All advertisements on every website can easily be disabled in Google Chrome with the help of adblock-extensions that are available for free in the Chrome Webstore. But which one of them is the most efficient in blocking ads on our favorite websites like Facebook and Youtube?
The Google Chrome browser is becoming increasingly popular and gaining about 1% market share every month, most of the users are switching over from Internet Explorer. Besides being faster and more secure, Google Chrome is surpassing the Microsoft browser by offering many free extensions from external developers. Two of the most popular extensions are “AdBlock” and “Adblock Plus” – but what is the difference between the two and which one is better?
Despite the similarity in the name, the two extensions are created by different developers. Chrome Adblock Plus is based on the addon that was originally created for Firefox, with more than 120 million downloads the most popular browser addon in the world. A few months ago, Adblock Plus was ported to Google Chrome and in no time it has become the third most popular extension for Google Chrome. Adblock Plus is developed under open-source license by an international community of voluntary helpers as a non-profit project. “AdBlock” was inspired by this Adblock Plus movement and originally created for Chrome and Safari by an independent developer who is generating revenues with the software by asking for donations.
In order to analyze which one of the two operates more efficiently, the following criteria were used as a basis for the comparison:
- Blocking capability: How many ads are still coming through with an adblocker enabled?
- User interface: Which adblocker offers the best customization features?
- Performance: Is there any impact on the surfing speed?
Blocking capability
Both Chrome extensions are working very similar: Once installed, all ads are gone automatically. The ads are even blocked before downloading, which makes browsing the internet not only cleaner but also a lot faster by saving bandwidth. The items that are blocked are defined by filter lists such as the “EasyList” that originally were created for Firefox Adblock Plus. That’s why both adblockers are blocking the same elements. They do both have one wekness: blocking video ads. While the Firefox version is very efficient in this aspect, both adblockers for Chrome are not 100% reliable on this due to a bug in the WebKit engine Google Chrome is based on. So regarding the first aspect of our criteria, both adblockers work very similar, although Adblock Plus is slightly more advanced when it comes to blocking ads on youtube.com.
User interface
The original Adblock Plus has a rather minimalistic user interface, that’s why it is still in “beta” until it offers the same functionalities as the Firefox version. AdBlock has a more sophisticated user interface and is offering advanced options such as displaying all items that are blocked on a website.
Speed
This is a very important aspect as speed is what makes browsing the web enjoyable. AdBlock has always had an inferior code-basis, causing the browser to crash and slowing Chrome down significantly when a user is opening a new tab. Since the latest update to version 2.4, there has been a major improvement. However, Adblock Plus (which is based on the code that is being used for the Firefox version) is significantly faster (about 30% on the machine used for testing) and has not once caused the browser to crash.
So which one is better?
In conclusion, both ad-blocking plugins block ads reliably, only on video sites they are both inferior to the Firefox version to limitations in Google Chrome. AdBlock for Chrome is older and still has more users. The more sophisticated adblocker, however, is Adblock Plus for Google Chrome due to a significant better performance that is making browsing the web faster instead of slowing it down.
Guest article written by: Simon Miller, one of the editors of chrome-plugins.org, a non-profit website with real reviews of extensions, apps and themes for Google Chrome.
I didn’t know there was an adblock version for Chrome. Thanks for this. I just installed it as Chrome is now my favorite browser. I was an adblock user on Firefox a couple of years ago though.
I used to use an ad blocker in Firefox but ever since I moved to Chrome, I haven’t installed anything yet. Found it fast enough to display a site (even with heaps of ads) and so far none of my favorite sites have been completely annoying 🙂
yeah chrome is really fast, and so are the adverts, lol
I switched to Chrome for a short time when I was having trouble with Firefox but I never really liked it. In those days it didn’t have many plugins, although I think that may be changing. Even so as far as I am concerned FireFox remains my browser of choice.
As to those who insist on using Chrome, I suppose they will have to choose between the two add blockers 😉
Chrome is better than Firefox because it’s lightweight. I’ve seen lots of people complaining about Firefox being a CPU hog and I have to agree. Although, if you install too many extensions Chrome will also start using a lot of your computer’s resources.
I recently found and installed the ad blocker plus for firefox and I think it is one of my favorite extensions. I mainly love it for facebook. They really went overboard with all of their flash ads all over the place. It was so annoying I couldn’t even enjoy the browsing experience anymore because the ads would start talking and flash all over the place, as well as slow my browser signifantly.
I understand the need for FB to make revenue, but enough was enough. I installed the ABP extension and now Facebook works like the old days. Nice and fast.
I don’t use google chrome because it always seems to crash on me. I stick with firefox.
Adblock Plus is vastly superior in my experience however it only became available somewhat recently for Chrome.
Honestly, I only use Firefox, and I stay behind on the updates as to keep most of my tools addons and such functional. Its the best because its open source. I have had too many problems in dealing with Chrome, and its from Google (that means I am not fond of it).
I use firefox most of the time. But, I don’t really use such plugin. I will take a look at it and see how it suits to my browsing preferences.
Adblocker is one of my favorite in Firefox, i use google often but thanks for the tip. i will install one now.
Regards,
Robin
yes, but i think the add blocker is automatic when you download chrome. but some pop ups are useful for some sites, but not ad popup.
I don’t think ad-blocker is part of Chrome as default since Google makes a lot of their money on ads, but a pop-up blocker most definitely is part of Chrome and probably also enabled from the beginning.
I am using ABP to block ads and its working fine.
I am using ad-blocker and I don’t know whether it is part of the Google or not, but it is an excellent product.
Thank you for letting me know aout this! I didn’t know there was an ad blocker for Chrome, and I can’t live without Chrome now! It’s just superior in every way. I’m headed out to look for Ad Blocker Plus now!
Delena
I was trying to find adblocker addons that is compatible for Chrome. I was having a hard time finding good one. Thanks for writing this review!
Great review but i’m mostly a firefox guy. In terms of functionality, assuming you know what’s you’re doing with addons, it’s just way better and nearly as fast. Chrome is only better against a plain non addon firefox
Would there be anything wrong in having them both installed? Btw, another great extension is “ScriptNo”
Don’t use 2 extensions of the same type. They could get into some conflict of some sort..
Agree, Adblock Plus is slightly faster than Adblock. But adblock so much is being used because it is an older Adblocking extension and an user always thinks to download an extension, which has more downloads.
A great article where ads blockers are really coming to be most used in these days. So what do you think about Poper Blocker for chrome
Hi,
Thanks a lot for sharing this list of ad blocker. I always wanted to block a few categories of ads .. especially online gambling. I am going to try Adblock Plus.
Thank you for this useful post. adblocker helps me to improve my browsing speed.
Like it 🙂