The primary source of revenue from the Internet is advertising. Most of the famous internet personalities rely on advertising for their income. Content creators and others who are directly dependent on this ad revenue can’t earn without placing these ads. On the other hand, the industries that use advertisements depend heavily on these advertisements for sales. Thus, you must know the difference between uBlock Origin vs Adblock Plus.
The ads are displayed based on a user’s personal data statistics while browsing the internet. Thus, these ads are almost always related to something you might need.
However, this is not always the case. Also, if you’re just a fan of Adblock then this comparison of Adblock vs Adblock Plus will be a perfect fit for you.
Table of Contents
Why Should You Consider Blocking Ads?
Companies spend millions on advertising to reach out to the audience. Then why should one try to block these ads that someone spent so much on? Well, these ads are not always preferred by the user and it is common for users to run into ads that might be offensive to them.
Apart from this, these ads take valuable internet bandwidth in order to load. Sometimes, these ads may even install scripts or other malicious software into a user’s device without their permission.
Lastly, one of the major reasons for using tools to block ads is because free tools often contain ads, which can easily be removed. Due to these reasons, the need for a tool that blocks these ads arises.
There are countless tools available over the internet to block these ads. However, some of these tools may be suspicious and might extract your data or plant malicious scripts into your system.
2 Most Popular Ad Blockers
The two most popular and safe tools available for ad blocking are uBlock Origin vs Adblock Plus. This is where the uBlock Origin vs Adblock Plus issue arises. Before diving deep into the uBlock vs Adblock debate, here is some information about both the tools:
uBlock
uBlock is an entirely free and open source advertisement blocking tool that comes in the form of a browser extension. It features content blocking and content filtering based on filters.
It was develop by Raymond Hill three years ago. The tool is available on all platforms as it is written in JavaScript. The tool earns money through donations on the official site.
Adblock
Adblock is also an open source ad-blocking tool that is developed by Eyeo GmbH. It is a more mature tool that came out about twelve years ago.
The tool comes as an extension which is written in Javascript, XUL, and CSS. The feature that sets it apart from the other tools is the Allow non-intrusive ads feature.
It depends mainly on the donations made for revenue. However, there have been reports that big sites like Google and Facebook pay vast amounts of money in order to get their ads white list on Adblock.
uBlock Origin vs Adblock Plus: An In-depth Comparison
uBlock and Adblock are both ad blocking tools that rely on a list of ad-injecting domains to function. The uBlock tool relies on Adblock’s lists in order to function.
Both of the tools are suppose to serve the same purpose- blocking ads. So what is the need to consider the uBlock Origin vs Adblock Plus competition you might ask? Well, the difference lies in memory usage and the algorithms used for blocking ads.
While uBlock has better memory management, Adblock has the Acceptable ads feature. Adblock remains the most popular tool right now but uBlock also has some tricks up its sleeve that make it a worthy competitor in the uBlock Origin vs Adblock Plus competition.
History
The first version of AdBlock was released in 2002 by Henrik Sorensen, who was a Danish university student. This version didn’t show the Ads from view, but you could also not prevent it from downloading. While AdBlock Plus was launched in the market in 2010. It was initially available only for Google Chrome but later on made its way onto other popular browsers.
Whereas uBlock is more recent than AdBlock Plus as it was first released in 2014 as μBlock. In 2015, Chris Aljoudi and Raymond Hill split the project into two parts and took control of one each.
Installation
Visit https://adblockplus.org/ to install AdBlock Plus. It will automatically recognize your browser and provide you with an appropriate download link. This process usually takes a few seconds.
As I mentioned earlier, uBlock and uBlock Origin are two different entities. So stay clear from www.ublock.org as this is a site for installing uBlock and not uBlock Origin. To install the correct version of uBlock, you need to go to the extension section of your web browser. Find uBlock Origin and then click “install”.
Another simple way to install uBlock Origin is to type “uBlock Origin,” followed by your web browser name into Google. And once you find the right extension, click “install.”
Compatibility
AdBlock Plus is highly compatible and works just fine on any computer and also on iOS and Android devices. It is currently available in Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, Safari, Yandex, and Maxthon.
While uBlock is also equally compatible and currently available in Opera, Chrome, Chromium, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge.
The performance factor comes into picture depending on which web browser you are using. If you are facing problems in running the programs, then it is advisable to either update the existing browser or switch to a new one. Taking this into account, AdBlock is better off in this category.
Price
As I have mentioned earlier in the introduction, both AdBlockers are entirely free. You need not have to worry about paying a single dime. However, if you wish to donate, you could do that. So the uBlock Origin vs AdBlock Plus comparison doesn’t apply here.
System Load
AdBlock Plus uses more of the system RAM when compared to uBlock Origin as it is a slightly older technology. In the case of AdBlock Plus, you can witness massive slowdowns, especially if you are blocking Ads on multiple tabs. You may also experience slowdowns in uBlock Origin, but it is not that evident. Here uBlock is better compared to AdBlock Plus.
Effectiveness
Sometimes when you are using AdBlock Plus, you may still see some ads on your screen. If you are wondering why, it is because many companies pay an extra sum of money to make sure that their ads remain visible. These are called Acceptable Ads, and they should meet certain conditions to stay visible. So, in short, AdBlock Plus blocks most Ads, but not all.
However, this is not the case with uBlock Origin. It does what it is supposed to do. It blocks every ad that it comes across.
Filter Options
This is a tough section in uBlock Origin vs AdBlock Plus comparison, and you wouldn’t want to consider it if you wish to know which blocker is the winner. Both the blockers allow users to import as many lists (Third Party) as they like.
However, uBlock Origin comes with more in-built ad lists compared to Adblock Plus. But this is not a big deal.
Design
uBlock offers the user with a more straightforward and more minimalist panel while Adblock allows users to fine tune almost every setting there is. uBlock does provide with some settings.
However, there are not many available. Thus, the uBlock aims at an average audience while Adblock points at the more advanced user. This, however, does not mean that the average user can’t use Adblock. Both the programs allow users to disable the plugins on specific domains added by the user.
Features
Continuing with the uBlock Origin vs Adblock Plus debate, the Acceptable ads feature on Adblock allows some ads to display that verify by the Adblock team.
These ads help content creators and other such people by letting their ads display. These ads are either non-invasive, or the advertisers have an agreement with the program. uBlock doesn’t have any such feature and blocks all the ads.
Support
Finally, Adblock supports considerably more browsers and platforms than uBlock including Yandex and Internet Explorer. This might be the point to consider if you run an older version of Windows like Windows XP which still runs Internet Explorer.
Also, even though both the tools are available for Android, Adblock can only be in use as an application that runs in the background while uBlock can add as an extension to the Firefox Android app. You do not need to root your device in order to block these ads.
Winner Among uBlock Origin vs Adblock Plus
The winner for the uBlock Origin vs Adblock Plus conflict is a matter of personal preference. While some people will prefer the uBlock for its resource management and simplicity, other users will prefer the Adblock for its Acceptable ads and advanced features.
Both the tools shine brightly in their own spheres and finding the best depends on the user. With that, a new user is more incline to use the Adblock extension for its vast popularity and frequent update cycle.
We, however, recommend using both the tools to find the one that suits you the best. Are you a gamer? Then try these games on Origin Access. Click here!
