# AdAway

6 Hacker News commenters recommended AdAway and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free Android ad blocker that works system-wide without a VPN and lets you add custom domains to block.

## Why people recommend it

- Blocks ads system-wide without a VPN (2 comments): "AdAway on Android allows network-level blocking without resorting to a VPN" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46189018)) "DNS66 or AdAway for OS wide blocking" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48271156))
- Custom domain blocking (1 comments): "it also allows you to specify custom domains to block" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47055272))
- Recommended for rooted Android phones (1 comments): "Root your damn phone! And install AdAway" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46516839))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [uBlock Origin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ublock-origin.md): 765 recommend
- [uBlock Origin Lite](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ublock-origin-lite.md): 148 recommend
- [AdGuard](https://hackerapproved.com/p/adguard.md): 78 recommend
- [Wipr 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wipr.md): 41 recommend
- [uBlock](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ublock.md): 32 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "AdAway", https://hackerapproved.com/p/adaway/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).