Pi-hole - Container vs hardware / DHCP server / Ads block lists

These are the block lists I listed in last night’s presentation:

I personally use a few Hagezi and a few Steven Black ones at the moment, but have used all four of these in the past. There is a lot of overlap, but a generic “ads” one might be a good place to start, and you can add to it or customise it from there.

The other suggestion I’d make if you want to beyond those four (and any other personal recommendations that others from HLB have) is to sign up with a free NextDNS account and have a look at what blocklists they offer under the Privacy tab. They offer the four above, and several more.

I’ve never used the DHCP server built into Pi-Hole/AdGuard/etc. as I’ve always had a robust DHCP server already (e.g., OPNsense, OpenWRT, MikroTik, Uniquiti, etc.). I’m not certain, but I’d say that Pi-Hole and AdGuard probably have dnsmasq under the hood doing the DHCP and DNS (as would the Draytek, probably). This is going to come down to pure personal preference - if you have a stability issue with your existing DHCP server, or you want some more flexibility than the Draytek offers (e.g., DHCP Options for PXE Booting or custom NTP servers, etc.) then maybe move across. Otherwise, experiment with the ad-blocking side of things and then re-assess the situation once you’ve found a config that works for you, your household, and your homelab.