Pi-hole

SmartDNS is an open-source local DNS server that sends client queries to multiple upstream DNS servers, measures the returned address candidates, and returns the fastest result to the client. It supports separate virtual DNS servers with different ports, rules, and clients; per-client rules based on IP or MAC address; domain routing; domain-specific address overrides; suffix matching for filtering; IPv4, IPv6, and DNS64; and cached, multithreaded asynchronous I/O. Its query and service protocols include UDP, TCP, DNS over TLS, DNS over HTTPS, DNS over QUIC, and DNS over HTTP/3, with optional SOCKS5 or HTTP proxy queries. The project supports Linux, Raspberry Pi, OpenWrt, Asus router firmware, Windows Subsystem for Linux, and Windows-related deployments, and provides build scripts for LuCI, Debian, OpenWrt, and Optware packages. It is distributed under the GPLv3 license.

AdGuard Home is a local DNS server that can be used as an alternative to Technitium in split-DNS homelab setups. In the described setup, local DNS records resolve a domain to a local reverse proxy at home rather than sending traffic to the public proxy and back through the internet.

HaGeZi DNS Blocklists is a maintained collection of DNS filtering lists for network-wide blocking of ads, affiliate links, trackers, telemetry, phishing, malware, scams, cryptojacking, and other unwanted or malicious domains. It provides Multi lists in Light, Normal, Pro, Pro++, and Ultimate variants, along with specialized lists for fake sites, pop-up ads, threat intelligence, newly registered domains, dynamic DNS abuse, URL shorteners, gambling, social networks, adult content, native device trackers, and other categories. Lists are distributed in formats compatible with Pi-hole, AdGuard, DNSMasq, RPZ, common DNS servers, ad blockers, and content blockers.

ESP32-C3 AdBlock is an open-source DNS ad-blocking firmware project for ESP32-C3 boards that do not have PSRAM. It extracts queried domains, computes 40-bit FNV-1a hashes including parent suffixes, and binary-searches sorted hashes stored in flash rather than loading domain strings into RAM. Matching queries receive a 0.0.0.0 sinkhole response; other queries are forwarded to an upstream resolver and relayed. The repository reports that the approach uses about 50 KB of RAM and supports blocklists ranging from the default roughly 100,000-domain configuration to an aggressive 537,000-domain list, subject to the selected flash partition layout and hash collisions. The firmware includes a web dashboard with statistics, client banning, custom block and allow entries, mDNS discovery at c3adblock.local, a captive portal for Wi-Fi setup, and over-the-air firmware and blocklist updates. The accompanying PlatformIO tooling converts hosts files, plain domain lists, and supported AdGuard or Adblock basic rules into the binary hash table; unsupported rule types are skipped and reported. State-changing dashboard endpoints and network OTA require configured credentials, while the device otherwise serves plain HTTP on the local network. The project is released under the MIT License.