Top pick · highest health
Pi-hole
Blackhole for Internet advertisements with a GUI for management and monitoring.
★ 62k 67 commits / 90d ⟳ 3 days ago EUPL-1.2 Docker
Category
Open source dns
DNS servers and management tools with advertisement blocking functionality, primarily aimed at home or small networks. This page ranks 6 open-source DNS projects by a health score recomputed every night from repository data; nothing else affects the order. Pi-hole leads at 99/100 with 67 commits in the last 90 days and 62k stars, followed by AdGuard Home (98) and Technitium DNS Server (96). 5 of the 6 score 70 or above, 5 publish a Docker image, and the median health is 96. GPL-3.0 is the most common licence, carried by 2 of them. Between them they stand in for Pi-hole Cloud, Cloudflare DNS and Pi-hole.
updated Oct 2026 6 tools ★ 121k stars 5 with Docker median 96
Best for…
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Most starred
61,565 stars on GitHub, the largest community in the category.
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Most active
169 commits in the last 90 days, the fastest-moving codebase here.
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Most permissive
Apache-2.0 licence with health 95/100: the strongest option if you need to embed or fork commercially.
Ranked by health
Table view
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AdGuard Home
User-friendly ads & trackers blocking DNS server.
★ 38k 70 commits / 90d ⟳ 3 days ago GPL-3.0 Docker
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Technitium DNS Server
Authoritative/recursive DNS server with ad blocking functionality.
★ 10k 169 commits / 90d ⟳ 6 days ago GPL-3.0 Docker
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blocky
Fast and lightweight DNS proxy as ad-blocker for local network with many features (alternative to Pi-hole).
★ 7.1k 92 commits / 90d ⟳ 2 days ago Apache-2.0 Docker
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Numa
Ad-blocking DNS resolver with DNSSEC-validating recursive resolution, DoH/DoT/Oblivious DoH, ephemeral overrides, and local service domains, in a single Rust binary (alternative to Pi-hole, AdGuard Home, NextDNS).
★ 2k 123 commits / 90d ⟳ yesterday MIT Docker
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Maza ad blocking
Local ad blocker. Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system.
★ 1.9k 2 commits / 90d ⟳ 3 months ago Apache-2.0
| # | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pi-hole Docker | 62k | 67 | EUPL-1.2 | 3 days ago | |
| 2 | AdGuard Home Docker | 38k | 70 | GPL-3.0 | 3 days ago | |
| 3 | Technitium DNS Server Docker | 10k | 169 | GPL-3.0 | 6 days ago | |
| 4 | blocky Docker | 7.1k | 92 | Apache-2.0 | 2 days ago | |
| 5 | Numa Docker | 2k | 123 | MIT | yesterday | |
| 6 | Maza ad blocking | 1.9k | 2 | Apache-2.0 | 3 months ago |
How the DNS tools compare
Pi-hole edges AdGuard Home 99 to 98. AdGuard Home is the busier codebase, though, with 70 commits in 90 days to 67. Pi-hole also has the largest following, at 62k stars.
The most recent release is Numa v0.25.0, published 7 days ago. Maza ad blocking publishes no tagged releases, which costs up to 25 of the 100 points. Maza ad blocking scores under 40, so check recent activity before adopting it. By stack, Shell (2), C# (1) and Go (1) are the most common. blocky, Numa and Maza ad blocking are permissively licensed; Pi-hole, AdGuard Home and Technitium DNS Server are copyleft.
DNS: common questions
What is the best open source DNS tool?
By Repoly's GitHub health score, Pi-hole at 99/100 (67 commits in 90 days, v6.5 from 13 days ago). AdGuard Home is next at 98. The score measures maintenance, not features, so shortlist the top few and try them.
Which DNS tools are the most actively developed?
Technitium DNS Server (169 commits in 90 days), Numa (123 commits in 90 days) and blocky (92 commits in 90 days). Commit activity is 35 of the 100 health points, the largest single term.
Which DNS tools can I run in Docker?
5 of 6 publish a Docker image or Compose file, led by Pi-hole, AdGuard Home, Technitium DNS Server, blocky and Numa.
Which DNS tools have a permissive licence?
3 of 6: blocky (Apache-2.0), Numa (MIT), Maza ad blocking (Apache-2.0). 3 are copyleft.
Which paid products can open source DNS tools replace?
Pi-hole Cloud (Pi-hole ranks highest here), Cloudflare DNS (Technitium DNS Server ranks highest here) and Pi-hole (blocky ranks highest here).
