later.
- Best option: add a DHCP reservation in your router so Pi-hole’s IP never changes.
- Also fine: set a static IP on the Pi-hole device.
Point your network at Pi-hole for DNS. You’ve got three options, from “best” to “last resort” (Pi-hole’s FAQ walks through them too: https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-do-i-configure-my-devices-to-use-pi-hole-as-their-dns-server/245):
- Set Pi-hole as the DNS server in your router’s DHCP/LAN settings (most common).
- If your router won’t let you do that, use Pi-hole’s built-in DHCP server (and disable DHCP on the router first).
- Manually set DNS on each device.
After changing DHCP settings, devices usually won’t switch immediately. The quick test is to reconnect to Wi‑Fi (or renew the DHCP lease) so the device picks up the new DNS server.
Verify it’s working. Open the Pi-hole dashboard and confirm you see queries increasing as you browse. If you don’t see any traffic, your devices probably aren’t using Pi-hole yet, or something is bypassing it.
Common gotchas (and how to fix them)
“It works on my laptop but not on my phone”
Phones (and some browsers) can use encrypted DNS features that bypass your router’s DNS settings.
What to check:
- Android’s “Private DNS” setting (if enabled, it may ignore your network DNS).
- Browser-level DNS over HTTPS settings.
- Apple iCloud Private Relay (it can change how DNS and traffic are handled).
The fix is usually to disable those features for your home network, or configure them so they still use your local resolver.
IPv6 leaks
If your network uses IPv6 and your router hands out IPv6 DNS servers that aren’t Pi-hole, some traffic will bypass blocking.
The general fix is: make sure your network advertises Pi-hole for both IPv4 and IPv6 DNS, or disable IPv6 on the LAN if you’re not ready to manage it. Exact steps depend heavily on the router.
Some apps break (or sign-in pages look weird)
This is the tradeoff with blocklists: sometimes they catch a domain an app actually needs.
Use the query log to identify what’s being blocked right before the app fails, then allowlist that specific domain.
Tip: be conservative. Allowlist only what you need, and prefer a specific domain over a broad wildcard.
Optional upgrades that are worth considering
If you like Pi-hole once it’s running, three upgrades tend to pay off:
- Redundancy: a second Pi-hole (or another fallback resolver) so DNS outages don’t feel like the internet is down.
- Local names: friendly hostnames for your own devices and services.
- A local resolver: some people pair Pi-hole with a local recursive resolver (like Unbound) to reduce reliance on third-party upstream DNS.
Pi-hole isn’t magic, but when it’s set up cleanly (stable IP + router DNS + bypasses handled), it’s one of the most practical privacy upgrades you can make at home.