Pi-hole — Self-Hosted, Open-Source

Blackhole for Internet advertisements with a GUI for management and monitoring.

License: EUPL-1.2. Built with: Shell, Python, Dockerfile, Roff. Website: https://pi-hole.net/. Source: https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole.

Features

Total number of domains being blocked
Total number of DNS queries today
Total number of ads blocked today
Percentage of ads blocked
Unique domains
Queries forwarded (to your chosen upstream DNS server)
Queries cached
Unique clients
your browser: http://pi.hole/api/docs
curl: curl --connect-timeout 2 -ks "https://pi.hole/api/stats/summary" -H "Accept: application/json";

Installation

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

Why self-host Pi-hole

Self-hosting gives you three things SaaS can’t: data ownership (the files live on disks you control), cost predictability (a one-time setup vs. recurring per-seat fees that grow with your household or team), and longevity (open-source means the app keeps working even if the maintainers move on, since you can pin a working version). The trade-off is that you take on the operational work of running a server, applying updates, and handling backups.

What hardware do you need

Most self-hosted apps run comfortably on modest hardware — a Raspberry Pi 4, a mini PC, a NAS with Docker support, or a small VPS is usually enough for personal or family use. CPU and RAM requirements scale with how many simultaneous users or how much data you push through Pi-hole. Storage requirements depend on the kind of data you keep; check the README for guidance on data retention.

Where to go from here

Last verified: 2026-04-28