06-22-2026, 12:59 PM
Running Pi-hole for about two years now and it's one of those things I'd never go back on. Blocks ads, telemetry, and trackers at the DNS level for every device on the network without touching individual clients.
A few things I've learned:
Hardware: A Pi Zero 2 W is more than enough for a home network. Alternatively, run it in Docker on whatever box is already on 24/7.
Filter lists worth using:
Avoid adding too many lists. The diminishing returns kick in fast and you'll start breaking sites you actually want to use. Start with 2-3 good lists.
Whitelist early and often. Some CDNs double as ad networks. Keep a note of what you've whitelisted and why.
Set up a secondary DNS. Pi-hole as primary, either another Pi-hole or your router's upstream as secondary. If Pi-hole goes down you still have connectivity.
Gravity updates: Set a weekly cron to run pihole -g to pull fresh blocklists.
Anyone running Unbound alongside Pi-hole for recursive DNS? Worth the extra setup?
A few things I've learned:
Hardware: A Pi Zero 2 W is more than enough for a home network. Alternatively, run it in Docker on whatever box is already on 24/7.
Filter lists worth using:
- Steven Black's Unified Hosts (the default)
- OISD Full - very comprehensive, regularly maintained
- Hagezi's Multi Pro - aggressive but well-curated
Avoid adding too many lists. The diminishing returns kick in fast and you'll start breaking sites you actually want to use. Start with 2-3 good lists.
Whitelist early and often. Some CDNs double as ad networks. Keep a note of what you've whitelisted and why.
Set up a secondary DNS. Pi-hole as primary, either another Pi-hole or your router's upstream as secondary. If Pi-hole goes down you still have connectivity.
Gravity updates: Set a weekly cron to run pihole -g to pull fresh blocklists.
Anyone running Unbound alongside Pi-hole for recursive DNS? Worth the extra setup?